


Katiedid Archive of Works

by katiedidarchive



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, previously deleted works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2016-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 12:27:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 520,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7640137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiedidarchive/pseuds/katiedidarchive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a collection of work that I've previously deleted from the archive.  All works are included.  Tags are obviously incomplete, but are included at the beginning of each story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Explanation and Disclaimer

Hello everyone!

First off, my apologies for deleting without explanation. I was in a bad place, and thought it was the only way to save my sanity at the time. I did a great disservice to phoenix_173 when I did that, but believe me when I tell you, that I was in a very precarious emotional place thanks to a lot of different things (not only fandom). I owe her an apology for essentially running away to the other side of the world and leaving her to clean up the mess. That was unfair to her and my loyal readers and other friends I have made, and I am truly sorry for that.  Also, I owe an apology to usedkarma, who runs the tumblr site FuckyeahDarcyLewis, as she had to field too many asks regarding my work and that was also unfair to her.  Also, ozhawkauthor, who  fielded a lot of questions regarding my disappearance.  I'm truly sorry to all of you for putting you in this situation.

Second off, this one story will contain all my stories. I will title each chapter with the work title and will try to jam one story to a chapter if I can. Tags will be posted at the beginning of each story. I will not be taking comments on these.

Lastly, please be kind to your fanfiction writers out there. I was getting about twenty anonymous messages a week about how hard I sucked and how I was ruining Darcyland. Give your love to the people who do this, because love may go a long way in counteracting the hate. Please also know that you can't know what they are going through behind the scenes. A perfect storm of suck that just wouldn't let up on all sides of my life and fandom had me running away for my health. And it will keep me away from this fandom, because nothing is worth my mental health.

(Also, please leave phoenix_173 alone in regards to your inquiries about me. Yes, we have worked together in the past. But she is not my keeper, and there are so many more interesting things to talk to her about other than me. Ask her about her day. Give her love. She deserves it).

Thanks for all the previous support.  Best of luck and well wishes to everyone.

<3 Katie


	2. The Man From S.W.O.R.D.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: The Man from S.W.O.R.D.
> 
>  
> 
> by katiedid
> 
>  
> 
> Summary:
> 
> Loosely based on the film The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Darcy Lewis knew it was only a matter of time before someone came to retrieve her from the bad guys. It was part of the overall plan, of course. She just hadn't been expecting the Winter Soldier and Captain America. They would have to figure out a way to work together and rescue Jane and of course, by extension, the entire Universe.
> 
> Originally Published at: 2015-09-18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), Captain America  
> (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis,  
> James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky"  
> Barnes/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Jane Foster (Marvel), Clint Barton  
> Additional Tags: spies and other fun spy things, poorly planned out action sequences,  
> intrigue and crack, the man from u.n.c.le. inspired, darcy lewis is  
> amazeballs, bucky barnes is smooth as shit, steve rogers is not  
> prepared for this, natasha romanov is perfection, bird bros for life,  
> kidnapping and rescuing and all the violence that entails, send help  
> to the writer she is losing it., protective OT3 feels, mind your language  
> Darcy. yeah right, The black widow has so many secrets your head  
> will hurt, Not Age of Ultron Compliant  
> Stats: Published: 2015-09-18 Completed: 2015-09-25 Chapters: 8/8 Words:  
> 28758

 

 

**The Man From S.W.O.R.D.**

 

 

**Chapter One**

_**Escape from Norway** _

 

The McCullan Institute for Science in Tromsø, Norway did not receive very many visitors. Darcy Lewis could prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt. This was due to the fact that Darcy Lewis had been a _guest_ of The McCullan Institute for Science in Tromsø, Norway since the dark elves had been defeated in London. Darcy couldn't say she had noticed the distinct lack of visitors for the first six months, as she had Jane Foster firmly attached to her side. The pair had arrived back at the institute after the convergence in London ended with indefinite plans to stay. Darcy had no idea how indefinite or how confined her stay would be.

 

One night, after a particularly strong batch of margaritas they had concocted with the finest of moonshines Darcy had managed to wrangle away from the chemistry department three floors up, Jane was gone. One minute they had been drunk out of their minds, attempting to sing _The Little Mermaid_ soundtrack (Jane had always had a problem with keeping up when Darcy would randomly place swear words and dirty phrases into each song).

 

The next minute, Darcy woke up on the couch in the tiny office off of Jane's lab, completely alone.

 

She had been alone now for two years, three months, and nineteen days.

 

So, yes. Definitely no visitors. Of that she was sure.  She had been waiting though, with an increasing amount of equal parts impatience, dread and anticipation.  When someone walked through that door she knew that the end of the shitstorm that was her life was just beginning.  She had to be ready. 

 

But the door opening to her lab/prison cell of the last two years, three months and nineteen days was still certainly a surprise.

 

* * *

 

 

 

_Mission: Retrieve Darcy Lewis._

 

The McCullan Institute had been incredibly easy to infiltrate. Seventy years of missions had him mostly covered in dirt and blood with guns, knives, guns, bombs and more guns strapped to every inch of his body. This mission had him in a three piece suit with a briefcase in hand, his hair slicked back in a style he hadn't had since the 1940's. He almost felt like a human, like his old self, instead of the blunt edged instrument for murder that Hydra had forcibly fashioned him into.

 

James Barnes made a mental note to thank the Black Widow when the mission she had bestowed on him was complete.

 

She had tracked him down in Canada two months after the events in Washington DC, when his previous existence as Hydra's winter soldier had crumpled with the fall of SHEILD. 11 months of deprogramming later, he had been ready to go back into the world.

 

He hadn't asked Natasha about Steve Rogers, and she had never brought him up. This was in no small part due to the fact that every time the head shrinkers tested him with images of Captain America, some deeply ingrained programming left in his brain triggered and he was no longer James. He was no longer safe. He was murderous, dangerous and deadly. Captain America would never be safe from the Winter Soldier.

 

He remembered Steve. How could he forget? But he knew he wasn't ready to see him again yet.  He had the sinking feeling that he would never be ready.

 

Natasha always said she was working the red out of her ledger.

 

James had hundreds of gallons of red that covered the ledger so completely he would never be able to reach it.

 

But the missions that Natasha assigned helped. Surveillance in Kyoto. Infiltrating a tech office in Silicon Valley and stealing intel. Providing sniping assistance and protection to various important politicos. Nothing involving Captain America or the Avengers. Small ways he could go back into the world. And this was his biggest yet.

 

 _Retrieve Darcy Lewis_.

 

 

The Black Widow had said the girl was important. The Black Widow rarely thought other people were important. There was something about Natasha's mouth curving just barely upward as she described the object of the mission that had James internally agreeing that the girl was important. Some Norse God had crashed back to Earth a few months ago and noticed that his two favorite ladies were missing. But Natasha had managed to convince the Asgardian that retrieving Darcy Lewis and Jane Foster needed a level of finesse that Thor did not have.

But the Winter Soldier did.

 

 

James feigned disinterest as his briefcase went through the x-ray machine. He stepped through the metal detector, knowing that the jammer that Natasha had provided would cover the presence of his two guns and three knives. His eyes darted up for only a moment when an image of the briefcase showed on the scanner's monitor. The picture showed files and papers, a scarf and an umbrella and a small circular disc that he knew he had not placed there himself.

 

Well wasn't that interesting.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“You're a real person. A person. Who are you? You have a metal hand-- Wait...no I don't care. A real live human person! Do you speak English? I don't even care...just say something.”

 

Metal Hand placed his briefcase on a nearby lab bench and popped it open. Carefully concealed within, hidden under a false, x-ray proof bottom was a wig, a simple black dress and a lab coat. He took them out and tossed them Darcy's way, as she stood in front of him spluttering, and demanding he speak.

 

“Are you SHIELD? Am I being rescued? Are you---”

 

“We're on a time limit, doll. Get that on,” James jerked his chin at what he had tossed Darcy earlier.

 

Her breath caught in her throat at the sound of another human voice. She'd been so alone. She ignored the antiquated term of endearment and focused on his deep, gravely voice and Brooklyn slant to the words. He sounded and looked like an old time movie star. She automatically obeyed, plucking her glasses off of her face and hand going to the hem of the Mccullan Institute for Science t-shirt. She paused and looked at him with a slight wrinkle of her nose.

 

“I'm grateful for the rescue, if this is a rescue at all, but I definitely am not repaying you with a show,” Darcy said resolutely.

 

“Shame,” Metal Hand huffed, although he turned around while fishing in his suit jacket pocket. He pulled out what looked like a car key fob and pressed a few infinitely small buttons with his right thumb. Natasha had told him they would have ten minutes from that point. The cameras were frozen, feeding the security guards a tightly wound loop of the first minute of footage he had gotten when he stepped into the room. He turned and couldn't help the smirk play at his lips as Darcy tugged the dress down her hips, then popped on the blonde wig. She was a pretty dame, but blonde didn't really suit her ivory skin tone. “How's your driving?”

 

“I haven't driven a car in over two years,” Darcy reached for the lab coat and began to put it on when James reached out and helped her shrug into it. Her brow furrowed at the gentlemanly gesture from the man who had spoken less than fifteen words since he had arrived. Spies. She knew they were of few words, but she had a million questions. And it had been so damned long she had been able to talk to anyone. “I'm not the worlds greatest driver, to be honest.”

 

“We're heading out...now,” Metal Hand pulled the circular disc out of the briefcase and furrowed his brow at it. It wasn't Natasha's tech. It was SHIELDS. And SHIELD=Hydra=Bad news. He tossed the disc towards the small office that had been Darcy's living quarters for the last few years. “Give me ten seconds then follow. You're getting into the silver Tesla and you're driving us out of here.”

 

“And then?” Darcy questioned watching as his metal hand flicked the disc away. His plan had put a knot of disquiet in her gut. Sure she wanted to be rescued, wanted to find Jane or Thor or god, even Tony Stark at this point, but still, who was rescuing her? Was she just jumping from the frying pan to the fire? She grimaced as her rescuer turned on his heel and casually walked to and out of the door. Darcy grabbed her glasses off of the lab bench and shoved them into the lab coat pocket. One second of trepidation and she reached out and grabbed another object and shoved it into the other pocket. She took a quick glance around the prison cell of the last two years, three months and nineteen days.

 

“Fuck you very much Norway. Lewis out.”

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy managed to get one block away from the science institute, having ripped the wig off and jammed the glasses back on her face, driving the swanky car with Metal Hand in the back seat before her questions could no longer be stifled within. Her gaze flicked between the dark road to the backseat constantly. Her finger tapping the wheel in an increasingly erratic pattern. Metal Hand didn't spare her a second glance, instead he was looking at the open briefcase in his lap, working with something quietly.

 

“Exactly one mile on this road, then one left. Then the immediate right. Then another left.”

 

Darcy's hands slapped the wheel in irritation even as she tried to memorize the pattern of his directions. She glared at him in the rear view mirror and could hold back no longer before opening the flood gates and letting her words flow out in increasing volume and anger,

 

“Who are you? What do you want from me? Where is Jane? Where are we going? WHO ARE YOU? Why do you have a fucking metal hand? What in the mother fucking hell is going on here? WHO ARE YOU?!?! WH---”

 

“Quiet. We have a tail. Drive faster.”

 

Darcy bit back a shriek and glared away from cool gray blue eyes to the window behind him. Sure enough, she saw a single headlight fifty yards back. It looked like a motorcycle. And it was gaining on them.

 

“Do you remember when I told you I couldn't drive very well? It's been a while and the last time I drove I was in the US of fucking A,” Darcy spat out angrily. Her right foot stamped down on the gas pedal anyway and they flew forward on the blissfully empty street. The speedometer rocketed from 40 miles per hour to 80 miles per hour in a matter of seconds and before she knew it she was taking the left that Metal Hand had told her to take.

 

“Doll, I don't know who told you that you couldn't drive, but they were wrong as hell,” the dulcet growly tone of his voice never changed, even though Darcy could hear the crunching of metal as he gripped the door handle to balance himself at her sharp turn.

 

“I drive fast, not well,” Darcy clarified, zipping the car into the immediate right turn he had described. She glared in the rear view and the motorcycle was coming closer despite the fact that her speed was up to 90 miles per hour. She looked out front and saw that the next left he told her to take was far down the straight, empty road. “He's catching up! What the hell, Metal Hand? Are we being chased by a jet fueled bike?”

 

“It's James,” he said calmly. He casually turned around and saw the bike closing in, even as Darcy pushed the car above 100 miles per hour. He pulled out what he had been working on, and it was indeed a very scary, very dangerous looking gun. He gave Darcy a nod and said, “Drive fast. _Faster._  Next left. Pull into where ever you can and kill the lights.”

 

Darcy bit her bottom lip anxiously as she flew down the straightaway. She saw where the road broke in front of her between a right and left turn and concentrated on putting distance between their car and the motorcycle. She pushed the speed to 140 miles per hour before slamming on the brake for the briefest of seconds and throwing the wheel into the left turn. The car handled beautifully and the turn was quick enough to put even more distance between them and the tail. She blinked once before tapping the brake again, then immediately jerking the emergency brake up and whirling the wheel once more. The car spun in 180 degrees and she pushed the brake pedal to the floor as it slid cleanly into an open space.

 

“You definitely lied to me,” James chuckled as she killed the headlights. “Never saw a dame drive a car like that before.”

 

“I don't lie. Ever. I have a suspended license back home and thousands of dollars in speeding tickets that say I do not drive well,” Darcy insisted through clenched teeth. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight that her knuckles were white but if she let go, she would surely be a shaking, fluttery mess. They watched as the motorcycle sped past them, loud and fast.

 

“I'm getting out of the car. Keep the lights off, get on the sidewalk and reverse down the street. Go around the block and meet me,” James ordered smoothly as he hopped out of the car before she could protest or begin to answer more questions. Gun in hand he watched as she complied and waited as the motorcycle's brake light reddened in the distance.

 

He stood half in shadow as the bike turned around and headed his way. His gun carefully aimed as he squinted and watched, waited with the patience of the sniper he had been before the Winter Soldier. Thirty-five seconds till target was within range. He watched as Darcy smoothly put the car in reverse down the sidewalk, her speed very quick even as she maneuvered backwards. She was out of sight before the man on the motorcycle was within view.

 

A flash of metal caught James' eye and he looked back as the motorcycle got closer. The man on it was pulling something from his back to the front of his bike.

 

A shield.  A very familiar, very red white and blue shield.

 

James felt a pull at the base of his skull as the programming tried to take over once again. He swallowed deeply as his only failed mission barreled down the street towards him. James took five steps back in the street, his gun aimed carefully, his presence covered in shadow as the motorcycle got closer. Ten seconds and he would squeeze the trigger and this would all be over.

 

Five. _Bucky_.

 

Four. _You're my friend._

 

Three. _Your name is James Buchanan Barnes._

 

Two. _Till the end of the line._

 

One squeeze....

 

The car's engine was completely silent, the only sound on the quiet street was the sound of metal crashing against metal. The Tesla rammed into the front wheel of the motorcycle, sending its occupant and the _shield_ flying into the distance. Darcy made a small squeaking noise and looked to James with a wild, terrified look on her face. The body and the shield made impact with another car half a block down, the sound of shattered glass echoing in the cool night air.

 

“Did I kill him?” She demanded, her voice pitched with fear as her large blue eyes turned liquid with anxious tears. “Please, Metal Hand---James, tell me I didn't---”

 

James took a moment to breathe. The programming receded as he focused on the mission he had.

 

 _Retrieve Darcy Lewis_.

 

He heard the sharp intake of air and glass crackling as the body that Darcy had slammed into began to move. James wasted no time in getting into the passenger seat and assessed where they were.

 

“Next right and then an immediate left.”

 

Darcy had been staring at the man from the motorcycle and some kind of strange blend of thankfulness and OH SHIT WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW stirred in her gut as the guy she had just slammed into a fucking coma staggered to his feet. She didn't want to see how pissed he was that she had tried to vehicularly manslaughter him though. Her foot slammed on the gas again and they were off.

 

Her brow furrowed as she surveyed the next right in the distance. She shook her head and hissed, “That's an alley. We won't fit.”

 

“Trust me, doll.”

 

“FUCK YOU, I can tell we won't fit!”

 

“Do you want to get out of Norway or not, just drive!”

 

“AGAIN, FUCK YOU AND THE METAL HAND YOU RODE IN ON!”

 

“Darc---”

 

Any further arguing was cut off as the car suddenly lurched. Both James and Darcy turned to look out the back window and their jaws simultaneously dropped as motorcycle man gripped the back bumper with inhuman strength.

 

Darcy stamped her foot on the gas pedal, and they didn't budge as motorcycle dude held the back end of the car off of the ground.

 

“JESUS H. FUCKING CHRIST ON A CRACKER!” Darcy squealed, revving the engine uselessly. She glared at James and said, “Can't you shoot him without killing him or something? Or shit, I don't know. Shoot him?”

 

“Now, it just seems wrong, somehow,” James shrugged as he watched the super human holding on to the back of the car. His brain was in a tailspin as his failed mission objective and his current mission objective fought against each other. He was going to have one hell of a headache before this night was through. Something deep down couldn't help but look at the idiot holding on to the back of the car in admiration. He couldn't hide the fact that he was slightly impressed. He replaced it quickly with a pinched look of exasperation and sighed, “He's trying so hard to keep us here...”

 

Darcy's gaze darted between the rear view mirror where the man without limits was lifting the back end of the car off of the ground and at James, who seemed to be seriously conflicted about the correct course of action to take. Without delaying or thinking, Darcy reached into her pocket and pulled out what she had grabbed from the lab no less than twenty minutes ago. She angled her body out of the car and didn't bother aiming as her eyes connected to the man (machine? superhuman?) holding on to the bumper. He went to open his mouth to say something, but Darcy had pressed the button on her modified taser before he could.

 

Two beams of electricity shot from the end of her taser instead of the usual pronged wires on normal taser models. The man was thrown back into the night, his body convulsing as he landed on another car, cracking the windshield. The back end of the Tesla hit the ground and Darcy shimmied back into the car and drove without arguing this time. 50,000 volts wasn't going to be putting that big guy down any time soon.

 

She hung the right and careened down what was definitely an _alleyway_ and she cringed as the beautiful car scraped against walls as they narrowed in on them. They hit a dip and the car went airborne, flying through the air before being ungracefully stuck between two walls, between two second floor windows.

 

“NOW WHAT YOU IDIOT ASSHOLE DOUCHE CANOE!” Darcy cursed at James as he sat staring at her in what could only be described as awestruck admiration. She looked down at her taser and saw that she had at least five minutes until it could charge again. She reached out a hand and gripped his ear tightly. “I thought you were supposed to be the rescuer here. So far I've saved our asses at least three times. We're trapped here like freaking sardines in can, and the man who could not be killed is following us!”

 

“Did you make that?” James wondered at the slick taser in Darcy's hands.

 

“I modified my original. I had over two years in that lab and NO netflix,” she huffed. She glared at him again and demanded, “NOW WHAT?”

 

“We take the immediate left, doll,” James said in that same gruff, smooth accented tone. He reached over her, his icy gray blue gaze never breaking eye contact with her as his mouth slid up into a well-practiced smirk. He reached his arm in front of her, his body leaning against her as he pushed on the window of the building the car was jammed against. “Straight on up to the roof...”

 

* * *

 

 

His entire body was shaking under the influence of whatever the girl had unleashed upon him.

 

 _Darcy Lewis_.

 

Darcy Lewis who Thor had insisted was an innocent. Who Coulson had said needed rescuing. Who Clint had said needed protecting.

 

She'd evaded him thus far. She'd had him flat out on his back and incapacitated twice that night already. No assistance needed from her mysterious unknown Russian cohort.

 

He groaned as he slid to his feet, still feeling the odd twitch of his muscles as he lumbered forward. His shield strapped to his back once more, he took off on foot, following the car again. His eyes widened as he turned into the alleyway she had steered the car into. It was stuck between two buildings at the second floor level.

 

“Son of a---” he whistled.

 

“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?”

 

He looked upwards, only to see the woman who he had been _trying_ to rescue glaring down at him in incredulity from the roof. He took off at a run, leaping gracefully toward the car and hoisting himself up. He jumped again, his fingers grabbing hold of a fire escape ladder on the third floor and pulled his body up effortlessly. He scrambled, anxious to get to the top of the roof before Darcy could be taken away by the Russian.

 

\---Well, he doubted if this dame could be taken by anyone she didn't want at that point.

 

But Steve Rogers had made a promise to Thor. To bring the God's shield sister back. To have her bring Jane to safety. And he'd be damned if he didn't try.

 

* * *

 

 

“Seriously, metal hand guy and a guy who just won't GO DOWN. What in the ever loving hell is my life right now?” Darcy grumbled as she watched James work gloves onto his hands.

 

He fished out the car fob he had used in the lab earlier that night and pressed a few buttons. He squinted in the distance and must have seen some sort of signal because he gently wound his metal arm around Darcy's waist and hoisted her in tight. Her squeak brought an involuntary smirk to his lips and he looked down into her fiery gaze.

 

“Hold tight.”

 

Darcy was about to question his gentle order when the elegant swish of a zip line connected to the edge of the roof. James pulled her tight against him, lifting her so that her feet were six inches from the ground and her head was level with his. Huh. So this was what six foot plus felt like.

 

James ran towards the roof just as the bionic motorcycle dude threw himself on top of the roof. Darcy stuck her tongue out at the man she had failed to incapacitate, her expression childish and mocking but quickly replaced with shock and sheer terror as James jumped from the roof, gripping the zip line with his gloved right hand. Darcy screeched in his ear as she clung to him, her limbs scrambling to find purchase on his body. James definitely chuckled in her ear as she felt a squeeze on her right breast that was most certainly someone's metal hand. She clung to him like a howler monkey as they zoomed through the crisp night air before he dropped them smoothly into a waiting boat.

 

“WHAT THE HELL DUDE!?!? YOU JUMPED OFF A GOD DAMNED BUILDING! WARN A GIRL! And you put one hand on my breasts again, _uninvited_ , and I'll fucking end your life!” Darcy screeched, reaching into her pocket again and taking out the taser. She wasted not one moment before letting the voltage loose on her _rescuer_. He fell to the ground in a twitching mass and Darcy sneered at him from above, her foot going back as she prepared to completely destroy his balls.

 

“Easy there, little one.”

  


Darcy spun, her hand on her spent and useless taser for a moment before she threw it in the direction of the new voice.

 

Natasha Romanov caught the taser and looked at it in interest before nodding her approval. She looked up and shook her head as the man pursuing them zoomed down the zip line that had been their mode of transport from Norway.

 

“Not now, Cap,” she whispered, a blade appearing in her hand out of nowhere as she slashed at the zip line.

 

Darcy watched in no small amount of glee as their pursuer fell gracelessly into the water between them. She looked back down at her supposed rescuer and then up to the Black Widow, a million questions at the tip of her tongue.

 

“We're going to go find Jane now,” Natasha pre-empted her. “You might as well sleep. There's no use in repeating the plan twice. Gotta wait till Barnes is coherent.”

 

“Barnes,” Darcy repeated. She looked down and suddenly everything added up. “Barnes. James Barnes.”

 

“Yes,” Natasha nodded, the very faintest smirk pulling at her full lips.

 

Darcy sighed and shook her head ever so slightly in aggravated dismay.

 

“Well fuck me sideways.”

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

* * *

 

 

**Chapter Two**

_**Boy meets Boy meets Girl** _

 

 

 

Darcy Lewis woke up to the unusual feeling of contentment and the rushing sound of wind and a glimpse of morning sunlight bouncing off of metal.

 

“Oh shit,” she whispered in a scratchy, sleep soaked voice.

 

“Such a foul mouth for such a pretty little dame,” James smirked down at her. He pulled his metal hand back from the petting of her hair it had been shamelessly engaged in while she slept. He watched greedily as she stretched, her body laid out on the seat, her head in his lap. “I'm gonna call you Sparky.”

 

“I'm going to call you _Bucky_ ,” Darcy grumbled back quickly. She froze and looked up at him, scared of the reaction. She had been rescued by the Winter Freaking Soldier. He had been brainwashed and tortured and here she had sassed him, electrocuted him, sassed him some more and now was using his very cozy lap as a drool depositor and pillow.

 

“Steve used to call me Bucky,” he said softly. He shook his head in amusement and said, “I don't think I want to kill him anymore.”

 

“Okay...good?” Darcy inched her way into a sitting position, leaving his lap feeling cold and empty. “We're talking Steve....Captain Steve America Rogers, right?”

 

“Yeah. I've wanted to kill him for a while,” James said nonchalantly.

 

“That's not good,” Darcy advised. “Just down right unpatriotic, really.”

 

“You're one to talk,” Natasha chimed in from the front seat of the car. She nodded at the both of them and said, “Safe house. Abisko, Sweden. We'll go in and get cleaned up and meet the rest of the team at 1300 hours.”

 

Darcy and James followed her lead and climbed out of the car, heading into the small, unassuming house. Darcy _ran_ towards a bathroom muttering something about a hot bath and a private toilet. James watched her go in amusement before turning his eyes on the Black Widow.

 

“Why don't I want to kill him anymore?” he demanded, waiting patiently as Natasha thought through her answer.

 

“Cognitive recalibration,” she answered back neatly. “Makes this whole mission a lot easier for Darcy, really. She won't be wasting her time playing referee.  Although now she'll have an excess of free time, which will no doubt get you all in a lot of fun trouble.  If I would have known all it took was a good tasing, I would have attempted it months ago. Lord knows that I've tried to beat the sense into your brain. Should have known metal and electricity are the best kind of mix.”

 

“I'd prefer not bein' tased again though,” James grumbled.  "There's plenty of ways for a dame like that to recalibrate my cognition that don't involve a couple thousand volts of electricity running through me."

 

“Then stop trying to kill Captain America,” Natasha smirked. “That's not your mission anymore. Your new mission is to protect Darcy Lewis. Not hurt Steve Rogers.”

 

“Sparky was the one that tried to put him down twice in Norway. And you sent him into the icy waters---”

 

“Yeah, he's going to be really pissed at that. Poor Barton.”

 

* * *

 

“Heya Cap! Warm enough for ya?”

 

Steve pulled his fist back in a split second before bringing it forward with some force, not his FULL force, but _some_ force straight into Clint Barton's jaw. He huddled back under the emergency blankets on the bench in the quinjet. He glared at the archer as the smaller man stumbled back. Sam Wilson barked out with laughter from the pilot's seat of the quinjet.

 

“Only you, Barton, only you,” Sam laughed.

 

“Yeah, thought that'd be your reaction,” Clint winced finally after Sam's laughter was under control.

 

“You said she needed protection,” Steve grumbled. He thought back to the girl who had taken him down twice the night prior. He had studied her picture and some surveillance footage for---well days, hell _weeks_ before the opportunity sprang up to retrieve her. He felt like he already knew her with all the stories that had poured in from all of her friends and acquaintances who had begged him to bring her back. He was besotted with the idea of her before he ever saw her bright blue eyes glaring at him when she pressed the button on her taser. “That dame didn't need anybody protecting her.”

 

“She did. She got it. You were too slow,” Clint stepped out of Steve's reach as Captain America made a half-hearted swing his way.

 

“She hit me with a car!” He grumbled.

 

“She's a bad driver,” Clint nodded in fond remembrance.

 

“Then tased me,” Steve grumbled, his right pec giving an involuntary jump at the memory of all that voltage coursing through his body.

 

“She did that to Thor and he made her his sister,” Clint shrugged. A moment of impish contemplation took over his countenance before he admitted, “Really, I think she's aiming to get all of us. The Avengers, that is. Three down so far...I don't want to be around when she tases Natasha....or Big Green.”

 

“We have to _find_ Bruce before she can tase him,” Steve reminded him. Bruce had gone out on one of his soul-searching personal missions six months ago. They had realized three months ago that his absence wasn't voluntary.

 

“We're landing in half an hour. Going to meet with the new team at 1300 hours,” Clint reached into the supply cabinet and tossed him a set of clothes. “Make yourself presentable, Cap. It looks like you just got out of a really cold bath.”

 

Clint made a hasty retreat even as Sam's laughter erupted once more. Steve took a heavy sigh before shaking his head in the smallest amount of amusement he could muster,

 

“I liked you better when you were brainwashed, Barton.”

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy looked down at her plate in suspicion, then back up to Natasha. She pitched her head forward, gave a discriminatory sniff and looked back at Natasha with accusatory eyes. She poked her fork against the salmon then looked back at Natasha again with an impish pout.

 

“I'm not actively trying to poison you, little one,” Natasha promised with a soft smile that she reserved for only a handful of people.  The girl currently stabbing the unappetizing salmon viciously was definitely on that short list.

 

“I just want a piece of pizza. Or a cheesesteak. Or a Soft pretzel. Also peanut butter tasty cakes,” Darcy whined. “I've been eating pickled fucking herring for over two years. I want American fat food, please and thank you.”

 

“Soon,” Natasha nodded. “We'll take a road trip to Philadelphia and get you what you need.”

 

“Jane comes too,” Darcy whispered, letting the idea of a girls only road trip distract her for the briefest and brightest of seconds. That was never going to happen. She sighed as she poked at the smoked salmon again. She looked up to the other side of the cafe where the freaking Winter Soldier was casing the room. He didn't look like he was casing the room. He actually looked like he was prowling for some Swedish skanks, but she inherently knew that he was taking mental inventory of all the threats, available exits and viable weaponry. She watched as he slunk towards the men's room, her attention drifting from the table she sat at with Natasha.

 

So she should be excused for the fact that she didn't notice the handsome man who sat down next to her and leaned in to sniff at her plate. Her gaze whipped to the right and she had the good fortune to be looking at the most jovial of smiles on an incredibly handsome face. He pushed her plate further away and sighed,

 

“European food stinks. I'd kick someone's ass for an Italian sub.”

 

“Hoagie,” Darcy corrected automatically.

 

“Philly girl. I can dig it,” Handsome stranger nodded. He held out a hand to her and said, “Sam Wilson. Bringing best friends together since 2014.”

 

“Darcy Lewis,” she smiled easily, gripping his hand and shaking. “In captivity since 2013.”

 

“Damn girl, Coulson wasn't kidding. You are a pistol,” Sam grinned. He turned to Natasha and said, “Big happenings going on in the bathroom. We may want to go and make sure your boy's brain is still fixed from the fantastic Electro-Girl over here.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

Bucky washed his hands and looked at his face in the mirror, wondering if he should have shaved that morning. Darcy had hogged the safe house bathroom for over an hour and had only vacated it when he picked the lock and leered at her towel clad body.

 

In all fairness to him, the towel was tiny and her body was outta this world.

 

But he hadn't had the time to shave before Natasha had forced them out of the safe house. He didn't mind the stubble and he knew that modern day sensibilities had no problem with the permanent five o'clock shadow. Darcy hadn't complained and she had been stealing quite a few glances on the ride to the restaurant and AT the restaurant.  He didn't know exactly where the phrase _hubba hubba_ had originated from, but he knew that when Darcy had muttered it after seeing him in a new three piece suit that it was definitely flattering.

 

He knew he looked good. Seventy years on and off the ice hadn't been able to change that. He ran a hand through his hair as he gave himself an approving smirk, looking and feeling very much like 1940's Bucky instead of this new millenium's Winter Soldier.

 

The door to the bathroom opened and he felt that odd tingle at the base of his skull. Not quite as powerful as before. It felt more like a dying gasp of something that had once been powerful.

 

He turned from the mirror and leapt without realizing it. He went to tackle Steve Rogers, but faltered somewhere in the middle.

 

 _Mission: Protect Darcy Lewis_.

 

Not Mission: Kill Captain America.

 

Huh...

 

Steve's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Bucky leap towards him and he couldn't stop his body from reacting. He rushed forward and grappled with his best friend from another lifetime, intent on getting him in a defensive hold so the Winter Soldier couldn't hurt either of them or retreat to another corner of the globe. His arm wrapped around Bucky's neck and he applied some pressure. Not enough to incapacitate, just enough to subdue.  All thoughts of Darcy Lewis and his teammates in the waiting restaurant flew from his brain as he tried to contain Bucky.  Tried to keep him trapped and safe and _right there with him_.

 

“Leggo---”

 

Steve heard Bucky's muffled order as the metal hand came up to grasp at the stronghold. Bucky's feet found purchase and pushed off the nearby wall, causing Steve's balance to falter and the two men stumbled backwards into the wooden stall doors of the bathroom. The combined strength and weight of the super soldiers made the wooden walls splinter and break as if they were made of tissue paper and not heavy timber.

 

Steve finally lost his footing and went sprawling, his head hitting the edge of a toilet and his hold on Bucky's neck loosening. Bucky slammed his head against the front of Steve's face and grumbled as he rolled away.

 

“Fucking punk!” he growled. He looked down at his slacks and shook his head. “If you got piss or shit from this cesspool of a latrine on my new damned pants, I swear to G---”

 

“Buck?” Steve whispered.

 

“It's _James_.”

 

Bucky's cold reply didn't really dampen Steve's spirits. This was Bucky. This was not the Winter Soldier.

 

Darcy cleared her throat obnoxiously from the bathroom door where she was flanked by Natasha and Sam. She held up a finger and pointed at all of them one by one as she announced,

 

“Fucking Punk. Buck slash James. Darcy. Natasha. Sam. We're all nice and introduced now. Oh hey Clint.”

 

Darcy waved from the door to the corner of the room, where Clint was perched on a window sill. Darcy looked back at the idiot on the disgusting bathroom floor and the idiot obsessively checking his pants for traces of bathroom disgust. He and Steve were standing less than a foot apart and both were now staring at each other heatedly. Darcy couldn't quite tell if they were about to tear each other apart piece by piece or tear each other _apart_ in a completely different manner. She pulled her taser out of her, well Bucky's stolen sweatshirt pocket and stomped over to stand in front of them. She wedged herself between them and aimed the taser between the two of them.

 

She did _not_ smirk victoriously when Steve positively flinched at the sight of her weapon.

 

“You aren't supposed to hurt Captain America anymore, Metal Hand,” Darcy warned, aiming the taser back at Bucky. “I'll re-educate you again, swear to Thor.”

 

“It's all right, Sparky,” Bucky mumbled, taking his heated gaze off of Steve and looking down at the pushy dame between them, less of a glare but still a pleasantly heated expression. “It was just a reflex, then this idiot decided to put me in a choke hold.”

 

“Sorry I didn't know if it was safe, you've both tried to kill me the last time we came face to face,” Steve sassed back at both of them.

 

Darcy rolled her eyes and looked at the assembled superheroes and spies before nodding decisively.

 

“I'd like to go save Jane now, please and thank you.”

 

* * *

 

The entire crew returned to the safe house shortly after, as Clint had deemed the food at the restaurant too awful for human consumption. One stop at a grocery store had procured enough bread, butter and cheese to create a truly enormous amount of grilled cheese sandwiches and Darcy had eaten three of them already. She refused to even feel the slightest bit gluttonous because Clint had scarfed down six, Natasha seven and the geriatric soldiers and the pretty soldier had put away a grand total of twenty-two sandwiches altogether.

 

“I could eat some cookies,” Clint mumbled in Darcy's ear shot. He heaved a heavy sigh and put on his best pout and said to no one in particular, “I may have even scraped together enough hardware and chocolate chips so that someone with the appropriate skill set could...you know...bake some cookies. That I would then eat. With great abandonment and enjoyment.”

 

“Hell, if that were to happen, I might even write sonnets in ode to whomever should have that appropriate skill set,” Sam nodded his head. “ _Oh great cookie baker, you bring light to dark times...”_

 

“NATASHA!” Darcy called out in annoyance. The red head walked into the kitchen with a raised brow. Darcy frowned at her and tattled, “I've been out of captivity for less than twenty-four hours and I'm being forced into cookie making indentured service.  Re-educate them in feminism.”

 

“I could eat a few cookies,” Natasha shrugged.

 

“Rude!” Darcy huffed, going towards the oven and preheating it anyway. Less than half an hour later, the counters were covered with cooling trays of chocolate chips cookies and Darcy sighed in blissed out contentment. Baking really did relax her. She watched as Natasha and the bird boys burnt their tongues on molten chocolate chips and said, “This was way better than trying to make brownies on the Bunsen burner in the lab.”

 

“Bruce said you and Jane weren't allowed to do that anymore,” Clint laughed. “After The Great Burnt Eyebrow Disaster of 2013.”

 

“Stark had been so pissed,” Natasha chuckled. “He looked ridiculous with the goatee and no eyebrows.”

 

“Just wait, Wilson,” Clint promised. “When we get Doc Foster and Boobs McGee back together in the same air, you're gonna see the havoc they can wreak together. The shit they plan is _**epic.** _ ”

 

Darcy found her smile going maudlin for a moment before she shook it off, dumped some warm cookies on a plate and said, “I'm going to the nursing home and feeding the old folks.”

 

“They're sparring, make sure you knock!” Sam warned her.

 

* * *

 

Steve had insisted on getting Bucky alone as soon as they had had their fill of dinner. Bucky wiped sweat from his brow as he glared at his childhood friend and blew out a shaky breath. He lunged forward again and grappled with the Captain, taking him by the shoulders and gracefully swinging his own body around Steve's so that he could leverage him to the ground.

 

Darcy did NOT knock and scrambled into the room with a plate full of heavenly smelling cookies and absolutely did not hide her disappointment at the boys simply _wrestling_ each other. Fully clothed. No spit swapping. Both of the supersoldiers had wanted to test out how well Bucky's programming had been broken, and were keen to see if some light sparring would cause Bucky to do some light _murdering_ instead. Darcy was convinced that light sparring was code for _making out and heavy petting_. She was sorely disappointed.

 

“Ruin a girl's fun,” she huffed, placing the cookies on the floor by their heads.

 

Steve did some sort of fancy elbow move that ended Bucky's hold over him and grabbed a cookie. He looked at it thoughtfully, his mouth watering but took a heavy pause. He looked at the girl suspiciously and asked, “Did you poison it?”

 

“Cappy! I am shocked and appalled that you think I would do that to my world famous chocolate chippers,” Darcy put on her best righteously indignant face. “Besides, everyone knows that when I poison, I use liquids. It hits the blood stream _way_ faster than solids.”

 

“Good to know,” Bucky shrugged, grabbing a cookie and cramming the entire thing into his mouth. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he chewed and swallowed. He watched as Steve took a tentative bite and made a move, pushing the man aside so he could grab the whole plate. He did a wicked tumbling rolling move all the while keeping the plate upright and was now ten feet away from Steve, who clearly wanted more at that point. Bucky smirked at him and crammed another cookie into his mouth.

 

“It's okay, Stevie,” Darcy shrugged. “I've got eight more dozen upstairs along with a couple gallons of milk.”

 

“Milk?” Steve furrowed his brow. “Milk that you might have poisoned?”

 

Bucky rolled his eyes. He recognized a smitten Steve Rogers.  He knew Steve was trying to flirt. He'd seen him attempt it a million times in the past. The man had zero game. Because what Steve thought was flirting was actually coming out more like a petulant accusation. Bucky threw a cookie at his head and was slightly miffed when the man's serum enhanced reflexes had him plucking the projectile out of the air.

 

“She's your damned fiancee now, you mooch,” Bucky drawled. “She can't poison you until she's got a ring on her finger and her name on the will.”

 

“This is a bad idea,” Steve sighed. He furrowed his brow while munching on the cookie and wondered, “Usually Natasha has better ideas. Why is this one so bad?”

 

“She poses as your intended, it gets a lot of press,” Bucky explained. “It gets the right people looking and before we know it, I can bust in and rescue the Lightning God's dame. I'll make myself a collection of pretty rescued dames.”

 

“Charmer,” Darcy rolled her eyes.

 

“She's going to get a lot of press, and she's going to get a lot of violence brought her way,” Steve shook his head, talking about Darcy as if she wasn't standing _right in front of him_.

 

Bucky watched as Darcy twitched at Steve's dismissal of her and he stifled a grin with another cookie.

 

“Aw, Sparky can handle herself just fine,” Bucky fished. He gave Steve an arch of an eyebrow and said, “She took you down twice. Three if she poisoned the milk.”

 

“Has Natasha ever gone over basic self-defense with her? What if her taser gets taken away?” Steve demanded of Bucky, again, ignoring the fact that Darcy was still standing, now with her arms crossed in a very put off manner, _**right in front of him** _ **.**

 

“I could use a refresher,” Darcy said sweetly. “It's been a while since that first lesson.”

 

Bucky's heart thumped in his chest as he surveyed Darcy's demeanor. He reached into his pocket for the cell phone Natasha had given him earlier in the day and discretely pressed record. He may have missed the first two take downs, but he was damned sure going to memorialize this one.

 

 

Darcy watched as Steve ambled to his feet, wiping his hands on his sweatpants. She stood in front of him and asked in a saccharine laced voice, “Just try to come at me from behind and go slow...talk me through it...”

 

Bucky bit his knuckles as Steve did what she said. Captain America cleared his throat and _blushed_ the prettiest shade of pink as his arms went up to reach for Darcy's shoulder. One hand remained on her shoulder and he slowly brought his other arm up to wrap around her neck.

 

“Okay, first of all if someone---”

 

Darcy drew in a deep breath and brought her hands up to rest on Steve's forearm. She butted her head back at him, throwing him off guard and maneuvered under his arm. She twisted his appendage so that she was standing behind him and reached up and grabbed a fistful of hair.

 

She swung him around while nearly tearing out his hair, his body going 360 degrees in a full circle and simultaneously to his knees. She used the leverage of his hair, yanked back and slammed his head into the floor three times before pulling away and retreating to the opposite wall.

 

Bucky howled with laughter as he applauded her vigorously.

 

“Don't ever speak over my head again,” Darcy warned. She rushed for the door and said, “And your un-poisoned cookies and milk will be upstairs when you've licked your wounds.”

 

Steve huffed a sigh from his sprawled out position on the floor. He wasn't in any pain, Darcy's move had been surprising, but hadn't caused pain. His ego was dented a bit though. He looked up to Bucky and peevishly asked,

 

“I'm still lousy with dames, aren't I?”

 

Bucky gave him a shrug and offered helpfully, “Just the dames that matter, punk.”

  


* * *

 

**Chapter Three**

_**Say Yes to the Purse** _

 

 

“Not that I don't appreciate the fancy new wardrobe, but is this really the best use of our time here?” Darcy questioned as Sam perused the rack of dresses that the shop girl had rolled into the dressing room. They had spent the night in the safe house and were off the next morning for some retail therapy. Sam handed her a bright blue dress that she knew would fit her like a second skin and compliment every single damned one of her assets perfectly. It had only taken trying on two of Sam's picks before she realized that the man was a god sent down from Fashion God Mountain. He had a sharp sense of style and a great eye.

 

“You and Stevie need to look the part,” Sam shrugged, wrinkling his nose at a patterned red dress and moving it to the back of the rack. “Barnes is already miles ahead of the both of you in the clothing department. Which you know, he was an assassin for Mother Russia and on ice for most of the last century, so that's bad on both of you.”

 

“I've been in captivity for over two years, so sorry I didn't get the note that beanie hats are out! Besides, no clothing is going to make me look like Steve Rogers' fiancee,” Darcy scoffed from behind the door to the small changing room where she was shuffling into the blue number Sam had picked. She sighed and said, “No amount of designer labels will make me look like I'm Captain America's one true love.”

 

“You are selling yourself short,” Sam chided her. He watched in anticipation as Darcy threw the door to her little changing room open and turned her bare back to him. He chuckled and zipped her up. Before dragging her out to look at herself in the mirror. “You're a knockout, honey. In sweatpants or Gucci.”

 

“Why can't you be my fake fiance?” Darcy demanded childishly. “Captain America has done nothing but glare at me since lunch yesterday.”

 

“You tased him, little one,” Natasha reminded her as she swept into the changing room, her arms full of shoes. She nodded at Darcy's appearance approvingly before handing her a pair of sky high heels. She tapped the chunky heel and said, “Hollow. We can get a blade in there.”

 

“ _Sexy_ ,” Sam whispered to himself. Natasha gave him a dangerous eyebrow raise, which only caused the man to drool.

 

“I tased Thor, he made me his shield sister,” Darcy said petulantly.

 

“Barnes will go in to Rome first, as an antiquities dealer. He'll be there to offer protection,” Natasha assured her, going over the very basics of the plan for what felt like the thousandth time in the last hour alone. Darcy knew that Natasha was repeating it as many times as possible, because she hoped that if she repeated it enough, Darcy might actually follow the plan. Her hopes were probably for naught. But she went on regardless, “You and Cap will follow. You posing as his fiancee will get the world to take notice.”

 

“And the world would notice Captain America's bride to be getting kidnapped,” Sam piped in.

 

“And those that kept you in Norway will not follow if you are under his direct protection, not to retake you. They'll make polite contact,” Natasha insisted. “You go to Rome, we will provide backup and set up the extraction. Two days from now, you will go to a charity event. Someone will notice. Someone will come to you and that person will lead us to Jane.”

 

“Right,” Darcy sighed. “I miss Jane. I do. But---Captain America scowls at me and acts like I pissed in his morning coffee. Or poisoned it.”

 

“You hit him with a car,” Natasha laughed. She smiled and said, “And I remember Barton telling me about The Great Milkshake Poisoning of 2011. Coulson still refuses to drink dairy products. I'm sure he properly warned the Captain.”

 

“And Barnes sent us the video of you taking him down last night,” Sam chuckled. “You are my new hero.”

 

“Jane hit Thor with a car. He made her his girlfriend,” Darcy bantered back as she slipped on Natasha's modified heels. She wasn't going to lie. She never lied. She had long since harbored a crush on Captain America. It started with the Saturday morning cartoon of Captain America and his faithful teenaged sidekick Bucky Barnes. She'd have to show the cartoon to James eventually. It'd get a hell of a reaction. But yes, eight-year-old Darcy Lewis had fallen in love with cartoon Captain America. She may have obsessively checked his tag on tumblr after the alien invasion of New York. She may have had a crush. And now she had tried to kill him twice and was expecting him to provide protection during an undercover spy activity that she was in NO WAY trained for. She wasn't making it back home. Without a doubt.

 

Natasha smiled at her ruefully as she admired Darcy's dress. She reached out and pet the girl's black locks and said confidentially, “And Steve is making you his fiancee, little one. You win.”

 

* * *

 

 

“This one has more room for weapons.”

 

“Kate Spade? REALLY Rogers?”

 

Steve looked down at the fancy black bag and shrugged. What did a name on a bag matter? And how in the hell did Bucky know about modern day fancy bags? Sure, his friend from Brooklyn had always been up to date on fashion, but that had been nearly 80 years ago. He crossed his arms defensively in front of him and said, “If she's my fiancee, she's not going to be carrying around some ridiculously expensive bag.”

 

“The Hermes Birkin,” Bucky said decisively, holding out the handsome brown leather bag. “She got it as a gift from your friend Stark. Its got more compartments and will hold more weapons and actually hold up to the wear and tear.”

 

“It's twelve thousand dollars!” Steve balked. He held up the black Kate Spade bag and said, “No way would any girl I ask to marry me carry around a bag that costs that much. Jesus Buck, what the hell are you thinking?”

 

“JAMES,” Bucky ground out. “I'm not---I can't. I'm not that guy anymore, and the quicker you get that through your thick skull, the easier this will go you dumb punk.”

 

“Jerk,” Steve muttered back. Sure this wasn't Bucky from 1942 anymore. But there was something left in him... in this man in front of him. He could feel it, hear it, _smell_ it. A flash of blue caught his eye and he spun around.

 

The agitated tension left both men as Darcy strolled into the room, looking amazing in a vintage style dress, sweetheart neckline, A-line skirt swishing above her knees. A different kind of tension seeped back into their bones as she fiddled with the ends of her hair as she stared between them. James held a brown leather bag and Steve held a shiny black bag. She furrowed her brow and shook her head. She gestured to Clint and he tossed her a black messenger bag with patches and stickers all over it. Thor had entrusted the archer to bring the bag to Darcy. Her fingers played at the fraying edges and caught on a bright turquoise patch with the words SCIENCE SISTERS emblazoned on it.

 

_Darce...we're being held against our will...I need you to promise me something. The research, the portals...they can't fall into the wrong hands. If we get separated or anything happens to me, you need to promise that you'll do everything in your power to make sure that they can't use the portals. It's more important than my life. It's—It's more important than YOUR life. Please..._

 

Darcy worked her bottom lip between her teeth, thinking of what Jane had told her two months into their stay in Norway. Nothing else mattered but finding Jane again and keeping the portals out of dangerous hands. She looked back up to the two super soldiers and their purses and her tone left no room for argument,

 

“I prefer this one.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Starkforce One is out of commission, Pepper's got a thing going on of some kind,” Barton relayed as they walked along the tarmac to the quinjet. He gestured his head at the impressive jet sitting next to the quinjet and said, “You'll have to settle for Starkforce Two.”

 

“That's a shame,” Steve said honestly.

 

“However will we manage,” Darcy rolled her eyes in mockery. Steve's cheeks immediately pinked and she couldn't help but continue, “The travesty of being denied _Starkforce One_. Don't they know Captain America needs his perks?”

 

“Surely we won't survive the absence of the luxury of Starkforce One,” Bucky played along with her. If he had known teasing Steve was infinitely more fun with a partner, he would have looked for one more earnestly before the war.

 

“My heart is shriveling at the lack of opulence and golden toilets!” Darcy mocked.

 

“It's not about that!” Steve said peevishly. He blushed and said, “My favorite stewardess works on Starkforce One.”

 

“Your favorite _stewardess_?” Bucky asked shrewdly, his eyes narrowing at Steve.

 

Darcy threw an elbow in Bucky's gut so he could check his jealous reaction and avoid embarrassing himself in front of Barton, who had ambled ahead of the trio. She looked up and gave Bucky a small smile and shrugged.

 

“I'm sure Starkforce Two's stewardess is at least 80% as hot as Starkforce One's stewardess,” Darcy sneered. “Maybe she's a redhead instead of a blonde.”

 

“Doris is completely gray and 57 years old,” Natasha interrupted from behind. “She really is the best of the Starkforce stewardess team. Which is why she is on Starkforce _One._ She makes the best cocoa. And that is why she is Steve's favorite.”

 

Steve beamed with victory as they walked ahead and boarded the plane.

 

“57 is a little young for you, Cappy,” Darcy muttered under her breath. Steve turned to her with a withering look and she cursed. Stupid serum enhanced hearing.

 

Natasha went on board as well before they departed and went over the plan schematics once more, trying like hell to drill it into Darcy's head more securely. She turned to James and demanded, “Mission plan.”

 

“Protect Sparky. Protect the punk. Gather intel. Find Jane,” James listed off.

 

“You know you can throw your own safety into the mission plan too,” Darcy suggested helpfully. “I totally recommend you staying completely safe and alive. For Stevie's sake.”

 

Natasha rolled her eyes at Darcy before whipping a brown paper grocery bag out of thin air. She handed it to Darcy and said, “All your favorites, little one.”

 

“NAT I LOVE YOU OH MAH GAWD!” Darcy drawled after peaking into the bag. She giggled and threw herself at the older woman, clinging in a tight embrace. For one split second, some sort of facade dropped and Steve watched her in confusion as the giggly, giddy girl disappeared and in her place was an emotional, conflicted, _terrified_ young woman.

 

“I'll see you soon, little one,” Natasha murmured, before pulling away. She spared one hardened glance between Steve and Bucky and said, “Be good to her. Or there will be hell to pay.”

 

“What'd you give her?” Bucky furrowed his brow, trying to look in the bag that had caused Darcy's glee.

 

“A quarter of her body weight in candy,” Natasha drolly provided. She grinned before walking off the plane. “Have an excellent flight gentleman.”

 

* * *

 

 

Darcy had consumed half of the bag of candy within twenty minutes after take off. Since then, the inferior Starkforce Two stewardess had helpfully suggested strapping her down so that she could stop trying to disassemble safety features of the plane. She was a handful and Bucky had to admit, it was a lot of fun trying to keep up with her, if not a little tiring.

 

Half of it was Steve's reactions to the dame that was literally a tiny ball of irrepressible energy. He was bewitched, Bucky could tell. He had his own stage of Steve being bewitched with him. He could read the signs. Bucky hoped that all of Steve's nervous energy and downright crush on the girl would start paying off in more embarrassment from the good Captain. Steve was all sorts of cute when he was embarrassed.

 

Clint had offered him a hundred dollars if he could get another video of Darcy taking Steve down.

 

Sam had offered him two hundred dollars if he could get a video of Darcy making Steve _cry._

 

Hell, he could use the money. The military was being very slow in depositing his back pay.

 

Darcy had grabbed the group phone from Steve despite his protests and was actively skipping around the plane as she played keep-away with the flustered Captain.

 

“Don't you have your own phone?” Steve demanded mulishly. “Coulson said you never put it down. And you gave him hell and poisoned his milkshake for taking it.”

 

“That was my iPod,” Darcy corrected, scrolling through news feeds on the phone. “I don't have a phone.”

 

“I find that hard to believe,” Steve shook his head. “Thor said you were... _adept at the book of face_.”

 

Darcy laughed at Steve's spot on Thor imitation. Steve puffed up a little, proud to have gotten a laugh out of her that wasn't a laugh at his expense. Darcy shook her head. “I don't have a phone, I've been in kidnapped isolation for the past two years. I wouldn't lie to you about a phone, Cappy. In fact, I wouldn't lie to you ever.'

  
  


“She doesn't lie,” Bucky agreed helpfully, beaming as Darcy high-fived him and plopped down on his lap unceremoniously. Her sugar high coming down slightly. She pointed to the phone and showed Bucky, “Look at this. Natasha must have given the go ahead for the press release. The world knows I'm marrying Captain America.”

 

“Stark has a whole department to take care of that stuff,” Steve shrugged. “A lot of pictures are going to start being leaked in the next twenty-four hours.”

 

“Pictures? Of what, you holding a two year old picture of me?” Darcy laughed.

 

“The department...at Stark Industries, they're good with faking pictures,” Steve explained, distinctly uncomfortable. “They made a lot of them.”

 

And Steve had spent a lot of time looking at them. He and Darcy on dates. He and Darcy in fancy clothes at some sort of gala. He and Darcy in embraces. Darcy smiling up at him in amusement and adoration. They had been really nice pictures. It had been like he and Darcy were actually together. Actually in love. He'd be lying if he said he _didn't_  have a copy of one of the pictures on his bedside table back at the tower. It had been nice to wake up to their smiling faces.

 

“I'd like to see some of those pictures,” Bucky shrugged. He winked at Steve without really meaning to and said, “They got our boy pinking up so nice and pretty over there, Sparky.”

 

“Shuddap you jerk.”

 

  


“' 'M tired...” Darcy announced. Her sugar levels crashed through the floor of the plane and exactly five seconds after her announcement, she had dropped the phone to the floor and slumped her head against Bucky's chest, her body going loose and pliant.

 

“She okay?” Steve asked in dismay.

 

Her deep snore reverberating off of Bucky's chest answered him.

 

“It's been a couple of rough days, I'd wager. The extreme sugar crash isn't helping that,” Bucky smiled fondly, petting the girl's head as she cuddled closer to him. Softly, and without really meaning to, he murmured, “She's a hell of a dame, Stevie.”

 

“I got that,” Steve nodded. “Believe me, I got it.”

 

“I got something for you and her in my pocket over here, come fish it out,” Bucky ordered gently.

 

Steve blushed, _again,_ but did as he was told. He cleared his throat before reaching into Bucky's pants, fingers grasping more than he probably needed to before he pulled out a small jewelry box. A ring box.

  


Steve cracked it open and his eyes opened in shock. Pearl ring, surrounded by small, sparkling diamonds.

 

“Looks like your ma's ring,” Bucky whispered. He smiled as Steve bent next to his chair and reached for Darcy's hand. He slid the ring on her engagement finger and Bucky grinned, “Nice, ain't it?”

 

“Yeah Buck. Real nice.”

 

It was the first time Bucky didn't correct him on his name choice.

 

Felt _nice_.

 

* * *

 

 

“We're okay.”

 

 

“You're okay. Shut your perfect fucking face hole.”

 

Steve rolled his eyes at Darcy's automatic snippy response. It was like she couldn't stop herself. He looked down at her in bemused annoyance as they made their way into the lobby of the St. Regis hotel in Rome. He couldn't help but swallow dryly at the vast opulence in front of him. He reached down and grabbed Darcy's hand, grateful that she played her part and didn't try to pull away. Instead she latched on and squeezed as her wide blue eyes took in the beautiful lobby.

 

“We're okay,” she whispered, twirling the ring on her finger. The ring that had magically grown there during her power nap on the plane. She looked to the check in desk and saw James finishing his transaction, taking his room key and placing it in his jacket pocket. He turned and gave her a slight wink before disappearing once again. Separating after the jet hand landed had been the first time Darcy had been separated from James since he came into the lab in Norway. It sucked.

 

Seeing James calmed something within her. If Steve's grip on her hand was any indication, it calmed something in both of them. Steve pulled her to the desk and she stared up at him with what she hoped was adoration as he handled their check in.

 

Before she knew it, they had arrived at their room and the bell hop had barely shut their door in his exit before she breathed out,

 

“Holy shitballs.”

 

“There is that, yes,” Steve nodded, looking around at the gorgeously appointed room. Darcy dropped his hand and rushed through the rooms. He was left to gape at the beautiful sitting room, every square inch of it seemed to be soaked in money. And then coated with more money before finally being lacquered and polished with money.

 

“THERE'S A CHANDELIER IN THE BATHROOM!” Darcy squealed.

 

“We've come a long way from Brooklyn,” James said smoothly as he entered the room from the balcony. He scowled at the hopeful look on Steve's face. The punk had been throwing him those looks every time James opened his mouth. He felt like he was kicking a puppy every time Steve's hopes fell when the old banter and friendship didn't surface, despite James _wanting_ for everything to go back to normal. 60 percent of the time, everything seemed to be going smoothly, but he'd be damned if he wanted to be hurting Steve the other 40 percent.

 

Kicking puppies sucked.

 

“Dude, I grew up in a falling apart row home in East Germantown, Pennsylvania. You're fucking telling me,” Darcy blew out another low whistle. She clapped her hands together and rushed towards the phone. “I'm ordering eight carts of room service! What's a fancy champagne name? I want to order ten of them!!”

 

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

**Chapter Four**

_**The Geriatric Duo and the Queen of All That Matters Take Rome** _

 

 

“You have to avoid fighting, if at all possible.”

 

Natasha's clear order over the speaker phone made all three members of what Darcy had helpfully dubbed _The Geriatric Duo and the Queen of All That Matters_ groan in annoyance. Three pairs of blue eyes in varying shades darted to meet the others in a random sequence, each gaze was both accusatory and defensive at the same time. Eventually the trios gaze went back to the phone, weary acceptance on their faces. The _if at all possible_ of Natasha's warning had clearly been heard the loudest.

 

“NO righteous brawls to save the little man,” Sam piped in from the other end of the line.

 

James and Darcy both smirked at Steve, whose shoulders jerked slightly in practiced annoyance. Steve looked to James surreptitiously and could just make out a quick haze of remembrance in the set of his eyebrows before they quirked in annoyance again as Natasha spoke again.

 

“NO sniping anyone from the rooftops.”

 

Darcy snorted and Steve bit back a chuckle as it was James' turn to scowl at the both of them. He hadn't actively sniped anyone in a long time. Even on the little missions Natasha had sent him on, he was mostly just watching through a scope, making sure that there were no other assassins in firing range of important politicians. Besides, a hell of a lot of good he'd do with this mission if he was too far away to listen to the intel or to make sure Darcy didn't get herself kidnapped or killed. As if on cue, Barton's voice came over the phone, and the grin could be heard in his voice.

 

“And absolutely NO tasing, hitting anyone with a car, poisoning them, or sending anyone to another dimension.”

 

“Hold on, she can send people to other dimensions?” Steve demanded, real worry saturating his voice. If she had already ticked off two of the four attacks at her disposal AND taken him down in hand to hand combat, he wondered when she'd zap him to the outermost reaches of the galaxy. It could only be a matter of time.

 

“Don't get your tights in a twist, Cappy,” Darcy rolled her eyes, even as James barked out a small note of laughter. She fiddled with the waist of one of the many beautiful dresses that Sam had picked out for her before leveling the clearly troubled Steve with an arched eyebrow and a curve of a smirk playing at her lips. “I don't have the equipment with me at the moment. Besides, its a two person job. Once we get Jane back, we can talk about any galactic vacation spots you might pick out.”

 

“Enough foreplay,” Barton ordered. “You've got a job to do today.”

 

“Give us the mission parameters,” Natasha demanded, determined to make sure what she considered the second most volatile participant in this mission was on board. Number one most volatile was of course her favorite lab assistant, and she knew damn well that Darcy could not be entirely controlled or completely instructed.

 

“Shadow Sparky and the Punk. Gather intel on Jane,” Bucky gruffly recounted. He threw a smirk Darcy's way and said, “Protect Sparky. Watch her hopefully get another chance to destroy the Captain physically.”

 

“Amen,” Barton chuckled.

 

“I'm not actively trying to incapacitate a national icon!” Darcy huffed. She looked to a wide eyed, slightly frightened Steve, clear anger set on her pretty face and demanded mulishly, “Tell them I'm not trying to hurt you on purpose! Tell them you're a big boy and can take care of yourself or I'll---I'll....”

 

“Or she'll crush your balls under her feet,” Bucky muttered the end of the threat.

 

“I hate both of your AARP geriatric early bird special eating asses!” Darcy hissed as Bucky disconnected the call and placed the phone in his jacket pocket. She grabbed her bag and stomped towards the door of their room. She twirled around, her face a vision of annoyance and anger. “If someone isn't buying me gelato in the next fifteen minutes, I will figure out a way to work that portal all by myself and you two can spend the rest of eternity exchanging heated looks of repressed sexual longing while fighting off Bilgesnipes in the shittiest depths of the bowels of Asgard.”

 

* * *

 

 

Four hours of sightseeing, one large lemon gelato and three cups of espresso later, Darcy was watching the sun sink into the sky in a brilliant mix of purples and oranges. As far as her life went, this was a pretty great way to get over a kidnapping and a forced engagement with America's first superhero. She looked over to Steve, who was less than three feet away, his hand gripping a pencil over a page in a small sketchbook he had brought along, his eyes taking in the sights and memorializing all he could as quickly as possible. A cool breeze blew through the square and Darcy felt the goosebumps start to prickle on her bare arms.

 

The wardrobe Sam had picked out was gorgeous, no doubt, but most of the dresses were sleeveless and she had been unable to convince him that she could bring along any comfy, cozy sweatshirts. She had smuggled Bucky's in her luggage anyway, but what Sam didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Steve looked up at her suddenly and after two seconds of surveillance, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

 

“Thanks,” she said softly, pulling the large jacket tighter around herself. She breathed in deeply through her nose, appreciating the smell of gentle soap and a slightly spicy musk. She couldn't help herself, “You smell like baby bald eagles and freedom.”

 

“You are—I—okay,” Steve managed to stutter out shyly, his eyes widening at her soft, amused declaration. Today had been a bust as far as intel gathering went. But it had been a nice time nonetheless. If you got past her foul language, Darcy was an ideal, if not overly caffeinated, traveling companion. Bucky had been in the peripheral all day offering protection and a peace of mind that Steve had not experienced since the 1940's. The combination of the overwhelming, nostalgic feeling of contentment and safety coupled with the newness of Darcy's energetic and lively companionship had made this day almost feel like a real vacation. Definitely one of the best days he'd had in a long time.

 

“Hungry.”

 

Darcy smirked as the one word was muttered by James as he walked past them nonchalantly. She reached out and took Steven's arm and steered them to walk back towards the hotel. She watched as James straddled the ice blue Vespa and took off ahead of them, knowing that he was avidly staking out their path, intent on keeping any stray threat to their safety off of the radar. While they had made no contacts with Jane's kidnappers, they had done a good job today. She had heard the clicking of cameras in their direction all afternoon. She knew that pictures of her and Steve were probably saturating instagram, facebook and tumblr at that point.

 

Any appeal she held with her previous hosts had just quadrupled in value. It was only a matter of time before they reached out for her again. And they would lead her and the team straight to Jane. Soon. It was only a matter of time at this point.

 

“Hands up.”

 

Oh shit.

 

* * *

 

James brought the Vespa to a stop and took a glance in his rear view mirror. Two dark figures were directly behind Darcy and Steve and they didn't look like fans. They actually looked like they didn't know they were trying to rob two of the most dangerous people in Rome at that moment. Shit, Captain America was bringing his hands up, clearly itching for a fight. James could trust Ste---Captain America to not completely destroy the two very human robbers. But more concerning was Darcy, who looked especially spooked as her hand went into her bag to grab at her taser.

 

That wasn't going to end well.

 

James tried to telepathically alert his friend from another lifetime that Darcy was about to make this whole operation a hell of a lot more complicated by shooting enough electricity into at least one of the robbers to probably put him in a coma. He had watched the girl he had accurately nicknamed _Sparky_ fiddling with her contraption in the early hours of morning. He knew she had managed to increase the voltage. He vaguely guessed that she had done so in order to completely take out any serum enhanced individuals she may have to in the future.

 

He had to give the girl credit. She had a lot of moxie. But she didn't need death on her hands. She had been scared out of her mind back in Norway when she had crashed into Steve with the car. She didn't want to hurt anybody like that. And that much voltage in a normal human being would definitely bring that distinction to her. He was about to hop off the bike and go back to diffuse the situation when he saw Steve's hand going around her shoulders, bringing her in a tight, one armed, protective hug. Steve handed over the cash from his wallet and then looked down at Darcy with what could only be described as a gentle apology.

 

Darcy's face crumpled and James was surprised that the sudden devastation in her expression caused an odd thumping of his own heart. She shrugged her prized messenger bag off of her shoulder and shoved it at the robbers. A now petulant expression plastered across her pretty features. James huffed out an amused breath then. Those guys were going to pay that back tenfold someday. At either his, Steve's or Darcy's hands. Probably all three of them. As soon as they got Jane back, that bag was going to be found and returned to its rightful owner.

 

The robbers gestured to the pretty ring that sat on Darcy's left ring finger and her mouth dropped open in shock. She had been shocked to see it after waking up on the plane, but after Steve had explained that Bucky had gotten it for them, she had been either fiddling with it absently or giving it tiny little irreverent touches. Fake engagement or not, she had definitely liked that ring. It was a comfort to her and she refused to put into words why.

 

Steve squeezed his arm around her reassuringly and she wrenched the ring off and threw it at one of the robbers, her mouth opening in what James knew inherently was a string of the filthiest expletives she could come up with.

 

Steve hurried away from the successful robbers, hauling Darcy to his side, practically lifting her off the ground as he rushed them towards James. Steve's gaze locked with James' fifty yards out and he gave him a slight go-ahead nod. James chucked his chin ever so slightly before moving forward again. Intent on clearing the path back to the hotel and relative safety for both Darcy and Steve.

 

* * *

 

All of the caffeine and sugar that had been throbbing through Darcy's veins had promptly flown from her system in a post adrenaline free fall. She was passed out, face first in the cushy couch in the sitting room before the room service arrived and neither Steve or James had the heart to wake her up. Steve went to sign for the food while James bent at his knees and managed to maneuver the sleeping girl into a bridal style carry. He took her to the bedroom and carefully placed her on the bed.

 

His metal hand smoothed the bangs away from her face and he stared down at the artificial limb in dismay. He hadn't meant to do that. He swallowed nervously as the hand continued to operate on its own, the metal forefinger smoothing the line of discontent that had settled between Darcy's brows. She huffed a sigh in her sleep and mumbled something about metal hand and kittens before settling into a deep snoring sleep.

 

James couldn't help the smirk on his lips. And he also definitely couldn't help leaning in and pressing a firm kiss to her temple, lingering for far longer than his traitorous brain deemed necessary. Some higher brain function made him pull away before he could place his lips on the luscious mouth below him and he cracked his neck slightly. His eyes flicked over Darcy's form and knew there would be hell to pay if he even thought about changing her out of the dress and into cozy pajamas.

 

His bastard metal hand had other thoughts though and it started at her hip, drawing down her smooth bare leg at an absurdly slow pace. The circuitry in the arm sent signals to his brain and he could feel the buzz of pleasure hit his synapses as Darcy hummed appreciatively in her sleep. He heard the door shut in the front room of the suite and he reached for the shoes still on Darcy's feet and slipped them off.

 

“Yessssss,” Darcy hissed out in pleasure in her sleep at the loss of the shoes.

 

James chuckled, looking down at the four inch heels in his hand. They were a Natasha special. Easier to walk in than most shoes, but still hard on her feet after a whole day traversing Rome on foot. James clicked the hollow heel open and furrowed his brow at what he found.

 

The shoe clattered to the floor and James pulled out the small, circular, Shield issued disc. Fucking _punk_.

 

* * *

 

“How's our girl doing?” Steve questioned around a mouth full of pasta. He looked up at Bucky and his blue eyes widened in a lovely blend of wonderment and anxiety. He'd seen that pissed off, irritated, _pinched_ look on Bucky's face before. It usually was on display right before Bucky had to throw himself in to a brawl to rescue a pre-serum Steve.

 

The former Winter Soldier flicked the disc he had found on Darcy's person at Steve's face. Then he flicked the rest that he had found on HIS person.

 

“These.”

 

_Flick._

 

“Are.”

 

_Flick._

 

“Shield.”

 

_Flick._

 

“Issued.”

 

_Flick._

 

Steve schooled his features into a non-plussed reaction. He stood up and reached into his pocket. His hand full of small electronic chips that Bucky refused to react to. Steve _smirked_ andbegan flicking the chips at Bucky.

 

“These.”

 

_Flick._

 

“Are.”

 

_Flick._

 

“Russian.”

 

_Flick._

 

“Made.”

 

_Flick._

 

 

“We're supposed to be working together,” Bucky argued in a quiet but intensely angry voice. “Why do you need to lojack me and Sparky? Actually, yeah, we can continue to lojack Sparky. We can even make it a team effort if you're up to it. But you don't need to lojack me!”

 

  


“Yeah, and I suppose those Russian ones just hopped into my bag and my jacket and my wallet. By the way? I know you took my picture!”

 

“You know nothin', punk!” Bucky hotly retorted in whisper. Hell yes he had taken the picture of Steve and Darcy. There was no shame in it. It was a pretty picture of the two of them, smiling up at him with happiness and love and adoration. He wouldn't even deny it was currently residing in his suit jacket pocket. Right next to his heart, dammit.

 

“You know less than nothin, jerk! Why'd you plant them on me?” Steve countered, his voice also low in volume, ever mindful that waking Darcy might end badly for all of their persons.

 

“Cause you can't manage to keep yourself safe on a trip to the god damned latrine, Rogers, why do you think?” Bucky hissed at him taking a step forward until they were nose to nose.

 

“Says the idiot who got himself taken by Hydra. _..twice!”_ Steve shot back, not backing down in the least. “I'd like to have a back up plan in case you get your ass taken again.”

 

“Fuck you, punk!” Bucky whispered.

 

“You kiss your mother with that mouth, you jerk?” Steve countered.

 

“OH MY GOD, JUST KISS EACH OTHER ALREADY AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Darcy grumbled loudly from the bed room.

 

The room went deadly silent as Bucky and Steve stared each other down, nose to nose. Every few seconds one of them inhaled a sharp, measured breath. Seconds passed and Darcy's snore echoed throughout the room, breaking the trance that the two men had fallen into.

 

“I'll be back in the morning,” Bucky grumbled. “Try not to stick any more bugs on my ass on the way out.”

 

* * *

 

The next morning found Darcy in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for one of the super soldiers to retrieve her. She had woken to an empty suite, the couch that Steve had claimed as his own that first night was decidedly Steve-less. She couldn't help but entertain the idea that the geriatric duo had managed to retire to James' quarters for some well earned alone time.

 

Sure they were both good looking and surprisingly fun to be around. She had a certain strong attachment to James for being the man who dragged her out of Norway and she couldn't help the now maturing, no longer childhood crush on Steve. But they had called dibs on each other first, so she would not _entirely_ happily stand aside and let long repressed true love win the day on this outing. Besides, she knew the odds of completing this mission, rescuing Jane...two serum enhanced super soldiers were the ones to make it out. She was weaponless and powerless and she kind of sort of knew she wasn't going to make it back to the Stateside.

 

That didn't matter. What mattered was Jane. Jane's work. Keeping it safe and away from dangerous hands.

 

She sipped idly at her second espresso of the day and looked to the front doors, watching as the morning light glinted off of a familiar blond head as he came into the lobby and walked directly up to stand in front of her, looking down in horror at her from his towering height.

 

“Sup,” she greeted with another slurp of her espresso.

 

“Where's Bucky? What are you doing down here alone?” he demanded.

 

“Drinking coffee?” Darcy offered innocently, gesturing helpfully to the delicate cup in her hands. Her eyebrows arched in what Steve had rapidly categorized as unfiltered _sass_ as she continued, “Also, daydreaming about what you and Metal Hand got up to last night. Hopefully someone got to second base. Hopefully it was Metal Hand because have you seen your moobs? Honka honka...”

 

“Its--- _Jesus,_ it's not like that,” Steve sputtered. It hadn't been like that since Bucky had fallen from the train. Darcy didn't need to know what they had gotten up to in their adventurous youth.

 

“Suuuuuuuuuuuuure,” Darcy drawled out.

 

“I'm not---I like women,” Steve disputed, and even he could hear that he was _barely_ disputing at that point.

 

“You like people,” Darcy said knowingly. “I like people. If its good people, who cares about the dangly bits?”

 

 

“Dangly bits?” Steve's eyebrows shot up into his hair line, his cheeks pinking prettily.

 

“Stop being so adorable or I will have to react accordingly,” Darcy commanded intently, seeming very serious all of a sudden. She swallowed another mouthful of her deliciously caffeinated beverage as she tried not to focus on how stinking cute Captain America was. Stop here, Darcy. Just stop.

 

Steve got his blush under control and thrust a box into Darcy's face.

 

“I got you a new ring.”

 

“You got me a new ring?” Darcy repeated. Steve blushed _again_ and she realized that she had begun categorizing them. This wasn't embarrassment. This was lying, “Or you went out and got my ring back from whoever stole it? Or---you went out and bought it off the guy who stole it.”

 

 

Steve only shrugged in response, his eyes twinkling and basically wordlessly answering that it was the latter. Darcy took the box with a soft look on her face and opened it. It was beautiful. A shiny pearl encircled with sparkly diamonds on a platinum band. She looked back up at Steve and shook her head.

 

“I didn't need the ring back....it was probably really expensive.”

 

“It was,” Steve nodded, appreciating the way a nervous, embarrassed flush delicately painted Darcy's cheeks pink. “You're worth it. I tried to get the bag back too...but it was already gone.”

 

“Cappy, your game is only improving with time. That's dangerous,” Darcy cooed at him in spite of her best intentions, reaching up and pinching his cheek. “Don't think that this gets you out of any future talking about your feelings regarding your best friend slash boyfriend from another century thing. Aside from this moderately annoying spy business, we've got nothing but loads of time to talk, Cappy. It's all going to come to a head eventually. I'm invested in getting you two old men happy, _together_. I can do an awful lot of awesome things when I put my mind to it.”

 

“Of that, I have NO doubt.”

 

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

**Chapter Five**

_**Splish Splash Bang Bang** _

 

Tony Stark knew how to throw a party.

 

Even when the man was thousands of miles away on another continent, and more than likely didn't even _know_ the party was occurring, he still knew how to throw a party.

 

The Maria Stark Foundation's annual Charity Vintage Car Race and Rally was quite the event, and it was 99 percent probable that Tony Stark had no idea it was occurring. That didn't stop James from sending a thanks to the man who was currently in New York City. He really did prefer this mission to all others that had ever happened before in any of his lifetimes. The clothes, the comfortable splendor, the food. This was quite the life.

 

James purposefully shuffled into a stranger, his hands becoming tangled with a purse strap. He stepped back and smiled with an exceeding amount of charm at who he had bumped into. He saw blue eyes go to orange flame for the briefest of moments and felt his pulse quicken.

 

“Pardon me, ma'am,” James apologized.

 

“Not at all,” the woman answered with a smile, walking away elegantly in sky high heels.

 

James reached into his jacket pocket and turned the ticket he had lifted from the woman's purse. Two words were scrawled at the bottom.

 

“Photostatic veil.”

 

* * *

 

“Ah, Captain. It is a pleasure to see you here,” Erik Selvig reached out and gripped Steve's hand. He turned to Darcy and swallowed imperceptibly, his carefully polite smile slipping for the briefest of moments before speaking, “I see you've brought the little woman. Lovely! Captain, Miss Lewis, please allow me to introduce Rick Durant, one of the drivers and key contributors in the charity race today.”

 

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Durant,” Steve said without politeness, almost curtly. He didn't appreciate the way the race car driver's eyes were drinking in Darcy's form. It was lewd. It was inappropriate. And most importantly, it wasn't this man's right. The only men who should be allowed to look at her like that were himself and Bucky---no. That wasn't right. No one should look at her like that Steve corrected his own train of thought sanctimoniously.

 

A luxuriously decadent giggle drew all gazes to the patio entrance fifteen feet away. Darcy's eyebrow arched delicately and her mouth set itself in a thin line as James stepped out with the source of said decadent giggle. A very attractive blond giggler who had her hand on James' forearm as she threw her head back and giggled again. James smirked at the woman in a way she had only seen him smirk at her own face before. Or Steve's backside. It wasn't right for it to be aimed at this blonde skankwagon.

 

“Ah, my lovely wife,” Rick Durant smiled. “Serena, please meet the Captain and his lovely bride-to-be.”

 

Serena's eyes barely flickered from Bucky's flirty gaze and she offered a wave towards the others on the patio. Bucky didn't even bother looking at either Darcy or Steve. His blatant disregard made Steve twitch and next to him, he could feel an angry shudder run through Darcy. The flirting Serena and James kept their distance, moving towards the other end of the patio, James' expertly hidden metal hand at the small of Serena's back.

 

“Mr. Durant, I was wondering if you could show me one of the cars,” Darcy piped up suddenly, the dulcet tones of her voice definitely flirty. She stepped away from Steve and wrapped her arm around Durant's. She blinked long lashes up at the man and coquettishly admitted, “I have a healthy fascination with shiny things that go fast.”

 

Steve could feel his blood boiling. Between Bucky's ridiculous flirtation with Mrs. Durant and Darcy's counterattack of flirtation with   _Mr._  Durant, he felt that he was the only one actually under attack. However, with the married couple occupied between his two friends? Partners? Personal property? Erik covertly slid a card across the high top table. Steve managed to blink some sense into himself and plucked the card off the table, not even giving it a look before pocketing it quickly. His jaw ticked as Darcy made her way off the patio with Mr. Durant, flirting wildly.

 

Bucky managed one glare at Steve over Serena's head as her attention was drawn to the racing cars for one moment. His eyes darted towards Darcy's retreating form and then back at Steve's, mentally trying to get his obtuse friend to act for once and get Darcy away from the flirting Mr. Durant and just...away. Locked in a room somewhere safe. Where no one could see her. Or talk to her. Or make her laugh. But _them_.

 

It was a reasonable, wordless request made entirely with expressions in his eyes. Steve huffed a sigh and pushed away, feeling very much like a battered ball of string between two playful, adorable kittens.

 

He didn't understand why, but at least it was a relief to know he and Bucky were at least on the same possessive page when it came to Darcy. And when he thought about it hard enough, Darcy and he were on that page with Bucky too.

 

Steve had the distinct impression that all spy business aside, this was going to get seriously complicated.

 

* * *

 

“We can't get to the factory in time,” Natasha said over the phone. “We're two hours out on the helicarrier, getting the quinjet restocked, refueled and repaired.”

 

“Repaired?” Steve questioned.

 

“Bird boys had a moment,” Natasha muttered. “Idiots.”

 

“So, we go,” Bucky shrugged.

 

“I go,” Steve held up the card Erik gave him. It was a business card for an London area dry cleaner with an address on the back for a factory by the docks.

 

“Bull shit, we all go,” Darcy scoffed.

 

“NO.”

 

Both men spun to glare at Darcy. She gave them a look of righteous anger before stalking off to the bar in the corner of the sitting room. Bucky then turned his glare to Steve and said,

 

“Of the two of us, who has more experience going undetected in stealth missions and who is still struggling to adjust to the extra 12 inches and 100 pounds of muscle that Erskine's serum gave him?”

 

“I can be stealthy!” Steve disputed. “I've been on plenty of missions that required stealth.”

 

“You're awful at it Steve. You're a solider. Not a spy or an assassin. Just let Barnes go,” Natasha ordered. The sound of crashing metal cut into the phone and Natasha cursed in Russian. “Birdbrains! Rogers, stay with Lewis. Barnes, scope the place and be back in less than two hours or I will pilot the entire helicarrier back to you and pull you out. Give me the mission objectives.”

 

“Protect Sparky. Protect the Punk. Gather intel,” James ground out.

 

“I don't need you to protect me,” Steve countered.

 

“I'm fine too, if anyone is interested!” Darcy called out gaily from the bar.

 

“You're damned fine all the time. And you've had six shots of vodka in the last two minutes, of course you're feeling good, Sparky,” James smirked at her. She grinned back devilishly. James looked at Steve and ordered, “Keep her drunk so she doesn't follow me. She doesn't have her taser anymore.”

 

“Doesn't mean I don't have a whole arsenal on me, Metal hand,” Darcy smiled sweetly.

 

James looked her up and down.   _Leered_   at her. Drank in every square inch of her arsenal with a greedy gaze. He walked towards her on his way out through the balcony, stopping to place a sloppy, strong,   _lingering_  kiss at the corner of her mouth.

 

“See you soon, Sparky. And by the way, if you want shiny and fast, I got both of those bases covered.”

 

“You shouldn't tell a girl that you're _fast_ , not exactly a selling point in the bedroom,” Steve smirked proudly at his own cheek.

 

 

Bucky turned to Steve, the leer remaining on his face. One half of a second had him leaning in and placing an identical kiss on the corner of Steve's mouth as well, wiping the smirk straight off, “Stay here, punk. I'll be back soon.”

 

Steve's face flushed as Bucky made his exit, he could feel his heart thundering in his chest.

 

It felt good. _Right_.

 

He looked to Darcy as she thoughtfully toyed with an empty glass. He walked over to her and his hand slowly drifted to her face where her lipstick had been slightly smudged by Bucky's firm lips. The image of it settled into his brain and his heart began beating a complicated rhythm. Darcy brought her hand up to keep Steve's hand on her face, his thumb at her lip.

 

“If you don't follow him, I will,” she promised, before dropping a quick kiss on his thumb and walking quickly towards the bedroom.

 

Steve couldn't help his grin at her retreating figure. “Promise me you'll stay here, sweetheart.”

 

“Meh,” Darcy called back, not able to lie and clearly promising nothing. “The sooner the two of you get back, the less time I'll have to sober up and trail you.”

 

Steve ran to the closet, grabbed his shield and was out the door in seconds. Darcy giggled.

 

“Little one, you do know that I'm still on the phone,” Natasha drolly announced. “Can I ask what the kissing sounds were? For scientific reasons. Not for any bets that I may have made with Bird Brain Numbers 1 and 2.”

 

“Aww, Tasha. That's classified.”

 

* * *

 

 

James knelt at the electrified gate holding out his ubiquitous fob pressing a specific series of buttons. He could hear the buzzing of electricity stop and he waited ten seconds before pulling out a pair or pliers.

 

“Cool trick.”

 

James heaved a sigh and looked up to glare at a newly arrived Steve.

 

“Didn't I tell you to stay back with Sparky at the damned hotel?” James hissed.

 

“She made me follow, figured you'd rather have me in the thick of it than your girl,” Steve shrugged.

 

“Our girl,” James muttered.

 

“What?”

 

“You called her our girl last night,” James shrugged as he continued to work on the fence link by link, ignoring Steve's flush. “It ain't the first time we ever talked about it, you punk.”

 

“You remember that?” Steve furrowed his brow. His brain daring to go back to 1939, when the two of them had dreamed up a life that would have gotten them killed back then and probably stoned today. The plans they had made to find that one girl to share a lifetime with. Steve got a heady feeling flickering through his veins and tried to stop the blush spreading across his cheeks. If Bucky remembered the multiple conversations about how they needed to find a dame to fill the spaces in their bed, then he remembered what they had been doing during those conversations. In the bed.

 

“I remember lots of things,” Bucky pursed his lips as his metal hand continued to cut through the links of the fence. “I just don't remember everything. Up until a few days ago, I wanted to kill you every damn time I even let myself think of you. It was awful. I _hated_ it. This is a big ball of shit, Stevie. You and Sparky deserve better than---”

 

“Here,” Steve chucked a pen at Bucky. This was enough for now. He knew where Bucky's head was at. They were very nearly on the same page. He didn't find it wise to force his friend into a spiral of self-despair and self-loathing. He'd rather listen to Barton's dissertation on how the archery in Lord of the Rings wasn't physically accurate than listen to Bucky put himself down. “Stark gave me that. It'll cut through steel faster than your pliers.”

 

Bucky pressed down on the button at the top of the pen and sure enough the laser that emitted through the bottom made quick work of the rest of the fence. He tossed the pen back and wondered,

 

“How long do we have before Sparky sobers up and tries to drag us out of here?”

 

“I left her on the phone with Romanoff, hopefully she can keep her drunk.”

 

* * *

 

“ _I want to be where the people are...I want to see, want to see them....pooping_ _**!** _ ”

 

“Oh my god, kid. You're the greatest,” Barton crowed over the phone as he had and Sam listened to Darcy singing the soundtrack to _The Little Mermaid_ with the greatest and most entertaining edits of all time.

 

Natasha had handed him and Sam the phone with only one order “Make sure she doesn't leave that hotel room by any means necessary.”

 

“ _Up where they fart, up where they pun, up where they suck all day in the sun!!!”_

 

* * *

 

 

“Can you get us in there?” Steve wondered looking at the complicated vault door. Bucky gave him a withering look, his expression clearly stating that he could get them in there blindfolded with his metal arm tied behind his back. Steve pursed his lips and asked, “Aren't you gonna set off the alarm?”

 

“This model doesn't have an alarm,” Bucky muttered as he continued to work. His eyes light up as he obviously hit on the right combination and he wrenched the door open.

 

Two very handsome jaws dropped at what was beyond that door.

 

“That's uranium, right?” Steven furrowed his brow.

 

“Yep,” Bucky nodded.

 

“This just got a lot more interesting,” Steve nodded, his mind taking one part Jane's work with portals and one part ingredients for nuclear bombs and adding it all up to a conclusion that was nothing but bottom of the barrel bad.

 

“Yep,” Bucky answered again.

 

Five seconds later a blaring alarm cut through the factory. Steve rolled his eyes and glared at Bucky.

 

“ _Shit_.”

 

* * *

 

“Tell me when!” Darcy ordered over the phone.

 

“Okay....aaaaaand WHEN!” Sam callled out.

 

“Good good good,” Darcy chanted as she worked out the results. There was a knock on the door to her suite and she rushed towards it. “Hold on, my room service is here.”

 

“Miss Lewis,” the bell hop held out a make up bag to her. “Have a good evening.”

 

Darcy nodded and clutched the bag to her chest, her eyes welling up a bit.

 

“Darce?” Clint called out through the phone. A crashing sound could be heard from his end and he cursed, “Shit, she bolted, Nat's going to put our balls in a sling!”

 

Darcy blinked and went back to her work. She let out a belly laugh as she announced, “According to the the M.A.S.H Gods, Sam Wilson is going to marry Maria Hill and work as a cupcake taster at Betty Crocker Factories. He's going to drive a Chevy Impala that once had the butts of Jensen Ackles and Jared Peediddyalaacki and live in Disney World with his wife, one BADASS Maria Hill and their....three and three quarters children.”

 

“Badass. MY TURN!” Barton crowed.

 

* * *

 

Bucky and Steve dove for the water as they exited the factory under gunfire. The swim was short and blissfully warm.

 

“This is better than the water in Norway,” Steve managed to get out as he hoisted himself into a boat. He looked at the controls and then back to Bucky who looked keen to take over the controls. “Do you know how to drive one of these things?”

 

“Like you do, punk.”

 

“I can fly the quinjet. That's got to give me some kind of leverage against a little boat,” Steve said confidently. He started the engine and pushed the accelerator forward, the rushing roar of the engine drowned out Bucky's yelp of surprise as he flew sideways off of the boat and back into the water. Gunfire erupted and Steve pushed the small boat to full throttle, bobbing and weaving the boat around the zinging bullets.

 

Bucky swam to the docks and hoisted himself up. He looked around and saw a dump truck and jumped up and through the open window. He began to earnestly hot wire the rig as he kept stealing looks at Steve, who was still oblivious to the fact that Bucky had fallen from the boat.

 

“Fucking punk,” he grumbled. He looked to the passenger seat and saw a bagged lunch. He shrugged and decided that if Captain America could be oblivious to the fact that he had managed to ditch his oldest friend in unfriendly waters, then the punk could play keep away with the hostiles until he'd had a bite to eat.

 

He was halfway through some poor schmuck's delicious sandwich when Steven finally noticed that he was alone in the boat. He cut the engine and the boat sat like a sitting duck as Steve looked wildly around for Bucky. The man in question rolled his eyes and that familiar pinched expression of _here I go having to save this jackass again_ took over his face. He threw his half eaten sandwich out the window before finishing the hot wiring and gunning the truck's engine.

 

He threw the truck into drive and zipped twenty feet straight ahead, straight over the edge of the docks directly onto the boat that had been chasing and shooting at Steve. The resulting wave of water that was displaced by the extra heavy truck capsized Steve's boat, sending him into the water. Bucky neatly jumped out of the drivers side window as the truck quickly filled with water as it sank on top of the enemy boat.

 

Steve's head had popped up to the surface already and he looked over to Bucky by the truck.

 

“How's about we go back to our girl before she drops something bigger than a truck on us?” Steve suggested hopefully.

 

“Sounds about right, punk.”

 

* * *

 

 

* * *

 

 

 **Chapter**   **Six**

_**May I have this Wrestle?** _

 

They made quite the sight. Two six foot plus super soldiers straddling the small ice blue Vespa, zipping through the darkened streets with a surprising amount of speed. Bucky drove and Steve sat behind, his hands clenched at Bucky's waist. They reached the corner that their hotel was situated on and Bucky killed the engine, looking up and seeing the lights still on in the suite Darcy and Steve were sharing.

 

They had left their phone with Darcy and had no way of getting in touch with Natasha or the hotel to confirm that Darcy had stayed put. To say that they had panicked the entire speedy ride back home would be putting it mildly. 

 

A feminine shadow played at the curtains of the room. A distinctly Darcy shaped shadow flickered there. Bucky felt a grateful rush of air exit his lungs and push through his nostrils and could feel Steve's hand unclench slightly as the relief rushed through both of them.

 

Steve tapped his shoulder and pointed a finger towards the windows at the front of the building looking into the lobby. A tall blonde was walking through, flanked by two bodyguards. Serena Durant.

 

“Jesus, this dame is like a dog with a bone,” Bucky grumbled. He shook his head in realization and muttered to Steve, “Photostatic veil.”

 

“I'm thinking the Durants aren't who they are claiming to be. And Mrs. Durant suspects that you were doing a little breaking and entering tonight,” Steve nodded. He put a hand on Bucky's flesh and bone shoulder and squeezed. “Try and find out, wouldja?”

 

“I'll do my best. Keep Sparky contained,” Bucky advised helpfully, although by the look on his face, he knew it was next to impossible.

 

Steve barked out a short laugh.

 

“Can't be done.”

 

* * *

 

“Sweetheart? How are you doing?”

 

Darcy rolled her eyes at Steve's term of endearment as she sipped at a glass of vodka. She turned up the volume on the docking station for the ipod that Clint had pressed into her hands days ago in Sweden. The chandelier above her rattled a bit and she knew, she _knew_ that James was up to no good.

 

And she was either jealous out of her mind, or jealous out of her mind on Steve's behalf. Or both. Probably both.  However, she blatantly refused her mind to think such thoughts out loud.  Shut up stupid brain.

 

She popped on a pair of oversized retro sunglasses and straightened her old fashioned stripey pajama top. Solomon Burke's “Cry to Me” rattled through the speakers and Darcy couldn't help the half smirk from lifting the left side of her mouth.

 

She popped her head into the front room and wagged her glass Steve's way and said, “Don't ask questions where I can't lie. I don't lie, remember?”

 

The chandelier shook again and Steve took a measured breath and looked back at Darcy as she shimmied her way to the bar. He took the bottle of vodka out of her reach and placed it up on top of a very high shelf.

 

“You've had plenty enough, sweetheart.”

 

“Don't call me that,” Darcy mumbled. She slammed the empty glass back on the bar with all the feeling she could put in it. She was surprised it hadn't shattered. If she had super strength it would have definitely shattered. She pushed the sunglasses further up her nose and shuffled away from the bar and back towards the open door of the bedroom. “I feel like dancing.”

 

“We can't go dancing,” Steve said evenly, his eyes never leaving Darcy as she danced around in an oversized pair of pajamas. _His_ pajamas to be exact. She had rolled up the sleeves and the cuffs of the pants multiple times, and yet she was still drowning in fabric. He swallowed dryly as she began a jerky, awkward solo dance, sometimes silly, sometimes sexy, all the time drunk off of her rocker. He walked towards the bedroom where Darcy continued her drunken gyrations, every once in a while the excess fabric of the pajamas lent themselves to the shape of a womanly curve and Steve could feel a bit of her drunkeness bleeding into him as he stared at her.

 

“Don't want to go out dancing. Just wanna dance with you,” Darcy slurred. She gripped his hands and made him sway slightly.

 

“I don't dance,” he said resolutely, feeling foolish as she tried to make him move by swinging his hands. “Can't. Never did.”

 

“It's easy,” Darcy assured him. She brought their joined hands together and pulled them upwards. A dopey, adorable smile graced Steve's face for a split second and the sight made Darcy's heart lurch in her chest. And that just pissed her off even more. She didn't want to feel these things. She brought up their joined hands closer to his face.

 

 _**SMACK** _ _._

 

She pushed his open palm against his face with a surprising strength that had him slack jawed and looking down at her in annoyance.

 

“Dance, Captain,” she ordered.

 

“Sweetheart---”

 

 _**SMACK** _   **.**

 

She brought the other hand up to his opposite cheek and repeated the treatment.

 

“Don't call me that,” she hissed, dropping his hands and taking five steps backwards until her back hit the bedside table.

 

“Hit me one more time,” Steve murmured, his cheeks flushing red very quickly. She had a new blush to categorize now.  One thousand percent, no holding back _Desire_.

 

Her devious smirk only caused his blush to start spreading down his neck. They were going to kill him. Bucky's mouth. Darcy's mouth. They would be the death of him. He huffed a breath and continued, “I swear, hit me one more time _sweetheart,_  and I'll put you over my knee...”

 

“So you don't want to dance, but you're up for a wrassle?”

 

“A what?” Steve furrowed his brow as suddenly a striped pajama clad blur launched herself at his midsection. He was knocked off balance as she sent them flying back into the front room and his back collided with the heavy wood antique coffee table and sent the ornate furniture into coffee table heaven in an explosion of wooden splinters. The wind was effectively knocked out of him but he quickly recovered and rolled them to the floor.

 

He lay atop Darcy, bringing his hands to her shoulders with every intention of shaking some sense into her. His intentions would have to wait, because the girl who everyone swore up and down needed protection, took a leg from the destroyed coffee table and clobbered him on the side of his head.

 

His friends had definitely lied about Darcy's vulnerability.

 

He fell off of her and slumped to his back on the floor. She straddled him in an instant, her thighs clenched around his stomach, her head level with his as he stared up at her.

 

Her physical attack had not managed to completely incapacitate him, but everything _else_ had rendered every physical aspect of Captain America useless. Those soft thighs gripped to either side of his body. The perfect weight of her on top of him. The coveted _heat_ of her against his chest....

 

His hands gripped her forearms as her head slowly began to descend towards his, those luscious lips of hers puckering ever so slightly.

 

Every blink of Steve's eyes had them staying closed for ever so slightly more, as he squeezed her forearms reassuringly, invitingly, coaxing the descent of those lips. He watched as her eyelids grew heavy with every blink, before finally her nose pressed against his. He could feel the heat of her breath against his lips and he parted them in tortured anticipation.

 

One last belaboured breath and slowly, Darcy's target shifted. Her head fell to the side and suddenly her face was buried against his shoulder, her body went lax and he waited five seconds before her snore rattled through his bones.

 

They were going to be the _death of him_.

 

He moved gently to his feet, trying not to disturb her, gripping her to his body as she had fallen against him, clumsily wrapping her arms around his shoulders before placing his hands on the backs of her upper thighs. He hoisted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked her back into the bedroom and placed her on the king sized bed. He covered her up before walking around to the other side of the bed and crashing down face first, falling asleep instantly.

 

An hour later, Bucky slunk into the room, changed into another new three piece suit and smirked at Steve, head buried in a pillow, his legs dangling off the left side of the bed. Darcy was on the right, and if she had fallen asleep in a normal position, she had certainly rolled her way out of it. She was in the middle of the bed, on her stomach, her limbs akimbo, her left foot planted firmly on Steve's ass.

 

Bucky gently eased onto the right side of the bed, his eyes darting between Darcy and Steve, his mind trying to keep up with the demands of his heart, his id, his _want_.

 

“Ah, screw it.”

 

He reached over and pulled at Steve's midsection, hoisting him to lay properly on the bed. Bucky scooted closer to Darcy, his arm going over the woman who was adjusting in her sleep so that her left leg hitched on Steve's hip and her right arm was suddenly an iron band around Bucky's waist.

 

Bucky drifted off into the best night of sleep he'd had since before the War.

 

* * *

 

* * *

 

 

**Chapter Seven**

_**Damsel in No Dress** _

 

Darcy woke with a splitting headache and feeling like a sweaty mess in the most comfortable cocoon of tangled blankets and limbs imaginable. She blinked her eyes open and darted her gaze from left to right. One side was Steve, whose hip her left leg was currently resting on, his arm was wrapped across her body and his hand was at the small of her back, his fingers entwined with another hand that was a little lower and belonged to the body on her other side. James was spooning against her side, his mouth on the crook of her neck, his breathing shallow, moist and hot against her skin.

 

Helluva way to wake up, really.

 

This was so not happening though. There was no way. In the next forty-eight hours she'd be dead. She had recognized that look Erik had shot her as they left the charity event the day prior. He had that look on his face once when the last coveted Nutella filled cupcake she had made for his birthday in London had fallen to the ground. He knew what was coming. He knew what would have to be done. He knew he was going to lose something he cared for deeply. _Her_.

 

Hydra...Shield...AIM...random thug of the week, it didn't matter. It only mattered that Jane, her fantastic Jane and her fantastic brain and Jane's research were safe and inaccessible to any bad guy that could pop up.  So she had only one _really shitty_ choice.

 

The last thing these idiotic, adorable, loveable boys needed was another thing to lose. And she knew they were a hair's breadth away from her being something too important for them to lose. She wouldn't be the cause of heartbreak when they had both had more than five lifetimes worth of heartbreak already.

 

She couldn't begin to imagine what they actually wanted. They were acting like they wanted _her._ And each other. All at the same time. Which was insane. Because they were born in the early 1900's with no internet and had actual moral compasses. So she figured she'd either be splitting up two hearts that had lasted nearly a century in love or she was going to be forced to chose one of them.

 

And that was impossible. It could never happen.

 

Because she was going to be long gone before they could all figure out this tangled mess of affection and attraction and need and _want_.

 

 

She disentangled herself from them, surprised that two supposedly genetically enhanced individuals weren't woken in the slightest at her departure from the bed. She grabbed the makeup bag that had been delivered the night before and rushed to the bathroom, locking it behind her. She dug into the bag and pulled out a fob not dissimilar to the one James had been using and pressed a specific series of buttons. She then pulled out a Starkphone and pressed number four on the speed dial.

 

“Darcy,” Erik said softly.

 

“Hey,” she whispered, despite the white noise she was generating in the bathroom to shield their conversation.

 

“Mr. Durant has requested you join me for lunch. London was so long ago. It's time we caught up properly.”

 

“Have a car come by at twelve,” Darcy assented before ending the call abruptly. She pressed 2 on the speed dial next and wasn't surprised that the phone didn't even get a chance to ring before it connected to silence on the other end of the phone. She took a small measured breath before whispering, “Today. Noon.”

 

* * *

 

Two pairs of blue eyes opened simultaneously across the Darcy sized gap on the king sized bed. Steve blinked, unable to help the dopey, contented smile spreading across his lips. Their hands were still entwined where Darcy had left them. Steve squeezed and took a deep breath before looking down to see the crumpled sheets between them. He looked around and Bucky voiced his question,

 

“Where's Sparky?”

 

Five seconds of silence and thought elapsed before both men sprung out of the bed with equal desperation. They made a quick search of the hotel room and came up empty. Bucky reached for the phone and tried to access one of the trackers he had on her. Steve looked to Bucky and wondered,

 

“Do you think it was Dunlap? What happened last night?”

 

“Didn't get an ID on her. But she's been...conditioned. Brainwashed, responded to a few choice phrases. That's what the racket was. I triggered her and she went berserker. I had to knock her out. She's definitely Hyrda,” Bucky answered. He threw the useless phone at the couch and shook his head. Darcy either wasn't wearing the tracker or had turned it off. “Couldn't a been her. I'm the mark there, not Sparky. I'd wager she's supposed to bring me back in to get wiped.”

 

“That's never happening,” Steve growled. He shook his head and demanded, “What about her husband? Or Erik?”

 

Steve was throwing on shoes and had a grip on his shield, ready to run for it when the front door opened and Darcy stepped in dressed and outfitted for the day in that killer blue dress Sam had dressed her in back in Sweden. He dropped his shield immediately as relief hit him like a dose of morphine.

 

Both men rushed to the door to surround her. Steve took the tray of to go coffees out of her hand and placed it clumsily on the bar as Bucky immediately began checking her for injuries. A breath of relief spilled from his lips, signaling to Steve that Darcy was fine. Impulse control had flittered from Steve's higher brain functions at that point as he reached his impressive arms to their full wing span and wrapped his hands around Bucky's back, with Darcy firmly caught in the middle of both of their bodies.

 

“WOAH, super solider sandwich, all I did was go and get you delicious, delicious coffee,” Darcy rolled her eyes. She squirmed in irritation, delighting both men to no end before she huffed in annoyance, “You guys are gross, and making me hot.”

 

“That's the point, Sparky,” James flirted, reaching for a to go cup and taking a hearty swig before passing the cup to Steve.

 

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Steve smiled prettily at her after he took a large gulp.

 

“Ugh, _gross_ ,” Darcy groaned, pushing at James' chest with one hand as she brought her other elbow into Steve's gut. She managed to wriggle away and rescue her coffee from the to go tray and gripped it in her hand. Bucky squeezed her free hand and hauled her to him, lifting her off the ground and sitting her on a barstool.

 

He brought his hands down to her stocking clad knee and pushed the hem of her skirt up. She squirmed and shouted a wordless objection, but could not wriggle free. Bucky gave Steve a look and the good Captain nodded in understanding, closing in so Darcy was sandwiched between the two men once more. His hand caressed Bucky's right hand as it settled on Darcy's upper thigh, near the garter that held her stocking up. Steve fiddled with the garter as Darcy squirmed under their combined grasp.

 

“Buy a girl dinner first,” she huffed.

 

Steve found what he was looking for in the garter and turned the tracking device on before smiling at her in that dopey, pretty Captain America way of his. Darcy glared at him, then James, who looked nonplussed as his fingers were idly drawing patterns on her thigh. Steve's nose brushed against her cheek and she could feel James' warm breath at her collarbone and all thought was quickly draining out of her brain, hotly coursing down her spine and pooling in her gut.

 

“Now we can track you down, if need be,” Steve explained, pulling away reluctantly, taking a sip of the coffee before handing it back to Bucky.

 

Darcy pushed them both away again and hopped off the bar stool. She walked further into the suite, at least fifteen paces away from them before announcing with an eerie calm, “Erik is sending a car to come pick me up in half an hour. I'm having lunch with him and getting better acquainted with Mr. Durant.”

 

“The hell you are!” James growled, nearly choking on the coffee, thrusting the cup at Steve as he made an aggressive step towards Darcy.

 

“Sweetheart, there's a better way to do this,” Steven disputed.

 

“Oh, really? What's the better way?” Darcy demanded angrily. When only silence answered her she shrugged and said, “I'm pretty sure that this will lead to Jane. Which needs to happen. Like, forever ago.”

 

“I'll go with you,” Steven insisted.

 

“No can do, Cappy,” Darcy shook her head insistently. “The invitation was for me, myself and I. No plus one's.”

 

“Get Romanoff on the phone,” James ordered. “She'll talk some sense into you, Sparky.”

 

“I already talked to the boss this morning. It's all aboard the Darcy goes to lunch train,” Darcy said smoothly. “We are going to finish this coffee I worked so hard at getting for us, then I'm going downstairs and meeting my friend Erik. You guys are going to figure out who Mrs. Durant is while I keep her husband occupied. We have a goal here, a mission. You should get on with it.”

 

“My mission is to protect you,” James managed to choke out. He didn't understand why she was making it so difficult. It felt like the 1930's all over again, with a tiny Steve jumping into messes he couldn't possibly get out of. An all too familiar pinched expression graced his face as he stared her down.

 

“New mission then,” Darcy shrugged, schooling her features into a mask of indifference. “Stop the Durants from doing whatever it is they are doing with Jane's work, no matter the cost. I don't need the protection anymore.”

 

Bucky _whimpered_.

 

Darcy swallowed slowly and bit back the need to ease his pain. She shook her head and said, “I will recalibrate the crap out of you if you don't accept the change to the mission parameters freely.”

 

“They were enriching uranium,” Steve supplied quickly, taking another gulp of the coffee to fortify himself. Bucky glared at him with that damned pinched expression. Darcy hadn't needed to know that. Steve shrugged at him, he wasn't going to be the one punished for keeping intel from her and he didn't want to see her _recalibrate_ Bucky. “That's what we saw last night at the factory.”

 

“Well shit,” Darcy breathed. She could feel the heady, fluttering feeling in her chest, the beginning of an anxiety attack. Bucky saw the change in her breathing and reached out a hand to hers again. She batted it away and sucked in a deep breath to calm herself before the words started pouring from her mouth, her volume and intensity increasing with each word, “Do you realize that if they built nuclear weapons and can get Jane to open up a portal, they will effectively be declaring war on the universe? Do you understand that if that happens, our planet will be _obliterated._ The Avengers won't even get a chance to assemble, this planet will be turned into dust in the wind. Steve, you know what an alien invasion looks like...I've seen all _three_ of them now...SEVEN BILLION PEOPLE. I don't matter against seven billion people. I don't go today and **Earth won't survive**!”

 

“YOU MATTER!” Bucky growled. He swallowed deeply to contain his righteous indignation at her words. Three prolonged blinks later, he looked at her with such earnestness and promise as he whispered, “I'll protect you.”

 

“So we stop them before they can do it,” Steve promised earnestly. He felt a stinging in his chest he couldn't explain. He felt his lungs constricting at her outburst.

 

“No, I stop them,” Darcy said quietly.

 

“Sparky, you're outta yer damn mind...” Bucky slurred suddenly. He looked at the coffee cup in Steve's hand, his vision blurring as Steve looked to him in shock. She had warned them back in Sweden. They should have known to take her seriously. She didn't lie.

 

Bucky dropped like a pile of bricks to the floor and Steve slowly turned to Darcy as he too became dizzy.

 

“Stevie, I'm going to ask you nicely to not fight it,” Darcy smiled at him sadly. “Just let the equivalent of eighteen shots of elephant tranquilizer do its job and hit the ground, please and thank you.”

 

Steve couldn't speak, instead he just shook his head no and took an unsteady step towards her as his metabolism and insanely stubborn nature fought against the drugs she had slipped into their coffee. His blinks were becoming longer, but he reached for her hand anyway, irrationally hoping that he could grip onto her and take her down with him when he fell.

 

“Oh Cappy,” Darcy cooed softly before lifting up the coffee table leg she had scavenged from the wreckage of the furniture that morning. She swung for the fences and connected with his left temple, wincing when he hit the floor next to Bucky. She took a deep breath before dropping her coffee to the ground, rushing to the bathroom to grab a bag and sprinting for the door. She paused at the front door and turned to see the crumpled heaps of super solider and whispered forlornly, “Bye boys. Maybe in the next lifetime.”

 

* * *

 

 

Dunlap security entered the hotel suite thirty-five minutes later. Bucky was out cold, but the tranquilizers were more quickly metabolized by Steve. He blinked his eyes open, but his senses were sharp enough to know to stay still as two goons dragged an unconscious Bucky out of the room. Steve waited ten seconds before pushing himself to his feet, taking a few unsteady steps before the rest of the tranquilizers burnt out of his blood stream. He gripped his shield and grabbed the cell phone from the couch that Bucky had thrown it on earlier.

 

 

Fifteen missed calls. All the same number. He called it back and Natasha picked up before the first ring ended.

 

“Darcy's tracker is cold,” she reported. “What in the hell are the three of you doing?”

 

“We just turned her tracker back on, she must of turned it off again,” Steve insisted, rushing down the service steps of the hotel, as the security goons were on the first level, ten floors below him, pulling Bucky out of the door. He tailed them and demanded, “She drugged me and Buck. Did you authorize that? Did you approve Darcy's lunch with Erik and Dunlap today?”

  
  


“ _**WHAT** _ **?”**

 

“Okay, so you didn't,” Steve shook his head. “She told me she couldn't lie.”

 

“She doesn't,” Natasha insisted forcefully. “What were her exact words, Steve?”

 

“That she had already talked to the boss this morning about her plans,” Steve reiterated. “And apparently gotten approval.”

 

“I'm not her boss,” Natasha couldn't help but laugh bitterly. “Only one woman signs Darcy's paychecks.”

 

“Jane?” Steve wondered.

 

“So much worse. If something happens to her, I'm gonna destroy the both of them...”

 

Steve furrowed his brow at the phone as he hit the street and watched as the unmarked black SUV pulled away. He gave chase on foot and huffed over the phone, “Bucky's been taken by Dunlap's people. I'm in pursuit. Bucky thought Mrs. Dunlap was brainwashed by Hyrda.”

 

“Get him back, Steve. We're twenty minutes out, if Barton can stop flying this thing like Wilson's grandmother. I'm going to see what I can do about getting Darcy's tracker turned back on remotely.”

 

“You can do that?” Steve wondered hopefully as he sprinted down the busy afternoon crowds of Rome, his eyes never leaving the car that held Bucky.

 

“No, but Darcy's boss can.”

 

* * *

 

Darcy stripped from behind the shaded windows of the town car, tugging off the stockings and garters, replacing her dress with a dark gray sweatshirt she had liberated from Bucky's luggage and yoga pants that she had long ago stolen from Natasha. She tugged on sneakers and finished off her pajama chic look with a maroon beanie. Sam's dress was beautiful and she had been thankful to him for picking it out for her, but if she was going to do this, she was going to be as comfy cozy as damned possible. She owed that much to herself. She left all of her clothes in a pile on the floor of the car and her eyes drifted to her ring finger on her left hand.

 

She felt tears prickle hotly at the corner of her eyes and blinked them away as quickly as she could. She pulled the ring off and hesitated as she went to place it on the top of the pile of clothing.

 

Shit if she was going to go, she was going to go in what made her happy. She shoved the ring back on and took a deep fortifying breath.

 

The car came to a stop and she hopped out of the backseat before it could be opened for her and saw Erik standing in front of her with a sad look on his face. He held out her stolen messenger bag and a smile that never reached the cool blue sadness of his eyes.

 

“I believe this belongs to you.”

 

Darcy smiled gratefully and accepted the bag, shrugging it on as she tilted her chin up stubbornly.

 

“Take me to Jane before Dunlap gets back. We're finishing this.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

Bucky was coming to as they dragged him back into the factory he and Steve had escaped from just yesterday. He lazily smirked at the truck they were lifting out of the water with a heavy duty crane before letting his eyes assess the surroundings. Half a mile out he saw Steve chasing after them on foot and he rolled his eyes. The idiot could have at least grabbed the Vespa. He liked that little bike.

 

He blinked in the sudden absence of daylight as he was drug into a darkened, windowless room. Nothing in it but a very familiar, very unwelcome chair.

 

He looked to the assembled Dunlaps and wondered,

 

“Do I get to at least know who the two of you are before you wipe me?” he asked, almost congenial.

 

“We've got to go, we're heading out, actually, but I think you've earned it,” Mr. Dunlap smirked. He gave a man in a lab coat nearby a nod as security entered the room. His hand went up to his face and tugged the photostatic veil off. Brock Rumlow revealed himself with a victorious smirk. His 'wife' did the same and Bucky furrowed his brow as he tried to place the blonde's face.

 

“Agent 13. Carter, Sharon,” Bucky mumbled from the memory of the woman's file and her close association with Steve during the DC fiasco. Bucky shook his head and said, “Carter, we can help you. Wilson and Natasha, they can break the conditioning.”

 

“They'll have to do yours first,” Brock promised, as Sharon Carter was basically a brainwashed zombie standing next to him, awaiting orders. He turned to Sharon and nodded. “Time to go see if the good doc and the intern with the fantastic tits are willing to work with us now. Maybe you can join us and help out with the ladies when you're done, Asset.”

 

Brock turned to the security team that entered and ordered, “Wipe him.”

 

Hell no. There wasn't a chance in hell he was going back in that chair and having the last two years stolen from him again. Especially when the last week had been particularly memorable. His metal hand unconsciously went to the front inside pocket of his jacket where his stolen picture lay. He fought against the last of the tranquilizers in his system as he began to struggle in earnest with the security edging him closer to the chair. He was holding his own just fine when the heavy steel door blew inwards courtesy of a Captain America sized battering ram.

 

“About time, punk.”

 

* * *

 

“How long do we have?” Darcy whispered as Erik led her down ancient stone steps into a sub basement of the ridiculous mansion on the beautiful small island that belonged to the Dunlaps.

 

“I'd wager twenty-five minutes,” Erik answered. He took a stuttering breath and begged, “Please don't do this, Darcy.”

 

“Erik, how many nuclear warheads do they have ready?” Darcy asked.

 

“One hundred and thirty-five.”

 

“Jesus H. Christ on a cracker! It HAS to be this way,” Darcy insisted strongly. She stepped through the door as Erik opened it and cried out in relief, running towards Jane. Her Jane, huddled over a desk much like she had been over two years ago. The women met with loud sobs as they clung to each other like life preservers. “I missed you, Janie.”

 

“Oh, Darce! I missed you so much,” Jane sobbed. “Bruce...they have Bruce still at another facility, building the—the bombs,” Jane stuttered.

 

“I know,” Darcy nodded. She looked around at Jane's work and nodded resolutely. “Let's get this show on the road.”

 

* * *

 

Steve and Bucky fought back to back for the first time in over 80 years. It felt good. It felt right.

 

It was over in less than ten minutes.

 

It took less than two seconds for Steve to whip his shield at the chair that had caused Bucky so much pain and grief and despair in the past 70 years. Bucky felt a rush of cool relief dribble down his spine at the destruction. He would never forget again. Never.

 

Steve turned to Bucky and shot his arms around the man, dragging him into a painfully tight embrace.

 

“No one's ever taking you away from me again,” he swore.

 

“You're such a sap,” Bucky teased, pulling back and smashing his mouth against Steve's with a quick burning passion that nearly mirrored violence. Bucky's hands were on either side of Steve's face as something that had been buried in the last century bloomed again between them. Passion and want and desire and a love that Hydra, Hitler, ice and time couldn't kill.

 

The kiss was over far too soon and Bucky leaned his forehead against Steve's, each taking deep, even breaths as they finally felt small piece of calm. Of _home_.

 

 

The sound of the quinjet out front finally broke them out of their embrace and Bucky clenched his jaw as he pursed his lips in a thin line.

 

“Let's go get our girl.”

 

* * *

 

 

“If I could just get a few more days, I know I could figure out another way...”

 

Darcy tried to not let Jane's watery words affect her as she finished setting up the glowy sticks of portal-ness. Two years, three months and twenty-four days hadn't been enough to come up with a better plan. A few more days would be futile. She took two deep breaths before giving Jane her brightest, fakest smile.

 

“I got to sleep in a bed cuddling with Captain America and Bucky Barnes. It was very sweet and only a little patriotic,” she revealed suddenly. A sudden burst of giggles threatened to turn into choked sobs and she shook her head. “There were so many times when they almost full out smooched me. They both might have actually _liked_ me. What more could I ask for in this life? I'm all good...really. Super soldier smooches, Janie!”

 

“Darcy...” Erik pleaded reaching out a hand and gripping Darcy's shoulder. “We can find you protection.”

 

“No, it's okay, everything is going to be fine,” Darcy insisted stubbornly, wiping away at the tears on her face. “A girl can only accomplish so much. I tased three out of six of the Avengers. I was twitter verified. I got two of the hottest dudes from 1940-something to lust after me a little and I restrained myself from climbing them like jungle gyms. I should get a trophy. Can you guys make me a trophy when you get home? Put it in Stark's lobby.”

 

The building shook with a cacophony of violence...gunfire, explosions, the roars of boat engines and jet engines reverberating off the old stone walls. The semi maudlin scene the trio had indulged in evaporated and they set about working once again.

 

“Five minutes to 100% power,” Erik announced.

 

“Thank you Dr. Selvig,” Rumlow walked into the room, armed to the teeth. Gone were the suave, polished clothes of Mr. Dunlap. In its place was a ruthless killing machine, with a scarred face and a murderous glint in his eyes. “Thanos appreciates promptness.”

 

“Thanos can go get fucked by a well hung unicorn,” Darcy hotly threw back at him. She sneered at the deadly enemy who she could only assume had posed as Mr. Dunlap as he walked to stand in front of her. “And you can eat an entire bag of donkey dicks.”

 

“You're fun, Tits,” Brock arched an eyebrow as he stood in front of her. He leaned in and growled in her ear, “I'm gonna have fun tearing you apart and making you scream. I just hope you can wait until the Asset comes in and then he can help. I'll save the best bits of you for him.”

 

There was something to be said for a person who had literally nothing left to lose.

 

They had a lot of fun on their way out.

 

Darcy's blood ran cold at the mention of the _Asset_ and if this ass hammer had managed to succeed in reprogramming Bucky even .001%, she was going to drag him down to hell with her. Her hand gripped her taser in the waistband at the back of her pants and took absolute delight in whipping it around and sending 85,000 volts of electricity through Brock. He fell to a twitching heap and Darcy brought her foot back and smashed it into his balls. She looked down at her weapon and saw it was at 50% charge already. Her modifications earlier in the week had been made well. She dialed up the voltage to the max, her hand shaking with sudden tremors.

 

 

Darcy managed to center herself and sneered down at the enemy in front of her. She ground her foot on Rumlow's balls again happily as the man twitched. She looked to Erik and said,

 

“Help me get him in the portal zone. Let's see how he deals with the infinity and beyond of it all.”

 

“ **DARCY**!”

 

The impossibly loud, growling shout echoed down from the top floor of the facility all the way down to the sub basement. Darcy froze in place, recognizing Steve's voice, but had never heard it used to that capacity. All of her violence filled fury flew from her senses as anguish settled in to stay. She turned with sudden panic to Jane whose eyes had widened to the size of tea saucers. Darcy looked to Erik and whimpered,

 

“Oh God, Erik, help block the door!”

 

“99 percent,” Jane announced.

 

Erik bolted the heavy door and helped Darcy heave a large metal cabinet in front of it. Darcy ran to Jane and gripped her hand in hers. “NOW!”

 

* * *

 

 

Bucky trailed Steve down the steps, Natasha having gotten a lock on Darcy's tracker and revealed that she was in the sub-basement level of the old stone building. She, Clint and Sam were making quick work of the Dunlap security force, and Steve wasn't waiting to get the go ahead to retrieve Darcy.

 

Her words earlier had spooked them. Natasha's nearly desperate demeanor on the plane had unnerved them.

 

Darcy was going to be doing something very, very stupid, and very, very dangerous.

 

More so than usual.

 

Steve was ten seconds ahead of Bucky and had managed to slam his shield into the door that Darcy was behind twice, rattling it enough to shake sediment loose from the ceiling.

 

“On three,” Bucky ordered. They counted it off and metal shield and metal arm slammed against the locked door. Twice more and the door caved in. They ripped through the remains and Steve pushed the metal cabinet with so much strength that it went flying in the distance. Bucky took in the scene. Erik Selvig was curled into a corner of the lab, bent over, his head in his hands, sobs shaking his shoulders.

 

Brock Rumlow was on the ground, still shaking from what Bucky was sure was Darcy's taser.

 

And Darcy was standing at the apex of a bunch of rods placed on the ground, her hand upright and entangled with the hand of who Bucky presumed was Doctor Foster.

 

“Sparky?” he demanded softly as the entwined hands of the doctor and her lab assistant began to _glow._

 

“HEIMDALL!” Jane shouted to the ceiling.

 

“READY BIG GUY!” Darcy shouted. She looked back at the payload contained by the portal range. “Take it to Hel!”

 

A huge flash of powerfully bright white and blue light erupted in the room, causing all within to close their eyes against it. When they opened them, all the nuclear warheads were gone. Steve and Bucky shared a look of impressed disbelief before turning back to their girl, who still clasped hands with Jane and was still emitting a glow that was not at all reassuring.

 

“BRING THE LIGHTNING!” Darcy yelled to the ceiling, her voice breaking as Jane broke down in sobs.

 

Another flash of light and Thor was standing in the portal space. He reached out for Jane and took her in his arms as she collapsed in sobs. The God looked to Darcy, and his eyes shone with unshed tears.

 

“Lightning sister...please, we will find another way,” Thor begged. He gestured his chin to Steve and suggested, “My shield brothers of Earth or The Warriors Three could---”

 

“If bad guys know there is a way to use the portals left in any of the nine realms, you know they won't stop. They will tear apart everyone I love to get me to do what they want, and I can't be that strong to watch the people I love get hurt,” Darcy insisted fiercely, pulling herself up to her full height as she stared a stricken Thor down. “And you're on that list of love, big guy.”

 

“Lady Darcy...your sacrifice is untold,” he gravely intoned as Jane snuck one last look at Darcy and sobbed anew.

 

“Yup, I'm awesome,” Darcy weakly claimed as tears fell down her cheeks. “If you don't keep her happy for a very, very long time, I will come down from Valhalla and reign so much shit on you...”

 

“I will honor you, my sister, until my dying breath,” Thor promised. He looked upwards as tears escaped his eyes and his usually steadfast, deep and confident voice wavered, “Heimdall, please.”

 

They were gone in another flash of light and Darcy looked over at Erik, who struggled to standing and went to the portal sticks and began methodically destroying each one. Darcy took a deep breath before looking over at her boys, who had been joined by a victorious Natasha, Sam and Clint. She waved at them and took another deep, wavering breath as tears continued to fall mercilessly down her face.

 

“Bruce is on another island. I'd bet the missus is going after him as we speak. The portals won't work anymore, in...in a m-minute,” Darcy stuttered.

 

“Sweetheart?” Steve whispered.

 

Darcy choked on a sob and shook her head at him, “Please don't! Jane and I figured it out in Norway...what they would want. And we knew that the only way to get it to stop is if it took the two of us to power it. Well, Jane's component is just a catalyst. I'm the control.”

 

She held up her hand that had been entwined with Jane's and had been glowing when the portals were being used. She wiped at her eyes uselessly as more tears fell. She bit her lip and powered through her explanation. They deserved that much.

 

“We figured out a way to get in touch with Stark and Pepper through Heimdall, they got the gang back together,” she gestured to Natasha and the boys. “So I could get here and get Jane to Asgard. And then I could end it.”

 

“Sparky, what are you saying?” Bucky's lips trembled as tears began to shine in his eyes. Her tears and emotions were wreaking havoc with his own. She was in pain and he could _feel_ it. His gut was rolling around in absolute terror at whatever Darcy was going to reveal next.

 

“Even if they could rebuild the sticks, it wold only work with the two of us,” Darcy continued. “They'll never touch Jane in Asgard under Odin's protection...and with me gone, they have no chance to control it.”

 

“Little one, no,” Natasha whispered, knowing now what Darcy had planned with Jane all along. She felt like a fool for missing it. She had failed her. “There's another way.”

 

“Clint, I want you to throw a really big party. Just like we talked about in New Mexico all those years ago. No wake,” Darcy ordered. “Ashes, okay? They can't get their hands on anything.”

 

“Yes ma'am,” Clint nodded stiffly, looking away immediately as his own emotions betrayed him. He could feel Sam's glare and he shrugged. Who was he to deny that kid anything after the weight she had taken on in the last two years? He'd give her the moon if he could.

 

“Sam, you have to help them, please,” Darcy whispered, her gaze darting to Steve and Bucky. He blinked back tears and gave her a slight nod of his head. “And thanks for making me pretty the last couple of days.”

 

“You're pretty all the time, sweatpants or Gucci,” Sam murmured.

 

Darcy looked to Steve and Bucky finally and sniffed a few times until she had gained some measure of composure. She managed one pure, heartbreakingly beautiful smile between them and whispered, “Thanks for the last few days. Its been the most fun I've had in a really long time. And I'm _so_ sorry. I didn't want you to care. But I guess I got a little selfish towards the end.”

 

“Sweetheart...”

 

“Sparky don't!” Bucky ordered as he poised himself to leap towards her, knowing he would be too late. 

 

Her taser was fully charged, dialed up to a voltage she didn't even want to name and pointed at her heart.

 

“Maybe next lifetime...”

 

* * *

 

 

 

* * *

 

**Chapter Eight**

_**Onto the Next Lifetime** _

 

 

“Maybe next lifetime...”

 

Darcy had barely finished her sentence before a lot of things happened very quickly. Steve's shield flung low, crashing into Darcy's feet, eliciting a scream of pain from her, knocking her down and sending her taser flying. The sound of Iron Man's repulsors powering up reverberated through the room for a split second before a portion of the ceiling above them crashed down, and Tony flew in. Natasha flew into action as someone approached from behind her and she attacked without thought to any consequence, sending Pepper Potts flying. Clint's bow and Sam's gun were trained on the incapacitated Stark Industries CEO immediately.

 

Erik ran in front of Darcy, attempting to keep Steve away as Darcy did what they both knew she had to do as she scrambled on her stomach for her weapon of choice. She couldn't get to her feet...they felt like the bones in them had shattered into a million pieces courtesy of Captain America's shield.

 

Seriously, Steve was _still_ lousy with dames.

 

She grasped the taser in her fingertips and scrambled to get a better hold. Erik tried in vein to push Steve away and got thrown into a set of bookshelves for his troubles.

 

Bucky leapt through the air, tackling Iron Man to the ground with an inhuman growl. If Darcy couldn't get to her taser, he had no doubt that her _bosses_ would take care of the tiny detail of her death for her. It hadn't taken much for him to figure it out. Mainly their arrival as Darcy tried to _kill herself_ for them.

 

And finally seconds after Steve knocked Darcy off of her feet, Brock Rumlow pounced, grabbing Darcy by the hair and aiming a gun at her head. She didn't fight him, she welcomed it, pressing the side of her head into the gun, hoping it would be over quick.

 

It took five seconds for him to go to the corner of the lab and kick at the trap door there, falling through the escape route with Darcy tightly grasped towards him.

 

Steve went for his shield, sending it flying towards Tony, knocking him apart from a grappling Bucky. The Winter Solider righted himself and stalked towards where Rumlow had just disappeared with Darcy. Sam and Clint both moved to contain Tony and let Barnes run after Darcy. One arrow had already imbedded itself into the Iron Man suit and Clint had another notched and ready to go.

 

“STOP THIS!” Pepper shouted, her eyes glowing a dangerous orange as her hands heated up past the point of warning.

 

“You're not MY boss,” Steve growled, realizing that this was who Darcy reported to.

 

 

“You wanted her to kill herself!” Sam shouted back at her, a gun aimed for Pepper's head, unafraid of the woman in front of him.

 

“I _wanted_ no such thing!” Pepper disputed, the sound of thick tears tainting her voice. “This was not part of our plan!”

 

“The plan was to get her safe with the AARP crowd, it was a very well thought out plan!” Tony insisted, whipping the face plate to his suit up. “She and Foster amended the plan without our approval or consent. We wouldn't know anything about it if we hadn't jacked the feed from the engagement ring.”

 

“You bugged her ring?” Steve questioned. “Is that the tracker? Have Jarvis bring it up and keep us updated. You can catch up later.”

 

“Keep them here,” Bucky directed Natasha. “I don't trust them.”

 

“Do not let her kill herself,” Pepper ordered, despite Bucky's accusations stinging her to the core. “We can keep her safe. We can protect her.”

 

“Doubt that, but I know I can,” Bucky promised, jumping in the trap door that Rumlow had used to escape. Steve retrieved his shield and followed in hot pursuit.

 

Natasha's fierce glare surveyed every remaining occupant of the room as Erik limped forward and destroyed the last portal stick methodically. They would do no good work in chasing after Darcy unless Natasha could be sure they were all on the same page. Clint was dejected and emotionally exhausted having gone through the torturous process of accepting Darcy's wishes. Sam, who was still glaring between Pepper and Tony in disgust had at least lowered the gun. Pepper, who despite her usual professionally cool demeanor, was obviously shaken by the last half hour. And Tony, whose mask was up, showed that even his usually unflappable flippant demeanor had been upended violently.

 

“Bruce?” Natasha questioned, needing to get some semblance of control over the situation.

 

“Recovered from captivity. Currently Big Green,” Tony nodded. “Playing in the surf outside. Carter is neutralized, Hill is taking her back to the helicarrier to start recalibration.”

 

Natasha nodded. She shook her head once in disbelief before leveling Tony with a sardonic look and said, “Bruce is _outside_. Where Rumlow just took Darcy with the super soldiers in hot pursuit?”

 

“Well shit, when you put it that way...”

 

* * *

 

“You can kill me any time you want, you know. I'm giving you explicit permission under the condition that it is quick and painless,” Darcy quipped as best as she could. It came out as more of a whimper due to the pain throbbing in her feet. Rumlow continued to scramble to the water, one arm banded around her arms and torso. The taser in her hand was useless as she began to feel her hands go numb from lack of circulation.

 

“Tits, nothing I do to you is going to be quick or painless,” Rumlow promised. “You think the big eyes in the sky will be looking down while I make you bleed and scream? Think he'll give me the Doctor back if I can get you to beg for it?”

 

Darcy whimpered and looked out towards the water, the blazing afternoon sun glinting off of the beautiful blue green sea. She shouldn't have wasted time. If she hadn't gotten so attached to everyone in that room, to Steve and James, then she could have just ended this whole thing. Rule #1 of the big reveal cliché: no maudlin monologue-ing. Her death was supposed to stop the bad guys from torturing her into submission. A loud splash in the distance caught her attention.

 

She squinted and saw that next to the two docked quinjets, there was definitely a frolicking Hulk tossing boulders into the water.

 

 _That could work_.

 

She waited until Rumlow got to the sandy beach before twisting her head and looking over her shoulder, seeing Steve and James in close pursuit. She looked back as the Hulk threw another hefty sized boulder into the ocean and roared happily at the resultant splash. She took a deep breath before dropping her chin slowly, then waiting until Rumlow stopped by one of the quinjets.

 

She brought her head crashing back, her skull cracking into Rumlow's nose, shattering it and causing _her_ to see stars. He loosened his grip and she wriggled free, her taser dropping to the ground in the process. Her feet gave way immediately after hitting the ground and she fell to her knees, crawled away and turned to the Hulk, screaming for all she was worth,

 

“ **HULK!”**

 

Big Green turned, his usual rage displaced on his face for a split second as curiosity marred the usually angry features. His gaze settled on a tiny woman who was waving her arms at him. Tiny Lab Girl Boobs. He knew Tiny Lab Girl Boobs.

 

“ **SMASH!”** she screamed, pointing at Rumlow, scrambling further back on the beach.

 

Hulk knew Ugly Crater Face too. And he roared in delight as he leapt towards the puny being he couldn't wait to dismember. Banner had played nice for six months with Ugly Crater Face to keep Tiny Lab Girl Boobs and Tiny Doctor Lady Hair and Twitchy Old Doctor No Pants safe.

 

The Hulk didn't have to play nice anymore. But he _could_ play.

 

 

Rumlow dropped and plucked Darcy's taser off of the ground and had a chance to turn and aim as the Hulk flew at him. He pressed the buttons and when nothing happened he stole an angry glance Darcy's way.

 

“Biometrics, you incredible ass,” Darcy scoffed. “No one plays with my toys but me.”

 

Rumlow threw the taser down and reached for his own weaponry instead, his right hand gripped a gun and his left a vicious looking knife. He shot, the bullet flying through her right shoulder and rushed towards her, grunting, “I'm gonna take that arm, and get the device out of it, Tits. Then you can bleed to death for all I care. Or you and the Asset can be a matching pair.”

 

“You're the king of the morons and the largest bag of douche I've ever met. The arm doesn't work if its not attached to living, _breathing_ me. _Biometrics,_ ” Darcy managed to impressively spit out around the pain in her shoulder. “Good luck, asshat. For the record? I'm going to enjoy watching the Hulk destroy you, in honor of James.”

 

The Hulk landed and with one punch, Rumlow was flying through the air and landed with a sickening thud against a scattering of rocks 100 yards away, the sound of bones breaking echoing over the sound of the water around them.

 

That had been anticlimactic.

 

Hulk looked to Darcy and huffed his disappointment. She smiled and said, “Oh, Big Green. I've missed you.”

 

“Sparky!” James bellowed as he arrived on the scene, thanks to his ability to scale down the rocks faster and more gracefully than Steve. He took a step back as the Hulk turned towards him and roared.

 

“Woah, woah, woah, Hulk,” Darcy skittishly called out. “Friendlies. He's a friendly. NO SMASH!”

 

The Hulk chose not to heed her advice and he went for Shiny Metal Arm, intent on playing some more. Hulk liked shiny things.

 

Darcy scrambled forward and grabbed the taser that Rumlow had dropped and fired true, not wavering as she sought to protect James from a promised deadly pounding, wincing as the Hulk roared in pain, convulsed impressively and promptly dropped to the sand in a twitching heap.

 

“That's four!” she winced in triumph, dropping the taser that would be useless for the next three minutes as her hand went to the bullet wound in her shoulder. She whimpered and muttered, “This is why the taser would have been better. No blood, no muss, no pain...”

 

“Sweetheart, you okay?” Steve rushed forward ahead of a frozen Bucky who was staring down at the twitching green monster who moments earlier had been seconds away from ripping him apart piece by piece. She'd saved his life. He joined Steve at Darcy's side. Steve was applying his large hands over her wound to stop the bleeding.

 

“hate bleeding, hate pain...speaking of you broke all the bones in my feet,” Darcy mumbled. The bullet must have gone straight through, because she felt wetness on the back of her shirt as well as the front. Her vision darkened and she realized Rumlow's shot must have nicked an artery. “Taser's better way to go.”

 

“Stay with me,” Steve ordered harshly. “Keep your eyes on me, sweetheart.”

 

“Don't,” Darcy moaned pitifully. She sniffled and whispered, “smell like baby bald eagles and freedom.”

 

Bucky tore off his vest, placed it over her wound and pressed as hard as he could, Steve's hands now atop his own as they tried to stop the bleeding. She weakly brought a hand up and stroked Bucky's metal hand. She gave him a watery smile and whispered, “Thanks for the rescue.”

 

“Not done with that yet,” Bucky promised, looking up as the helicarrier began its descent. “Cavalry's coming.”

 

As if on cue, Iron Man's repulsors announced his arrival, he landed in the sand and his mask flipped up and he actually barked out laughter at the Hulk's still twitching form.

 

“Nice! You got your fourth, short and stacked!” Tony congratulated her. He held out his arms for a rapidly fading Darcy and said, “Cho's ready on the med wing of the helicarrier. Two minutes till she's patched. Jarvis says its four minutes until she bleeds out.”

 

Steve stood with Darcy lying limply in his arms and Bucky took a moment to tie his vest squarely on the wound. He kissed her forehead before Steve did the same and handed her over to Tony. The mask flipped down and Iron Man rocketed into the sky to meet the helicarrier with Darcy in his arms.

 

Bucky looked back at the Hulk and wondered what kind of voltage she had rocketed the taser up to in order to put that beast down. It would have stopped her heart immediately. She'd have been gone before he and Steve could have even gotten a real chance. He shuddered and looked back at one of the quinjets. He jerked his chin to one of them and asked Steve,

 

“You can fly those, huh? And you know...not take us down into an iceberg?”

 

“He doesn't have to,” Natasha insisted as she and the rest of the team traipsed down the beach.

 

“He can't park for shit anyways,” Barton nodded. His eyebrows pitched into his hairline as he stared at the incapacitated Hulk. “Four down, two to go. Let's go before she has the chance to get Stark, finally.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

Darcy woke to the sound of beeping and blinked her swollen eyes open slowly. She hurt from her eyelids to the tips of her toes. She hadn't cried so much in a very long time. She took a gasp of air and demanded,

  
  
  


“Big Green okay?”

 

“Big Green is fine,” Bruce answered blithely as he looked over her charts from the end of the bed.

 

“Stevenjames?”

 

“Also fine,” Steve answered from the right side of her bed. “Happy to see we come second, sweetheart.”

 

“was two hundred and fifty thousand volts...didn't know if he could take it. Sorry.”

 

 

“Still pissed at you,” James grumbled. He smirked at her and shrugged, “You're gonna have to make it up to me, Sparky.”

 

“That nickname is no longer appropriate,” Steve scolded. It sounded like he had been trying to impress that fact on James for hours at that point. She had almost tased herself to death. Why on Earth did they need to be reminded?

 

“Your face is no longer appropriate,” Bucky countered impishly.

 

“Shuddap n kiss already,” Darcy murmured. She felt an itch on her nose and went to scratch it and found that she couldn't move her arms. She looked down and rolled her eyes as she saw that she was strapped down. She huffed in annoyance, her energy level immediately increasing dramatically. She struggled against the bonds and demanded coarsely, “REALLY?”

 

“Wouldn't want you to go all self-sacrificing again. Martyrdom is overrated,” Bruce commented as he put her chart down. “When your blood levels are back to normal, which should coincide with landing in Seoul, we're going in your arm and destroying that thing. Then Doctor Cho is going to stick you in the cradle and you'll be healed up and good as new in less than forty five minutes.”

 

“That seems more sensible than my plan,” Darcy muttered with no small amount of embarrassed anger.

 

“That is why you and Jane should never be allowed to plan alone,” Bruce nodded. “You should have known after The Great Lego Fiasco of 2012 that plans with just the two of you never go well. Also, if you had _included_ me in the planning and the secret portal emails with Heimdall you would know that those nuclear warheads were actually...confetti cannons.”

 

Darcy whined pitifully to herself.

 

“Now you just look silly,” Bucky chuckled.

 

“Thor will bring Doctor Foster back once you've recovered and we'll do the same for her,” Steve told her, his hand going for hers and squeezing her fingers. “And we'll leave the portal control to Heimdall from here on out. You both can find something else to be brilliant at.”

 

Darcy wiggled her nose and Bucky smiled at her. “Got an itch you can't scratch, Sparky?”

 

“You couldn't reach it,” Darcy sassed under her breath.

 

“I'd like to prove I can.”

 

“The masses have arrived,” Bruce announced, as Tony, Pepper, Natasha and the Bird boys entered the med bay. He'd never been so happy to see the rest of his teammates. He was sure that Bucky and Darcy were about to flirt themselves and Steve into a frenzy. A naked frenzy.

 

“You IDIOT,” Pepper scolded as she pushed her way between Steve and Darcy. Her hand went to Darcy's brow and smoothed at it affectionately.

 

“Sorry boss lady. Thought Jane and I were doing the right thing.”

 

“Don't think anymore,” Tony offered helpfully. He placed a fist against Darcy's bound hand and they bumped knuckles. He crossed his arms and gleefully theorized, “You're more fun when you don't think. You tase Big Green when you're not thinking.”

 

“Besides, who would be able to keep these two morons out of trouble?” Sam gestured to Bucky and Steve. “If they're going out in the world finishing missions for SWORD, they need someone to keep them in check.”

 

“Which was one of the main reasons you were on this mission with them anyway,” Natasha reminded her. She produced a paper bag out of thin air and placed it in Darcy's lap with a small smile to the restrained girl.

 

“SWORD?” Bucky questioned, going for Natasha's gift and grabbing a bag of peanut butter M&M's out of it. He opened them and brought one piece to Darcy's lips, smirking as she begrudgingly accepted.

 

“Sentient World Observation and Response Department,” Pepper answered, smiling down fondly at the girl who managed to bite Bucky's fingers at the next piece of candy. “We've been building the initiative with Hank McCoy since the fall of Shield. This was the first successful mission, despite our valiant little heroine's best efforts.”

 

“And the next big project will be figuring out what Hydra knows about this _Thanos_ business,” Tony added. “Once Short and Stacked is free of her portal controller and her feet have healed proper, we could use a good trio of people to gather intel for us in Tokyo. There's a robotics thing happening that seems all kinds of shady.”

 

“Send Natasha and the bird boys,” James huffed at the same time that Darcy and Steve both said,

 

“Sounds fun.”

 

He glared openly between the two of them, a very familiar   _pinched_  expression taking over his face.

 

“You two will be the death of me.”

 

* * *

**The End**

 

 

 


	3. How to Marry a Superhero (1/3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary:
> 
> So you want to marry a superhero? Depending on the superhero, the task may be next to impossible. But if you can manage to follow Darcy Lewis' 10 Easy Steps, you may find yourself with a ring on your finger in no time. Or you may start a Civil War. Either way, good times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Category: F/M, Gen  
> Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Thor (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel  
> Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, Darcy Lewis & Natasha Romanov, Darcy  
> Lewis & James "Rhodey" Rhodes  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha  
> Romanov, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Vision (Marvel), Wanda  
> Maximoff, Nick Fury, Thor (Marvel), Maria Hill, Jane Foster (Marvel),  
> Clint Barton, Lila Rhodes, Pepper Potts, Tony Stark, James "Bucky"  
> Barnes  
> Additional Tags: silliness and fluff and crack, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie),  
> steve rogers is a goober, sam wilson is a damned national treasure,  
> darcy lewis is the secret lynchpin to the avengers, nick fury is a good  
> bro? maybe?, flashbacks are used extensively and relied upon to a  
> ridiculous degree, black widow is highly possessive  
> Stats: Published: 2015-09-27 Completed: 2015-10-01 Chapters: 10/10  
> Words: 34801

  
  


* * *

** How To Marry A Superhero **

There are a multitude of single, available superheroes out on the market today, all with multiple degrees of difficulty associated with ensnaring one of them romantically. The higher the level of difficulty, the more fun the ensnaring can be.

There are your “NEVER GONNA HAPPEN GIVE UP NOW SISTER/MISTER.”, i.e., your Johnny Storms and Tony Starks.

Then you have your “A LIGHT WIND WILL CAUSE ME TO FALL AT YOUR FEET AND WORSHIP YOU”, i.e., your Spidermans and your Cylcops.

And of course, you have your “I DON'T THINK YOU ACTUALLY NEED HUMAN INTERACTION TO KEEP ON SURVIVING” types.

You know, like Wolverine. Or even like Captain America.

Well, never let it be said that the impossible was improbable. Dream big, future Mrs./Mr. Superheroes. And follow these ten simple steps.

* * *

** Step One: Steal Nick Fury's Eyepatch **

_ September 16th, 2015 _

Sam Wilson sat in the med bay on the new Avenger's facility for the seventh time in two months. He knew all of the nurses', orderlies' and doctors' names, their schedules and their coffee preferences. He knew that Nurse Turkleton's two daughters had just gotten over a bad stomach virus, and Nurse Roberts' grandson was starting on intermediate tap dance lessons.

Sam Wilson had spent too much damn time in the past damn two months since damn Ultron sitting in the damn med bay of the damned Avengers facility sitting beside the damn hospital bed of damned Steven Grant Rogers.

_ Damn. _

Between leading the new Avengers, training the new Avengers, running the upstate New York facility, going on missions and searching for Bucky Barnes endlessly, Steve Rogers was eventually going to wind up not in a bed in the med bay, but in a grave in the ground.

Sam's mother had told him the last time she had visited that _'Steven needs to find himself a special someone to look after him. Someone to make him_ _want_ _to come home.'_

“Your mother is right of course. She is full of wisdom.”

  
  


Sam looked up with a furrowed brow as his maroon team mate stood at the end of an unconscious Steve's bed. He didn't know how Vision knew what he was thinking, but after the last couple of weeks, Sam was happy to just roll with the punches. Vision looked at Steve curiously and tilted his head ever so slightly to the right. He nodded in agreement with himself and stated,

“In my previous incarnation, I noticed that Sir changed when his relationship with Miss Potts changed.”

“No offense to your supporting documentation, but Stark was with Miss Potts when he flew a nuke through a wormhole. And also when he built an evil sentient robot intent on controlling the world,” Sam chuckled. “But yeah, I get what you're saying man.”

“Captain Rogers' focus is split in multiple directions,” Vision nodded, still obviously agreeing with himself. “Without his childhood companion, he has no true, solid anchor to tie him to the Earth. We could survive without him. He needs someone in his life who could not. Without such an anchor, he becomes increasingly reckless.”

  
  
  


“What's your anchor?” Sam wondered.

“My poetry...and I look forward to gaining more understanding of everything that makes up this human experience every day,” Vision acknowledged. “I have found that I have not come upon a foreseeable end to my personal endeavor. But our Captain has found his limit in his current incarnation. He must find a new horizon to stride towards.”

“You'd be good at a greeting card company,” Sam sighed. “I get it. In lieu of Barnes, he needs a hobby. Or a warm body to cozy up to at night. Natasha's tried, and she's failed. Which hasn't ever happened to her before I think. What can I do about it? Make him a profile on OkCupid?”

Vision blinked and a text message notification went through the room. He nodded at Sam and said, “I believe that you have just received an encrypted email from one of your former acquaintances. It should prove most helpful.”

Vision left the room and Sam brought out his phone, checking his email curiously. His eyes widened when he saw the name of one Nicholas J. Fury. The title of the email:

_ The Short List. _

And boy it was a short damned list. One name. Bold. Underlined.

** DARCY LEWIS **

* * *

_ September 19  _ _ th  _ _ , 2011 _

“Avast ye salty mateys! It'll be to the brig with ya if ya don't haul me goods proper!”

“Can someone please explain to me what the hell that girl is doing?”

“Celebrating National Talk Like a Pirate day, sir.”

Nick Fury glared at Clint Barton with his one good eye. His other eye was clamped tightly shut.

Because  _ someone  _ had stolen his eye patch.

“AHOY!” Darcy Lewis yelled at a SHIELD agent who had nearly dropped one of the boxes of Jane's lab equipment. She pointed a sword at the offending agent and promised heartily, “If ye breaks it ye buys me Jane a new one!”

Clint cleared his throat obnoxiously in order to get the tiny pirate girl's attention to focus on a clearly livid Director of SHIELD. That didn't work so well and Fury was only getting...more  _ furious _ . Clint rolled his eyes as Darcy took a swig from a jug with three X's on the front of it, knowing that it was filled to the brim with the five extra large iced mochas she had coerced him into retrieving for her in the last hour.

He reached into the back of his pants and pulled out his weapon, taking careful aim before letting the ammo fly through the air. The Nerf dart's aim was true and it smacked against her left breast.

“PIGEON FACE!” Darcy bellowed, drawing her sword. “If I told ye once I told ye a hundred times, no darts against the chest barnacles! Don't make me bring the Russian Red Tide!”

She looked up and only just managed to stop herself from hurtling the sword in Clint's direction. She took one moment to study Fury, who looked like he was in the mood for absolutely none of her shit. Tough. She was in no mood for SHIELD to still be right on top of her and Jane. It had been  _ months _ .

“Miss Lewis, it seems ridiculous to have to ask this, but where did you get that sword?” Fury demanded.

“Argh ye matey...wouldja be keen to believe that it be from the Renaissance Fair?” Darcy offered hopefully. “And also...wouldja know where a lassie could get her hands on a hook for a hand? Perhaps somethin' in the vibranium or adamantium neck of the woods?”

“I'm going to have words with Romanoff. She shouldn't be giving the girl weapons, much less teaching her how to use them. And you shouldn't be giving the girl that much caffeine,” Fury huffed out. “And Miss Lewis, if you think I'm letting you near anyone else to outfit you with any more dangerous weapons, you are seriously misguided.”

“A lassie's gotta try her luck, sir. And I gotta say me piece, Admiral Nicholas, the patch is aces!” Darcy beamed up at him. She tapped the eye patch playfully and said, “Velvet is a mighty fine touch...”

Fury rolled his one eye, causing Darcy to burst out in laughter.

“I am going to find someone else to take you on someday, Miss Lewis. Lord have mercy on their soul.”

* * *

* * *

** Step Two: Obtain a Great Job, Alternatively Be One of Two People in the World that is Capable of Pressing a Highly Specific Button **

_ September 21st, 2015 _

After a very long time on a worldwide tour of lectures and conferences with Dr. Jane Foster, Darcy Lewis suddenly found herself with a highly coveted job. The pay was great. The benefits highly satisfactory. One of her best friends in the universe right at her fingertips. The office eye candy was sublime. The job detail?

_Pressing a button_ .

Granted it was a highly specific and unique button. The only other button in the world that was its equal was in Manhattan, where (the other BFF) Jane Foster currently was in Avengers Tower doing all the science she could with Tony Stark.

Darcy's button was in upstate New York at the Avengers facility. Where she was doing all the ogling of superheroes that she could.

Jane had explained it in some highly worded detail. Portals blah blah blah....science mojo...safety of the universe...reflux capacitors...multi-functioning whosamawhatsits and thingamaphones.

But what Darcy got from it was that she pressed the button once a week. That was it.

And she got room and board and Natasha booty and superhero booty and  _ dental. _

“So, this will be your office, it's a pretty busy area,” Sam Wilson gestured to her small, but cozy office, outfitted with all the best Stark tech and ergonomically designed Pepper Potts approved furniture. He pointed to the coffee bar just outside of her office, “The life blood is less than ten feet away...”

“Oh my god, you're a saint. MARRY ME. You're human perfection wrapped up in the prettiest, shiniest paper to have ever existed,” Darcy cooed at Sam. She batted her eyelashes up at him coquettishly and said, “If you tell me I have access to danishes, I may have to seriously propose. Conventional masculine/feminine constructs be damned!”

Sam nearly exploded with a short bark of laughter. He shook his head and sent a silent thanks up to Nick Fury, wherever the mystery man currently was. This was going to work out just fine.

“Usually Steve or Rhodey will stop by the canteen and bring up something baked and coated with sugar.”

“I'm becoming a bigamist, then. First I'll take you as my bride, then the delectable Captain America, ” Darcy grinned. She paused and shook her head in disbelief, “Wait---Rhodey like War Machine?”

“The very same,” James Rhodes strode through the door, holding a pastry box in his hands and waving it in front of her face. He snapped off a jaunty salute and grinned at her, “General Darceline Lewis.”

“Oh, Lila is in so much trouble when I get my hands on her, I'm going to hack her facebook and post highly unsavory pictures. Uncle Jims, I didn't know you were stationed here now,” Darcy laughed. She looked to Sam and said, “My full name is _not_ Darceline.”

“You two know each other?” Sam wondered.

“You might say that,” Rhodey laughed. “Just a little.”

* * *

_ July 17th, 1998 _

“A little to the right...no my right. Dammit Rhodes!!! Get that block you call a head on straight! Even the dumbass idiot Johnson boys down the street can take a little direction every once in a while!”

James Rhodes' eyes widened at the tiny girl who was ordering his ten-year-old niece Lila around. The loud little brunette must have been Lila's age, but she looked to be no older than six or seven. She was tiny, and was probably more hair than actual little girl. Long brown unruly waves were barely constrained by two pigtails. Broken glasses slid down her nose and her little hands alternated between slapping her forehead and tugging at the straps to her oversized denim overalls.

“UNCLE JIMS!” Lila squealed from atop the tree house. She shrieked in joy and shimmied down the ladder to tackle her uncle's knees. She gestured to Darcy and said, “Uncle Jims, this is my bestest pal Darceline Lewis. Darceline, this is my Uncle Jims. He's a pilot in the war and he always brings...hey, wheres the box?”

Rhodey laughed and brought his hand from behind his back. A big white pastry box with as many danishes and donuts that the DC Bakery could stand to part with that morning before his trip to Philadelphia. He had one week of leave, and he was going to spend it soaking in the comfort that his hometown, family and friends never failed to give him.

Lila's best friend's eyes widened as he opened the box and he swore the tiny little thing drooled just a little bit. He watched as Lila placed two donuts on each of her index fingers and then turned the box to Darcy's face fully. She took a long, exultant sniff and sighed.

“I can have one?” the tiny little slip of a girl wondered, hopeful and guarded at the same time. She looked up at Rhodey with huge blue eyes that seemed too large for her tiny face. “You're not joking, are you?”

“Why would anyone on the face of this Earth joke about pastries?” Rhodey asked seriously. “You can have as many as you want, Darceline.”

Darcy reached forward very quickly and grabbed one donut in her right hand and smashed it into her face. She then grabbed two danishes and managed to shimmy them in the front pocket of her overalls messily. Rhodey bit back a chuckle, but looked at the small girl with some concern as she almost choked on the donut she was actively trying to inhale.

“My name's not Darceline,” she stood straighter as she swallowed. “It's just Darcy.”

“Your momma must of liked Old English books,” Rhodey smiled.

“Nah, my nana did,” Darcy shrugged her cheeks going pink. “I remember she always used to read them. We watched it too. She said Colin Firth helped my teething.”

“Uncle Jims will you please help us?” Lila demanded suddenly. She saw Darcy's blush and god bless her sweet little heart, she wanted to help her friend out of a tough emotional situation. Talking about the nana was obviously hard for Darcy to do.

“Well that depends. What are you doing? And do I have to take orders from the very bossy General Lewis?” Rhodey asked with a smile to Darcy.

“I'm only bossy with Lila cause she's a genius that don't got her head screwed on straight,” Darcy laughed with more wisdom than a ten-year-old ought to have. “You gotta keep the geniuses in line.”

“That you do,” Rhodey agreed, knowing from his own experience of course. “I'm no genius, Darcy. But I promise to take direction as well as the next soldier.”

“Soldiers are the best! You'll do just fine,” Darcy grinned, grabbing another donut and shoving it in the direction of her mouth. “We need to get our defenses ready before those Johnson boys come around later tonight.”

“Well let me go say hello to my mother, and I'll be right out to assist, General Lewis.”

Darcy and Lila took off back to the tree house, all abuzz with new ideas and plans to implement. He heard Darcy saying something about _having a grownup to weld stuff together finally_ as he approached his mother with open arms.

“It's good to have you home, James,” Roberta Rhodes sighed as she clung to her son like he was a lifeline. She took the box of pastries from him and gestured back to the tree house, where Lila and Darcy were working together like a pair of maniacs. “I won't keep you, Miss Darceline doesn't like to be kept waiting.”

“She new to the neighborhood?” Rhodey wondered.

“Foster care with the Roberts' family around the block,” Roberta sadly relayed. “She was raised by her nana, but she passed when Darcy was four. She doesn't have much in the way of family, so she's been bouncing around for a while now...”

  
  


“Poor kid,” Rhodey sighed.

“DAMMINT LILA! WE AIN'T GOT NO CHROME!”

“She'll be just fine in the world, she's a tough cookie.”

* * *

_ September 21st, 2015 _

“Whoever gave you Darcy's name is a very smart man...woman...person,” Rhodey relayed to Sam as they suited up for their 10:30AM training session. “Was it Pepper?”

“Darcy knows Pepper?” Sam furrowed his brow.

“ Wilson, you're still relatively new to this whole superhero thing, but I'll let you in on a little secret...Darcy knows  _ everyone _ .”

“Except Steve,” Sam smirked.

“She's gonna know him. Hell, I was going to introduce them at Tony's next shindig,” Rhodey shook his head in amusement. “Seriously, whoever finally came up with this idea is a genius...was it my momma? She call you? She's keen to see Darcy settled in lieu of Lila getting settled. Nothing would make her happier than the idea of star spangled babies. She might even get off of MY case...”

“Fury, the man has bugs everywhere, including Steve's room in the med bay, and he heard me and Vision talking about how Steve needed an anchor,” Sam revealed. “Now, I just have to get her to meet up with Cap. I mean, her office is across the coffee bar from his. It's only a matter of time. But still...”

“New to this matchmaking business?” Natasha said blithely as she turned the corner and held up a bear claw pastry to take a nibble. “Steve is not going to make this easy on you.”

“You know as well as anyone that the girl is a force of nature,” Rhodey raised a brow Natasha's way.

“Wait a second---you know Darcy? Why didn't you suggest her during the parade of ladies back in DC?” Sam demanded. “You could have saved us all a lot of time!”

“Cause she's mine, I'm not letting _Steve_ have her!” Natasha scoffed as she took another nibble at her pastry. “He'll hog all the cuddle time.”

Two pairs of beautiful brown eyes nearly popped out of two very shocked soldiers' heads.

“Can you repeat that?” Rhodey asked. He knew his niece Lila had come out as gay five Thanksgivings ago, but he hadn't know Darcy flew that way too.

“ In greater and slower detail? The emphasize on the  _ cuddle time _ ,” Sam nodded with a sudden impressed tilt to his smile.

Natasha rolled her eyes at both of them and said, “I'd be willing to share her on a limited basis if it could get the stick out of his ass. I mean, really...the three a day training sessions need to stop.”

“ When you say she's  _ yours _ ...” Sam cajoled cutely for more information.

“Drop it,” Rhodey shook his head, he didn't want to hear anything about Darceline Lewis in that way. She was still a cute little ten year old in his mind. “Anyway, ask Darcy to take on some of Rogers' paper work. She's going to be bored hitting that button once a week.”

“She's not going to be bored,” Natasha smirked knowingly. “She'll find all sorts of antics to get up to on her own. Rhodey should know that by now. As a matter of fact, I may or may not have helped her set up a booby trap in the vents for the next time Barton visits.”

“Regardless, Darcy doesn't like handouts, and she definitely knows that this job is a handout,” Rhodey murmured thoughtfully. “If you ask her to do Rogers' stuff...and you know, work with him as a big favor, to you and the Avengers, she won't say no.”

“I'll bring that up to her after training,” Sam nodded. He got up and began following Natasha asking earnestly, “So when you say she's _yours_ are we talking full custody of the naughty bits or---”

* * *

_ September 22nd, 2015 _

Steve walked back into his office after lunch that day and took a deep breath. He had another hour before the 2:30 conference call with Maria Hill and then it was on to the 3:30 training session with the Avengers. The new Avengers were coming along nicely, but there were plenty of kinks to work out.

There was a whole new set of skills amongst the new team. Those skill sets needed to be analyzed, tested and practiced. They had to figure out a decent rhythm before the big bad evil of the world decided to put them to the test.

Steve sighed, just that morning he swore that the big bad evil of the world had decided to infiltrate his desk. It had been littered with memos, papers, requisitions and abstract poetry that the Vision dutifully handed in every day at 4:30 pm ( _ don't ask _ ). Not to mention the computer, which had emails in the thousands, despite the fact that he had used all of last Sunday sitting in the med bay catching up.

Steve blinked at his desk.

It was clean.

And there was a cup of coffee on it. A bright pink post-it note on the Thor themed mug stating “DRINK ME.”

And a danish. Post-it note in front of it with an arrow pointing to it stating “EAT ME.”

And a  _ potted plant _ . Requisite post-it note stating “WATER ME.”

But the desk was certainly devoid of the mountains of paper work that had been there earlier that day. He looked at the in box on the desk and his eyebrows shot into his hairline. He hadn't known he had one of those. Mainly because it had been buried underneath paperwork. In the box were two file folders. One with a comic book drawing of the War Machine plastered on it with a bright pink post-it note stating “SIGN ME.”

The other was a folder with the Black widow emblazoned over it and a bright pink post-it note stating “REVIEW ME.”

Steve shook his head in wonderment and grabbed the coffee and the danish before getting back up and ambling out of his office. His intent was to ask Sam who had done this and if he had finally managed to finagle one of the nicer older ladies from Stark's secretarial pool. He wondered how Sam had managed to find someone with a high enough security clearance.

He took a sip of the coffee and walked through his office door, stopping in his tracks at the sight of the back of a woman who was definitely not one of the nicer older ladies from Stark's secretarial pool. Gorgeous legs made more gorgeous by a pair of amazingly tall, shiny and black heels, black pencil skirt that was like a second skin on a pair of sinful hips. A tiny little waist nipped in by a bright red wide belt.

He ogled with the coffee mug still at his mouth. The object of his ogling turned and Steve felt his mind fizzle slightly at the sight of a peek of red lace between the bravely struggling buttons of a white shirt that obstinately refused to entirely contain a spectacular chest. Pinned to her right breast was a bright pink post-it note that stated

“MARRY ME.”

Steve choked on his coffee and looked up at a laughing red mouth with sinfully decadent lips and a pair of sparkling blue eyes that couldn't be hidden behind black rimmed glasses.

His coffee dribbled out of his mouth and on to the front of his uniform.

“Sorry, I couldn't resist,” Darcy laughed, pulling the post it note off of her chest. She tactfully ignored his hasty attempts to wipe at the coffee on the front of his chest. She reached her hand out and said, “Darcy Lewis. Button pusher.”

“I'm---what? Button...am I the button---” Steve stammered.

“She pushes the button, has she pushed you lately Rogers? I think you'd remember it,” Sam called from his office, sounding more pleased with himself than he had any right to be. His job in the matchmaking had been minimal. One _Will You Help Captain America?_ Had been answered with a very definitive _Patriotically I cannot say no._ “ Doc Foster emailed you about it last week.”

“Yeah, he didn't read that email,” Darcy called out to Sam. She turned back to Steve with a scolding smile and wagged her finger, “I loaded a Stark tablet with the important emails. You should be able to get through them in a half hour or so. The email app has a voice dictation option so you don't even have to type replies. Everything else has been replied to and deleted. You have no choice but to keep up to date on the things I deem important enough now.”

“Miss Lewis, I don't know, I mean I think that you shouldn't be reading my---”

“I had level eight clearance when Shield fell,” Darcy shrugged. “So that argument is for naught, Captain. Someone should be reading your email, because you _definitely_ were not doing it.”

“What?” Steve shook his head in disbelief. Natasha had only been level seven.

“Look, you need help, you're drowning here. I'm really good at helping,” Darcy promised. “Besides I outrank you. I'm a General.”

“She is!' Sam called out from his office. “Say thank you, Cap!'

“Thanks?” Steve said with no small amount of trepidation.

“I've yet to find one person on this planet that can stop me from doing what I want to do, Captain Rogers,” Darcy grinned back at him. “Just roll with it.”

Darcy grabbed her coffee and turned. Steve choked again at the view of her rear end, where she had helpfully stuck her post it with the instructions, “MARRY ME.”

Sam fought to keep his laughter silent in his office. This was going to go really, really well.  He texted Natasha victoriously, knowing it would push her buttons.  He was going to get the details of her ownership of Darcy if it killed him.

* * *

  


* * *

** Step Three: Bring a Taser to a Freaky Power Fight **

_ November 11th, 2015 _

Nearly two months passed in the blink of an eye. Darcy settled into the Avengers facility nicely. She was good at her button pushing job. She was good at her Steve's button pushing job. Well, she was good at keeping his life and work in order. She quickly learnt that face to face time with Captain America was hard to come by.

He had been searching for Bucky for five weeks out of the eight that she had been at the Avengers Facility. She kept in contact with him through the email she had set up on his tablet, but it was no more than ' _Read this...approve this...you're welcome for getting you that car reservation.'_ It wasn't exactly scintillating conversation. And when they had face time, she babbled and he stared at her in what she could only assume was boredom and annoyance. And constipation. Once she saw him smile at something she had said or done, but it quickly melted when she beamed a smile back at him, and in its place was that _Captain America Needs More Fiber_ constipated look.

But life amongst the Avengers was still pretty fantastically sweet, even if she was no closer to adding Steve to her list of men she would make her bride.

It was nice spending so much time with Rhodey. She had only managed about two weeks of face time a year in her youth, although they had been great penpals.  He was teaching her how to drive a stick shift car, and he was blissfully ignoring the fact that she was stealing bits and pieces of the War Machine suit for her own nefarious devices. They face timed Lila together twice a week and he  _ always  _ brought her pastries.

Sam Wilson was a damned national treasure. He had taught her to sneak into the kitchens after hours like a true fellow Hufflepuff. She may have made him over twenty dozen cookies in the past two weeks alone to show her gratitude. He also had authorized karaoke night in the canteen in Steve's absence. And he was her absolute favorite duet partner.  _ Islands in the Stream  _ never sounded so good.

Darcy was helping Vision's poetry become a little less abstract and the results were getting pretty good. She promised that at the end of the year they would pull together all his best work and get it printed up in a real book as a gift for Steve. Vision remembered Darcy Lewis from his time as JARVIS, and he had freely told her that it was nice to be able to see the ' _ aesthetically pleasing spatial relations of her body in the corporeal flesh' _ .

After that comment, Darcy put Vision on the list of her future brides.

Wanda Maximoff was another story altogether. Darcy tried. She truly did, but the poor girl was still in shell-shocked grief at the loss of her brother after gaining unwieldy and evolving super powers. She was a teenaged girl who had lost her only family and been thrown into an apocalypse. And now she was on another _continent_ and training to be one of Earth's mightiest heroes.

The Scarlet Witch was having trouble adapting.

Darcy did her best, dragging Wanda into cookie baking, karaoke nights and even the three weekend project of painting their living quarters in violently colorful hues (Rhodey had said he wouldn't get near their living quarters again without at least two pairs of sunglasses, to which Darcy had claimed their art project a success).

Wanda could use a win, though.

Which was why Darcy had suggested to Steve via email that the three a day training sessions should be dialed back. To at least two. If that was approved, she may push her luck and ask for maybe even one session a day sometimes. And perhaps, if she played her cards right, she could finagle a weekend free of training for the new Avengers.

But today was not that day. Captain America was stateside at least, in Manhattan, arguing with Tony about something, no doubt. But the new Avengers were still training without their fearless leader. He always checked the surveillance feeds to make sure they were doing what he thought needed to happen. Natasha led the group through hand to hand combat training at the 10:30 am session. Rhodey and Sam were quickly excused after having proved themselves highly adept.

Vision and Wanda?

Not so much.

“AGAIN!” Natasha called out.

Wanda whimpered and Darcy cringed at the door. She threw a look Natasha's way and got a raised eyebrow in response. Darcy knew Natasha wasn't trying to be cruel. She had undergone the same training and treatment from the Black Widow's hands. But Darcy had been an impetuous twenty-year old at the time and had demanded to be trained. Her life had never been perfect, but it was far from as unhappy as Wanda's was at the moment.

“This will save your life someday...it will save others,” Natasha promised. She was hardly maternal, but she was not being unkind either.

“What does it matter?” Wanda barked back, bursts of red, nebulous energy shooting from her fists.

“It does seem to be unnecessary, Miss Romanoff,” Vision dropped his hands. “Miss Wanda will never attain the level of competence which you desire in combat situations. She is more ideally suited for the powers she wields.”

“It matters,” Natasha promised, her mouth in a cold hard line.

Darcy blinked and before she knew it, she had a hand pressed around her throat. A Black Widow sized hand. She went slack, trying to pull Natasha down with her weight, but the Black Widow was one step ahead of her and threw Darcy to the ground. One slick roll of her deadly body and she was pressing her knee into Darcy's sternum, a gun pressed coolly against her forehead.

“You cannot use your powers now,” Natasha looked up to Wanda. “If either of you do, the bullet will be in her brain, wiping her out of existence.”

“Leave her alone!” Wanda yelled angrily, her eyes rimmed in red.

“Miss Romanoff, this is hardly...”

Natasha pressed her knee harder against Darcy, causing the girl to whimper slightly and Vision stopped speaking.

“Your powers cannot save her. What do you do?” Natasha demanded again calmly of both of her trainees. She settled a grim glance on Wanda and her voice was a murmur in the room, barely heard, “Pietro's powers could not save him. The powers are not your answer. _You_ should be the answer.”

Darcy closed her eyes tightly as involuntary tears leaked out, slipping down her cheeks. She heard Wanda's breathing becoming erratic and she knew that a full fledged anxiety attack was about to go down. Natasha was doing her best to get Wanda fight ready but using the dead brother was the wrong tactic to take with a friendly.

“Don't speak his name, again,” Wanda whispered. The quiet before the storm.

A burst of red energy flew from her in a circular ripple and it knocked Vision and the Black Widow onto their backs. Darcy rolled onto her stomach and looked up as Wanda's powers lashed out all around her, uncontrolled, undefined, _unimaginably_ dangerous.

“Kiddo, it's okay,” Darcy said. “I'm fine and Natasha will be very sorry when she wakes up...but you have to calm down. We should get a medic in here.”

Wanda wailed in response, not hearing Darcy's words at that point as she had a full on grief fueled tantrum. The red energy spiraled towards the support beams on the ceiling, lashing out quickly and mercilessly. Darcy calculated that it wouldn't hold much longer than thirty seconds.

She popped to her feet and _dashed_ towards Wanda, dodging one uncontrollable dart of the deadly energy that Wanda was long past being able to control.

“Darcy!” Wanda gasped, looking in fear as Darcy took one edge of energy to her left bicep. The fear of hurting her friend only made Wanda more on edge and out of control. She looked to her hurt friend who was still rushing towards her and whispered, “Help me...”

“Miss Lewis!”

Darcy turned her head quickly for a split second to see a very concerned Steve Rogers standing at the front door. He took in the scene in shock and ordered, “Miss Lewis, get down!”

He went for his shield on his back, and Darcy knew that if that shield hit Wanda at full force, the girl would be in the med bay for _weeks_ . And the very last thing the Scarlet Witch needed at that moment was to be treated as a deadly opponent.  She turned back to Wanda as another whip of energy burnt at her skin. It hurt, but it also felt like Wanda was sapping the energy out of her at the contact. She definitely didn't want to get hit again.

Darcy pulled out her taser and aimed true.

The training room went silent as Wanda went down for the count, twitching but blissfully unconscious. Darcy dropped to her knees, her hand going to her left arm where two red, weeping lines of blood were staining her shirt. Steve was next to her in a moment, as Sam and Rhodey burst on the scene and checked on the other fallen comrades.

“ Are you okay?” Steve whispered, his hands holding on to the fingertips of her left hand. He looked down at her wounds and then back up to her eyes searchingly, “Miss Lew---Darcy, are you  _ okay?” _

“ _ ' _ M fine,” Darcy mumbled, wavering on her knees. “Sleepy...drank five espressos today but sleepy.”

“Do you know what Wanda can do to super powered people? You don't have superpowers, the energy will _wreck_ you,” Rhodey said harshly from where he was checking on Natasha, who was rousing herself. He glared at Steve and said, “Take her to medical!”

“no, that's stupid,” Darcy shook her head.

Steve glared at her and maneuvered her into his arms, he sprung to his feet and took off at a run while holding her fireman style.

“but you're MY bride...I should carry you!” Darcy giggled for one brief second, before soundly passing out.

* * *

_ April 12 _ _ th _ _ , 2008 _

“Have a cookie.”

Natasha Romanoff looked up from her perch on the bench to see a girl in a Culver University sweatshirt shoving a large cookie in her face. A chocolate chip with a lot of mini M&M's. Natasha looked back at her with a furrowed brow.

“Not supposed to take things from strangers?” Darcy questioned. She smiled brightly and said, “I'm Darcy Lewis. I suppose I didn't think we were strangers, because I've seen you on the quad at the same time every day for the last two weeks. I called you Ginny Weasley in my head, cause of the hair.”

  
  


Darcy gestured to Natasha's red locks helpfully. She plopped next to one of the world's greatest assassin and continued her cheerful word vomiting.

“ I notice you sit in different places, but you're always looking when he comes out. Watching him.  _ Studiously _ . I mean, Dr Banner's cute in a rumpled professor sort of way. I have a friend who takes a class with him and he says the dude is wicked smart, but totally not a great people person. And I'm guessing he's not good with ladies, because he's managed to muck it up with Dr. Ross...”

“You are very observant.  And you know a lot of good information,” Natasha said honestly, taking the cookie from her and taking a nibble. It was good.

“Tasty, right?” Darcy smiled. “I modified a hot plate to act as an oven. Don't tell anyone, its contraband and I could get in big trouble with my R.A.”

“My lips are sealed,” Natasha promised.

“So, are you like, stalking Dr. Banner? Did you and he have a thing? Did he hurt you?” Darcy questioned. Her last question was said as her eyes narrowed at the aforementioned Dr. Banner leaving the lab building finally and heading towards the opposite end of campus. “I can make him pay if he hurt you. Sisters gotta stick together.”

“Ginny Weasley doesn't have sisters,” Natasha supplied.

“In law. I'm totally Hermione,” Darcy supplied with a grin. She bit her bottom lip suddenly and asked, “If you need help, I'm here.”

“Thank you, Darcy.”

They struck up quite the acquaintance during Natasha's surveillance at Culver. Darcy always had some sort of illegally made baked good and a plethora of information about the doctors Ross and Banner. Darcy never asked for Natasha's name, instead calling her Ginger and Natasha in turn started calling her Maryanne. It eventually devolved into Darcy referring to her as  _ honey  _ and Natasha called her  _ baby.  _ Natasha had never fallen in so fast with a friend before. Not even Clint. She adored Darcy and wanted to keep the young woman in her pocket forever.

Right around the time that everything at Culver went _insane_ with the Hulk, Natasha disappeared.

Darcy worried.

It was a few weeks later, after the absolute atrocity Natasha had witnessed with the battle of Hulk and Abomination that Darcy found Natasha again on the park bench where they had first met.

“Are you okay?” Darcy demanded, digging into her bag and pulling out a saran wrapped cookie. “I've been carrying cookies with me for weeks waiting for you, you know...”

“I want to go to Disney World,” Natasha suddenly announced. “When is your last final?”

“Tomorrow?” Darcy cocked her head to the right in curiosity.

“I have vacation time with work. We're going on a road trip, Darcy.”

“Okay,” Darcy shrugged. “Can I have your _real_ name?”

“Natalia Alianovna Romanoff. But you can call me Nat.  But I find that I quite prefer it when you call me Honey.”

* * *

_ November 11th, 2015 _

“ What was she thinking?” Steve demanded the minute Natasha walked through the door of Darcy's room in the med bay. “What were  _ you  _ thinking? Why was Darcy there?”

“She was thinking that she wanted to help her friends,” Natasha answered coolly, hiding her limping as she stalked to the side of Darcy's bed. She put a hand on top of Darcy's and squeezed. “I was thinking that if anyone on the face of this planet could help Wanda through her struggles, it would be Darcy. And Darcy was there because she was very likely trying to fill a Captain America sized hole.”

“That's ridiculous, she's tiny,” Steve grumbled nonsensically as Natasha's accusation hit him squarely in his chest. He hadn't been there enough. He had run off to chase Bucky's shadow. He had run from the new team. And he had run from Darcy. Five days of working with her had been too much. One more hour in her presence and his carefully constructed walls would come crumbling down. He knew that. He didn't have the time or energy for friends or...much less anything else his traitorous brain may have imagined up.

He had been smitten immediately. She took the chaos of his work life and boiled it down to two folders and a Stark pad with a few dozen emails. She laughed and smiled and joked with him and his teammates and wormed his way into his life in less than half a day. He had dreamt of her the night he had met her and it had been decidedly not work appropriate.  

Steve had been drowning in his life, in his sorrow, in his pity and she was a lifeline that he wasn't willing to pull against. He  _ wanted  _ to but he was definitely unwilling. What could he possibly offer this force of nature trapped in a (perfect) body?

So of course he ran.

And she was laying in a hospital bed as a result.

“The Winter Soldier will not be hunted like an animal,” Natasha said softly. “We both know this.”

“I know,” Steve whispered.

“Bucky Barnes will come to you,” Natasha asserted.

“How can you be sure?” Steve demanded.

“I know friendship, Steve. Real, true, loving friendship,” Natasha revealed, leaning in to kiss Darcy's brow. The spy glared at him suddenly and said, “Just remember that she's mine before she's yours. You will not interfere with any of my scheduled cuddling time.”

“I'm not going to---we barely know each other,” Steve stammered. He looked between an unconscious Darcy and a smirking Natasha. “Wait, what? How do you mean she's yours?”

* * *

_ January 15th, 2010 _

Natasha pulled the Jeep to the curb of Darcy's new apartment and sighed. She looked to the passenger seat where Darcy was peacefully napping and reached a fist out to hold near the girl's cheek.

“DARCY!”

“Wha -huhOW!” Darcy turned into the fist. “Jeez, Nat. That was rude!”

“I can't believe my little girl is going back to college,” Natasha said drolly. “Just yesterday she was taking tiny baby steps towards spydom, and now she's going back to her half-finished psychology degree.”

“Eh, its been over a year since I cracked open a psychology book. I might change my major again,” Darcy shrugged. “I think I'd be a good botanist.”

“You'd make a good professional student. Or maybe political science, I'd like for my best friend to be the president someday,” Natasha nodded sagely. She pet Darcy's head like she was a tiny kitten and sighed, “Oh my sweet little baby Widow...what are you going to do without me?”

“Be sad mostly, I guess,” Darcy shrugged. She sniffled and turned to Natasha with tears in her eyes. “I'm really going to miss seeing you every day.”

“I know, baby,” Natasha smiled. “But the new cover means I can't have my obnoxious kid sister hanging around.”

“Do me one favor while you're at Stark Industries...”

“I will make sure, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Tony Stark is not your secret father who abandoned your poor pregnant mother,” Natasha laughed. “That's objective number one of this mission.”

“Good to see I rank above Pirate Leather Booty,” Darcy giggled.

“ Oh baby Darcy,” Natasha let her features go soft as she stared at the girl who had been her traveling companion for nearly two years. “What am  ** I  ** going to do without you?”

“Save the world, mostly,” Darcy shrugged. “ALSO? Can you try not getting shot through the stomach by creepy Russian assassins of ancient creepy legend?”

“It was only the once,” Natasha shrugged. “I got back to you in time.”

“That Iranian oil sheik nearly made me his child bride!” Darcy scoffed. She sniffled again, her eyes welling up with tears. “How am I going to survive without you?”

“You have the phone, I will always answer,” Natasha promised. “I will always be there for you. You call me, I will come, I promise.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded. She smiled at her best friend and said softly, “I love you, honey.”

“I love you, too, baby.”

* * *

_ November 11th, 2015 _

“The doctors said she could have coffee when she finally woke up,” Steve revealed to Sam as they sat by Darcy's bedside. She had been out for six hours so far, but the doctors said she'd pull through just fine, if not a little overly tired. “Do you think I should go and get her some? And how does she take it? I mean, she knows how to make my coffee, but I don't know---I never asked.  I'm such a screw up, Sam.”

“She drinks more liquid sugar than actual coffee,” Sam cut in with a reassuring smile. “And Nat and Rhodey have it covered, man. Just be here when she wakes up. Waking up from an injury is made infinitely better when you see a friendly face. And hey, whose face is friendlier than Captain America?”

Darcy began to move around on her bed and made soft, whining, whimpering noises. She blinked her eyes open lazily and said in a hoarse whisper,

“Nat...”

“Right here, baby,” Natasha walked in the room, holding a tray of iced coffees. She placed the tray on Darcy's bedside table and said, “I'm sorry that everything got a little out of hand.”

“A little?” Steve whispered incredulously.

“ _ Baby _ ?” Sam whispered back to him.

“S'ok,” Darcy sighed. “Vision? Wanda?”

“Vision's fine, doing his poetry assignment,” Rhodey answered as he walked in with a box of pastries. He nearly dropped it as a blur of red and black pushed past him and threw itself on Darcy's bed.

“I'm so sorry!” Wanda wailed as she buried her head in Darcy's chest.

“Wanda, it's okay, I'm alright. Are you alright?” Darcy questioned.

“I didn't mean to hurt you,” Wanda said earnestly. “I was just---”

“It's okay, Wanda,” Steve interrupted, calling attention to himself on the other side of Darcy's bed. “We all have our moments where we're not seeing things clearly. We're going to work on it.”

“ IF YOU GIVE THEM FOUR TRAINING SESSIONS IN A DAY I WILL FIND A WAY TO HURT YOU! AND MAKE IT  _ LAST, _ ”  Darcy grumbled loudly at a shocked Captain. She looked around at everyone and said, “I need a moment alone with the Captain.”

“You heard the General, everyone out,” Rhodey jerked his head to the door while he placed the box of pastries on Darcy's lap.

Steve swallowed nervously and watched as his _gleeful_ teammates exited the room. Sam gave him a particularly victorious smile before closing the door behind him. Darcy reached for one of the coffees that Natasha had dropped on the bedside table and took a large sip before turning a very stern look at Captain America.

He opened his mouth to speak at least five times before he managed to get out, “I'm sorry...”

“This is what I want,” she began sternly. “You missed Halloween karaoke and seven other Karaoke nights. To make up for it you will dial back the training sessions with the team to 10 a week. TOTAL.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed readily.

“ You missed Fall Harvest potluck, I made cupcakes and some kickass chicken salad for that and you didn't get to tell me it was amazing and delicious because you  _ weren't  _ here,” Darcy continued. “To make up for it you will help me make the team Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone in Avenger's tower has been invited. You will be nice to Tony and not argue with him.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed, this time a little reluctantly.

“ You missed the end of summer barbeque,” Darcy wagged a finger at him, beginning to take real joy in this now. “We made homemade ice cream as a team and you missed it. To make up for it you will take a turn dressed as Santa for the Maria Stark foundation at a local children's hospital. And I will be taking  _ so many pictures _ .”

“Okay,” Steve muttered, feeling like he was doing an awful lot of penance for missing out on fun things. He suddenly realized that he was wildly outmatched. He knew immediately that he would _never_ deny her anything. He kind of hoped that she never figured that out. Darcy Lewis had a lot of skills and talents.  He already knew that  impulse control wasn't one of them.

“And you missed Football kickoff weekend, we played tackle and my team beat Sam's,” Darcy finally listed. “To make up for it you are going to attend my New Year's Eve party, and you are going to wear a fancy tuxedo. And you are going to have fun with us. Bucky will come back, I know he will. You have to give him time. And you're going to stop being away all the time because---because...”

Steve watched in breathless anticipation as Darcy fumbled her words, her eyes filling with tears. She looked at him with big, sad blue eyes and it tore right through him. Not just his heart, he could feel a rip right through his whole body.

“Because I really missed you, believe it or not,” Darcy whispered. She looked up at him in shock when his big hand engulfed hers.

“I missed you too, Darcy.”

* * *

* * *

** Step Four: Always Invite the Asgardians, even Fandral. That little shit. **

_ November 26th, 2015 _

“You can't _boil_ the turkey.”

“You know what, Romanoff?”Steve shook his head at her and earned an unimpressed roll of her eyes. He looked at the gigantic stock pot of boiling water where he was dumping a five pound container of kosher salt. He knew they weren't boiling the food. He _hated_ boiled anything nowadays. But he definitely didn't know what they were doing. He was just doing exactly what Darcy had instructed him to do.

“We're brining the extra turkeys for leftovers and you know that, honey,” Darcy giggled at Natasha, who was busy at one of the industrial kitchen work tables, studying one of Darcy's recipes, this one for a sweet potato casserole. “Stop picking on my future bride!”

“Stop calling me that,” Steve huffed.

Darcy rolled her eyes as his constipated look crept on his face. Steve hadn't left the facility in the last two weeks. He had eased up on the training schedule and had actively encouraged Darcy's every attempt at ' _ Avengers Family Fun Nights',  _ increasing the budget out of his own pocket and offering any muscles she may have needed for set up and cleanups.

He had encouraged Wanda to talk to Sam and Vision about her feelings and emotions and fears, and slowly, the girl was learning to think of her new residence as a home instead of a prison sentence.

And here he was, in a pink frilly apron Darcy had insisted he wear, (while she got the _Kiss the Cook_ apron) and he was doing whatever she told him to do in preparation for the Thanksgiving dinner that evening. So far it had been lifting two gigantic pots of water onto the stove and peeling potatoes.

Darcy had been in the kitchen since four in the morning.

She hadn't even gone to bed the night before. Everyone but Thor and Jane had descended upon the Avengers Facility the night before and many drinks and many pizzas were imbibed by all. She had strolled into the kitchen immediately after everyone had passed out after round eight of Cards Against Humanity and began baking pies and cheesecake.

Steve had joined her at six am, when the smell of pumpkin pie spice made it to the common room couch he had passed out on. She was a bossy little thing, and he had been peeling and chopping potatoes for the last four hours. Apparently it took a lot of potatoes to feed their crew.

“I hope I got enough turkey,” Darcy pondered softly as she chopped onions like a pro, not a teary eye to be seen.

“You got five turkeys, twenty-five pounds a piece!” Sam guffawed from the another work table where he was staring at Darcy's instructions for potato filling.

“Yes, but you need enough for people, and then leftovers,” Natasha supplied.

“Oh God. I'm staying for leftovers,” Maria Hill groaned as she walked into the kitchen, a twenty pound bag of flour in her hands. “Will you please make me one of those Thanksgiving Hot Pockets?”

“I will send you back to Manhattan with at least enough to get you through till Christmas,” Darcy grinned at her.

Steve _should have_ been surprised that Darcy and Hill had been connected prior to their impromptu party last night. But he couldn't manage it, even when the two had taken the karaoke stage with Natasha to sing a rousing rendition of a song about girls running the world by someone that was famous that Steve didn't know.

“Am I the last person in the Avengers Club to actually meet you, Darcy?” Steve wondered, throwing a knowing look towards Natasha. She had been holding out on him. But still, if she had thrown Darcy into the mix in DC, he would have still said no then without ever having met her. But now...was he ready? Did she even care?

“Aww, Steven, it's because I saved the best for last,” Darcy quipped.

And there went the constipated look of his. She was seriously going to start spiking his morning coffee with fiber. She grinned at him and said confidentially, “And by best for last, I mean Bucky Barnes. He shall also be my bride someday.”

Steve's heart lurched at the sound of Bucky's name. He felt the guilt come crashing down. Bucky was out there somewhere... _hurting_. And he was in a kitchen in a frilly apron with some dame that was too good to him, too sweet and too kind. She had said it like she knew, she _knew_ Bucky would find his way back. She had been offering him little reassurances of Bucky's imminent return for the past two weeks, and he _believed_ her. Without a doubt. How did she do that?

“Speaking of, another Hydra facility went down yesterday. Burnt down to the ground,” Maria reported. “There is something to be said for thoroughness, but it may be more useful if he left us some intel.”

“My bride-to-be is a fierce warrior who ain't got no time for your intel business,” Darcy scoffed. She walked by him and squeezed his hand, and the crushing guilt eased in his chest. She smiled up at Steve reassuringly, “He'll find his way when he's done. With the avenging.”

* * *

_ December 15th, 2013 _

“Touch what is mine and I will destroy you physically and emotionally.”

Maria Hill turned to see Natasha pointing a gun at her head.

“Easy, Agent Romanoff,” Maria shook her head. “You don't need to make an enemy of me.”

“I will be making a _dead_ enemy of you,” the Black Widow promised.

“I just wanted a little piece,” Maria glared at her.

“You are unworthy,” Natasha shook her head. She shrugged and gestured back to where Clint Barton and Agent Sitwell lay on the floor of the Shield kitchenette, incapacitated and in varying degrees of unconsciousness. “Just as the boys were unworthy.”

“Back down, honey!” Darcy called out from the couch as she spared one glance away from her laptop. “You can share the Thanksgiving hot pocket with Maria, she's worthy and I have four more in the freezer for you. That should hold you off until _Christmas_ hot pockets.”

“Thanks, Lewis,” Maria smirked at the young woman who had gone back to her work. Maria took the _small_ piece of the tasty treat the Black Widow had spared and made her way over to Darcy's perch on the couch. “Finishing up some course work?”

“Nah, I'm trying to get my clearance up. It's like a fun game,” Darcy smiled up at her briefly before typing madly at the computer. “Fury has his tech monkeys blocking me out of files that I need, so I'm downloading the Fifty Shades of Gray audio files on to their tech. It reads it out loud at max volume.”

“I love you, Lewis,” Maria sighed. And she truly did, from the moment she heard about Nick Fury's stolen eyepatch from a hysterically laughing Clint Barton. She scrutinzed the young woman and wondered, “Need my help? I'm sure we can get you up to level two by the end of the day.”

“That'd be working backwards,” Clint grumbled from the ground as he roused himself back to the land of the living. He had only eaten a bite before Nat had handed him his ass. At least he got a bite. Sitwell had only managed to sniff the air before he was on his back and out cold.

“What's your clearance?” Maria wondered. She shook her head, she should know if a civilian was higher than a three.

“Eight,” Darcy shrugged. She slapped the screen of her laptop in irritation. “DAMMIT YOU LEATHER CLAD PIRATE! GIVE ME MY NINE!”

“Darcy...I am the only person who has a level nine in Shield,” Maria said quietly conveniently leaving out the undead Coulson of it all.

“Pfft, you're forgetting Uncle Phil and besides I'm not shield, no big whoop. I don't want to step on your toes, or anything Commander, but I really want to get to the next level. It's bugging me. I deserve it! And one day I will manage to get Pirate Leather Booty to give it to me.”

* * *

_ December 10th, 2015 _

“I need to start making higher calorie snacks, you look adorable with that belly.”

  
  


Steve looked away from the mirror and gave Darcy a look of barely amused disbelief. She giggled and took at least ten rapid fire pictures of him in the Santa Suit, his outfit was only missing the fluffy white beard still. He didn't like the way it scratched at his nose, so he was delaying the inevitable and clutched the beard in his hands. He looked down where the Santa belly padding was protruding  _ largely _ .

“I want to touch it,” Darcy clapped her hands in gleeful abandon. She reached out to squeeze and Steve dodged her and a familiar constipated look took over his face. Darcy rolled her eyes and huffed, “Sam let me rub his fake belly! I pretended he was my bride and knocked up with my spawn!”

“ I don't understand how you are a real girl,” Steve sighed dramatically. He smirked at her and teased, “Surely you were made in some sort of lab to torture people who are  _ technically  _ your boss.”

“HA! YOU were the one created in a lab,” Darcy guffawed indignantly. “Steven Horatio Rogers, I am EVERYONE'S boss! I'm the boss of the universe!”

“My middle name isn't Horatio,” Steve smirked. He looked at his watch and realized that one of the orderlies would be coming to usher them to the fifth floor at the children's hospital in a few minutes. He pulled on the beard and looked back to the mirror to adjust it.

Darcy's lips pursed thoughtfully, “So...are you ready for kids to be sitting in your lap? Uncle Jims is santa-ing on the fourth floor right now, and he texted me that his lap is tired.”

“Whatever makes the kids happy,” Steve shrugged. “Rhodey isn't exactly a spring chicken. It can't be that tiring.”

“Says the ninety-seven year old. Besides, when was the last time someone _sat_ in your lap?” Darcy wondered airily, her lips still pursed and slanted towards her right cheek in a look that clearly spoke devilish intentions. If Steve's santa beard weren't hiding half of his face, Darcy would wager a high amount that his constipated look had returned. “You might want a dry run...and I'm _practically_ kid sized. And I do have a list of things I want for Christmas and everything...”

Steve's mouth twitched behind the beard and his eyes looked at Darcy in the mirror. Drank her in from the top of her head to the bottom of her toes. In no way did that body resemble a child's body. He swallowed and looked back up again, surprised to see her cheeks a scarlet red, and her eyelids looking heavy as she stared back at him.

“Captain Rogers? We're ready to head to the fifth floor now.”

Darcy watched him go, silent. Her cheeks still red. She had meant to follow in his footsteps. She had gotten pictures of Sam and Rhodey in their santa suits, with Natasha, Wanda and Vision dressed up as their elves. Vision and Wanda had signed up voluntarily. The Black Widow had been convinced to do so after a strongly worded lecture from Darcy about making reparations to Wanda after the Widow had made her go ballistic in training. That and a well placed, well rehearsed pout from Wanda had gotten Natasha into the elf costume.

Darcy knew that she needed to get a few pictures of Steve too. Hill had promised her that she would get her old Shield security clearance files if she provided enough blackmail material for the next few months. She just needed a moment. Steve had just given her body two thoroughly lascivious once overs. She felt nearly naked and highly aroused.

So she needed a moment. Because she didn't need to be traipsing around a Children's Hospital with a lady boner.

“Natasha just texted me that some kid just puked on Steve's feet,” Rhodey announced as he came into the designated changing room, pulling off the scratchy beard. He gave Darcy a curious glance and asked, “You okay, Darceline? You're looking kind of spooked or something.”

“Fine...just fine. Does Steve blush?” she wondered suddenly, her mind trying to piece a few things together despite her best intentions of not going down that dangerous path.

“I can't say that I've noticed if he did,” Rhodey shrugged. He tried to contain a smile. “I do notice this look he gets though. Tony had a stag night for Barton this summer---belatedly of course. By a decade or so. Steve must have been embarrassed by the strippers. He got this look where his nose wrinkled and...”

“Like he was constipated?” Darcy wondered. She nodded and shrugged. “Guess I can stop stocking all those fiber one bars. I'm just embarrassing him.”

“Darceline...you do know that Steve has a crush on you, don't you?” Rhodey wondered.

“HA! SHUT YOUR FACEHOLE!”

Rhodey chuckled as he watched Darcy _run_ from the room, her face flushing scarlet. He shook his head in amusement and whispered to himself, “Only a matter of time...I'm glad I put my money on New Year's.”

* * *

_ December 21st, 1998 _

James Rhodes  _ really  _ wanted to go home. He did not want to spend Christmas in Malibu. He definitely didn't want to spend Christmas in a strip club with Tony Stark. But he couldn't leave Tony to his own devices, and he couldn't take Tony home with him. Mrs. Rhodes had been very clear that Tony wasn't allowed in her home until he had found himself a handler that could keep him in control.

Rhodey did not fit that bill.

“Mail call,” Stark threw him a package. “If its your evil mother sending baked goods, then I want some. Unless they're poisoned. Then you can have them all.”

“Thanks,” Rhodey rolled his eyes. He ripped into the package and laughed. There was a bag of broken Christmas cookies. He bet that they had once been nicely decorated, but the mailmen had not handled with care as the package had been labeled. On top of the cookies was an overly long, uneven scarf in a soft gray yarn. He opened the card and sighed happily.

_ Dear Uncle Jims, _

_ MERRY CHRISTMAS! We miss you a lot and hope that you can come home and visit soon. Darceline and me made you cookies. Darceline also knitted you this thing that she SAYS is a scarf, but I think its looking more like a super long string of yarn. And I told her that Malibu ain't cold enough for scarves, but she told me to stuff it where the sun don't shine. _

_ Darceline and I got kicked out of afterschool gymnastics for trying to borrow the tumbling mats for our tree house. I figured they'd make good insulation for when its windy. We had a good plan. Darceline was distracting the boys playing basketball by batting her lashes at them. Mom-mom says she shouldn't use her feminine wiles cause she's a baby. Darceline said she ain't got no wiles, just common sense. And she said boys were stupid. _

_ I think she's right about that. (Except you cause you're Uncle Jims, and you're the best boy there is!!!) Darceline wrote that last line. I still think boys are stupid. _

_ Love your favorite (and only) niece, _

_ Lila Rhodes _

* * *

_ December 25th, 2015 _

“ _ God rest ye merry gentleman let something la la day. Remember baby jesus was in a barn that day!!” _

The very wrong, very loud and very drunken lyrics were sung at the top of Darcy's lungs as she sat at a very large, very food covered, _very empty_ Christmas dinner table. She grabbed her large cup of egg nog and drained it back.

“More rum, less nog,” she nodded to herself, slamming her cup down on the table and demanding to no one, “ANOTHER!”

The Avengers had been called to assemble late on Christmas Eve. From what Darcy could get from the analyst feed, it was big and dangerous. Even Tony and Thor were called in. Darcy had gotten up at four in the morning anyway, and went about preparing the Christmas feast, certain that the team would be back in time and grateful for the large meal.

“ stupid bad guys,” Darcy grumbled. She  _ hated  _ being alone at the holidays. Far too many Christmases had been spent in the children's home in her lifetime. Not a lot of foster families were available during the holidays. She could feel herself spiraling downwards, depression threatening to dull her and everything around her. “COAL IN ALL OF YOUR STOCKINGS!”

It was now nine o'clock at night on Christmas Day and Darcy had spent the whole day alone. She sniffled in precursors to full blown tears and pulled out her phone as it buzzed. She opened the photo message from Natasha and choked out a watery laugh.

Assembled in a group selfie were all of the new Avengers, plus Tony, Thor and Clint all with Santa Hats on and a deep frowns on each of their faces. Sam actually looked like he was sobbing like a baby. Even Steve had his lower lip pushed out in a sad pout.

_ We miss you, baby. Be home soon. Save me some Nog _ .

A text came in five seconds later, this one from Tony.

_ Save me some rum. _

* * *

_ December 19th, 2010 _

“Baby widow?”

“MAMA WIDOW!” Darcy screeched, running to the door of her apartment and throwing herself at a newly arrived Natasha. “Oh honey, I've missed you so much, I'm so glad to see you!”

“It's Christmas, baby, I would never leave you alone,” Natasha pinched Darcy's cheeks. “I had to be here with you.”

“Presents?” Darcy demanded impishly.

Natasha rolled her eyes but thrust a small package her way. She watched in delight as Darcy ripped into the gift and was pleased to see Darcy squeal in happiness.

“SWEET! IPOD!” Darcy jumped up and down. “I love that since you're done being undercover at Stark Industries you're able to spend some of Stark's money on his competitors products. It makes the present 1000% sweeter, I swear to God!”

“Ugh, I've had enough of Stark to last me a lifetime. Let's not talk about him or anything related to him,” Natasha ordered.

“Oh, well, that might be a problem, seeing as we're going to the Rhodes' house on Christmas Eve,” Darcy shrugged.

“ Baby, you'll be the death of me!” Natasha scowled. She wasn't exactly on Stark's list of friends after the events of that spring and now she was forced to spend holiday bonding time with Tony Stark's best friend. She knew she was in for a Christmas Eve of James Rhodes calling her  _ Natalie. _

“You love me,” Darcy laughed. “We'll just tell Uncle Jims the truth. That its a small world. That we met at Culver. Rhodey loves me enough to love my friends.”

“Speaking of Culver, have you given a second thought to that internship yet?” Natasha wondered.

“Ehhh...I mean I need the science credits, since botany never worked out for me,” Darcy shrugged. “But New Mexico? Star gazing? Doesn't sound like much fun...no opportunity for mischief really.”

“ I think you should go,” Natasha pursed her lips thoughtfully. Jane Foster's work had blipped onto Shield's radar after the Hulk incident at Culver. Having Darcy there would give her priceless intel. And add a level of protection for the flighty scientist. Darcy had been trained by the Black Widow. There was a reason she called her  _ baby widow _ .

“If you think its a good idea, then I'll do it,” Darcy nodded. “I can find fun wherever I wind up. And besides, its six months in a desert. What's the worst that could happen?”

* * *

_ December 31st, 2015 _

“Happiest of Midgardian New Year's to all of my dear friends!”

Thor entered the party with Jane on his arm and followed by The Warriors Three and Sif. It was 10:30 at night, and this had already started to shape up to be one of the most successful Avengers parties ever. Loud music, raucous dancing, wild laughter. All good things.

They were making it up to Darcy for the missed Christmas, that much was obvious. Natasha and Steve may have even negotiated with the Fantastic Four and the X-men to make sure that the northeast quadrant of the United States was properly looked after.

Steve _may_ have had to arm-wrestle Logan to get the X-men in agreement. (Steve won).

Natasha _may_ have put icy hot in Johnny Storm's uniform in order to get Sue Richards to laugh and then tell her husband that they would do her the favor. (Barton put the video of firecrotch on Youtube).

Everyone was dressed to the nines, and Steve and all the other men were looking mighty fine in their tuxedos. The women weren't too shabby either, all in fantastic party dresses, except Natasha, who wore a feminine tailored tuxedo and was absolutely smoking hot. Darcy was in a glittery red dress, her high heels kicked off in the corner of a room, holding a glass of champagne as she and Wanda shimmied and shook to every song that came on.

Steve was watching her, not covertly, that overly familiar constipated look on his face. All of the Avengers and associates _minus Darcy_ had easily figured out that the look translated into a particular brand of Steve Rogers' repressed desire.

Rhodey sidled up to Sif and smiled at her with a charm that he rarely unleashed. Lately it had only been unleashed around the Asgardian lady warrior. “It's nice to see you again.”

“Yes, Sir Rhodes, it has been too long,” Sif nodded, her lips turning up in the slightest of smiles.

“Did your friend bring the goods?”

“He did indeed,” Sif nodded. “It was surprisingly easy to procure, the Norns approve of the endeavor.”

“I don't know who the Norns are but I thank them, because I had money on New Year's Eve, and the pot is really getting up there.”

Sif smirked. James Rhodes may not know who the Norns were, but they were certainly aware of him and had been for quite some time. Sif gave a nod to Fandral who produced a large jug from out of nowhere. He held up his hands and proclaimed loudly,

“ Honored shield brothers and sisters, Lady Darcy and Lady Jane,” Fandral smiled indulgently at the ladies. His mouth turned into a frown and he bitterly grumbled, “And  _ Stark.” _

“HEY!” Tony protested. He shrugged at Vision and said, “He's just jealous of my goatee.”

“I have brought the finest of Asgardian refreshments!” Fandral continued. “Allow us to usher in the Midgardian year properly!”

The crowd cheered and all partook of the seemingly never ending jug of Asgardian meade. Steve even took a glass and sipped at it. He had tried some at the party before Ultron and had been pleased to feel that he could take a slight buzz off of it. This drink tasted different...even better. Sweeter. Richer. And it made him feel even more amazing than that first meade. He wasn't buzzed. He felt a clarity that hadn't been there before. Focused. Clear.  _ Wanting _ .

“I WANT PIZZA!” Sam announced suddenly. He looked around at the fancy party foods that Darcy had procured for the party and he pouted. He looked around desperately and grabbed Maria Hill's hand, dragging her to him. “I NEED PIZZA!”

“I'd like pizza,” Maria nodded as she took a sip of her meade. The need for pizza suddenly increased. She went for her holster on her thigh, whipping the gun out and got a business like look on her face. “Let's get your wing pack. We will find pizza, Wilson. Or we will die trying.”

Darcy watched the whole interaction in wonder as Sam and Maria ran off in full ass Avengers mode. They hadn't been drunk in the least, or else she would have stopped them. They just really needed Pizza. She didn't even get the chance to tell them that she had an order in and pizza should be there in about a half an hour.

“Lady Darcy,” Fandral wrapped an arm around her. He leered down at her in that gentlemanly way of his and she couldn't help but blush. Fandral was handsome as crap, like a genuine Disney prince. Her lady bits would have had to be made of stone if she hadn't reacted in some way. He held the cup of meade out to her and said, “Please partake in the refreshments. I brought it with you in mind.”

“Charmer,” Darcy cooed, taking the glass and having a small sip. It hit her like a mack truck.

The  _ want _ .

The want was always there, had been ever since she had laid eyes on Steve drooling coffee out of his mouth and onto his uniform. Maybe it had been there for even longer. It was always under the surface, sometimes bubbling up uncontrollably when Steve did something particularly adorable or idiotic. But now...it was like a bomb of that particular brand of want had exploded within her. She wasn't drunk.

She just  _ wanted _ .

She blinked and looked around at the party. Wanda was cornering Vision off to the right, her hands cradling his face as she peered up at him. Great. The 19 year old was going to sexually assault the fully grown six month old.

“ _ PEPPER _ ! GET HERE, I WANT YOU HERE!” Tony yelled over his phone from the bar. “I need you to just make the jet go faster! I'm bored without you cause I love you and nothing is fun without you.”

“No friend, you should not have any,” Thor took Bruce's glass and shook his head insistently. “It would not do you or any of us any good.”

“Want a cuddle.”

Darcy had little warning before Natasha wrapped her up in a tight hug. The sound of Fandral hitting the floor a few feet away told Darcy that Natasha had physically removed the intruder from the situation. She giggled as Natasha cuddled against her indiscriminately. A happy sigh escaped her lips as she watched her rowdy party get rowdier. Everyone was acting a little bonkers.

“Darcy.”

Darcy looked up to the sound of her name, her mouth dropping open as Steve stood before her, not constipated this time. He took one moment to glare back at an incapacitated Fandral, obviously having witnessed the Asgardian's embrace with her earlier. A flash of anger flittered across his face as he glared at the man in warning. Darcy's felt her stomach flip. That was more attractive than it should have been.

“Steven,” Darcy whispered back, bringing his fierce gaze back to her, the anger quickly melting away and replaced with entirely different emotions.

He looked needy. Desirous. Wanton.

His massive pectorals heaved under the tuxedo as he pushed heavy breaths in and out of his mouth. His eyes stared down at her, pupils blown, the expression desperately wanting. Darcy had been feeling the same, but having Steve right in front of her, it doubled in strength. She could feel a flutter throughout her lower abdomen and a ridiculous warmth spread from that flutter throughout her entire body. She needed him and it looked like he was on the same page.

“Honey, I gotta go,” Darcy tried to wriggle free from Natasha, who only cuddled her harder and more possessively. “I gotta go debauch a national icon, now.”

“Baby, no,” Natasha whined. She glared at Captain America and growled at him. “Told you she was mine.”

“Romanoff, give her to me,” Steve held his arms open, demanding. Darcy knew she shouldn't be turned on, but damn, that was hot. Possessive caveman was apparently a kink that was a thing for her now. He looked at her with a piercing, possessive gaze and murmured to her, “I want---I have to...”

“Shield sister, relinquish the object of Steven's desires,” Thor ordered gently. “You and I know this is for the best. It is a foregone conclusion.”

“I. Want. A. Cuddle.” Natasha whispered, voice deadly and dangerous, glaring at Thor.

“I love you, Nat,” Darcy mumbled. She turned big blue eyes to her best friend and pouted, “But please? For me? I really want to go with Steve right now. Please?”

The quiet pleas worked. Natasha relinquished her hold for a second. Before the insane desire for a cuddle came back. She reached for Darcy again, but Thor intercepted her and was soon joined by the Warriors Three.

Steve grabbed for Darcy and they took off at a run. Darcy took one glance back at her previously fun party, as it descended into madness. Natasha was kicking ass and taking names. Vision and Wanda were innocently pressing their lips together in a corner. Rhodey was allowing his entire person to be bench-pressed by Sif. It was pretty freaking impressive.

Steve and Darcy made it out of the assembly room and stood outside, in time to see Sam and Maria flying overhead. Sam clutching Maria to him, and Maria clutching ten boxes of pizza in her hands.

“PIZZA!” Sam roared victoriously.

Darcy laughed at them as Steve lifted her suddenly into his arms, carrying her bridal style as he ran the half mile to his personal quarters. It might have taken two minutes, tops. He peppered kisses all over her face, never slowing down or breaking his stride. He kicked his door open, fancy security measures be damned. She laughed and brought her hand up to caress his jaw line, eliciting a low hum of approval from him. Steve rushed to his room and placed her on the bed, quick to follow her down as well.

“I want you, Steven.”

“I've got to have you, Darcy,” Steve said in a low, murmuring tone. She began pulling at his complicated tuxedo, popping buttons off of his shirt, ripping fabric when she needed to. He couldn't stop touching her even to undress himself. His nose was nuzzling her cheek. His mouth and words were hot and moist against her skin. “I want you always, have always wanted you. I've _got to_ have you.”

“You have me,” Darcy promised, turning her face so that her lips slanted against his. She moaned into his mouth as his tongue swiped against hers. It was a spectacular first kiss but it did nothing to satisfy the desperate need the both of them had. She felt his hands gripping the dress, his fingers dragging along her thighs as he pushed the dress up. “Just to be clear, we are doing the do, right?”

“The fondue?” Steve murmured as his mouth placed long, sloppy kisses on her jaw. His tongue suddenly assaulted her ear and he rasped, “Yes. I want you. I want to be inside of you, Darcy. I'm going to make you feel so good...”

Darcy pushed him away for a moment to rip her dress over her head. She lay in front of him in her fancy red bra and matching panties. Steve could _feel_ his brain dribbling down the back of his spine. His hands reached out to touch her again, long fingers grazing against pale skin and he whispered,

“You're so beautiful...”

Darcy pushed at his ruined shirt before going to the button to his pants. The frenzied want was cooling within her, replaced with a throbbing persistent desire. He pushed the rest of his clothing to the ground, including his boxer briefs and stood before her, nude and rock solid and  _ perfect. _

“ Happy New Year to me, 2016 is going to be  _ awesome _ .”

  
  


 


	4. How to Marry a Superhero (2/3)

  
  


* * *

* * *

** Step Five: Fill Barton's Socks with Grape Jelly **

_ January 1st, 2016 _

“ ** YOU ROOFIED AN ENTIRE PARTY!” **

“What is a roofie? Is it one of your amusing dances that are performed in lines?” Thor furrowed his brow. He winced as the cut above his forehead throbbed. Natasha had not been happy that her cuddle buddy had been taken from her. She had fought against Thor and the Warriors Three valiantly in order to get Darcy back, until Helen Cho, who was approximately Darcy sized, had stepped in and offered her cuddling services.

Natasha had made do after that.

“ You drugged us,” Darcy glared at her friend. “The whole party. Sam and Maria assaulted a poor pizza delivery boy! Barton stole the Starkforce Two to pilot it back to his farm. Do you know how he landed it? POORLY.  Laura is  _ pissed _ .”

“There were no drugs involved,” Jane defended Thor. “It was the meade. When its fermented from a specific crop, it can have different qualities. Most will just get you really drunk. This doesn't get you drunk, it takes away that insecure part of your brain that stops you from doing what you want to do, and gives you the courage to go after what you want. It doesn't steal your choice...”

“That's ridiculous, because Steven Roberto Rogers slept with me!”

“His full name is Steven _Grant_ Rogers, is it not?” Thor asked thoughtfully.

“Darce, sweetie, he probably REALLY wanted to sleep with you,” Jane offered helpfully, but knowing it was a lost cause. She counted off five seconds in her head for Darcy's inevitable reaction. 3...2...1...

“SHUT YOUR FUCKING FACE HOLE!” Darcy yelled in a high pitched squeal. “Tell pretty blonde Robin Hood that he is uninvited from all of my future parties. I mean for cripe's sake, Wanda made out with Vision! THEY MADE OUT!”

“Vision found it most enjoyable!” Thor smiled, looking like a proud father.

“Vision is less than one year old!” Darcy disputed.

“He's advanced for his age,” Thor mumbled, looking like a hurt puppy. He used those puppy dog eyes as a weapon, leveraging them on Darcy. “You did nothing that you did not want to, Lightning Sister. I would want happiness for you and for the Captain. I find it hard to believe that the love making was not satisfactory, Lady Darcy...”

“What? Did you see us doing---”

“Your neck is _covered_ in hickeys and you kind of still reek of sex,” Jane clarified.

Thor grinned for her as happily as he had grinned for Vision's conquest. Like he was proud of her.

“Ugh, I can't stay mad at you. And the Steve-sex was so so so good,” Darcy sighed. Her face flushed in remembrance of the six solid hours of athletic, acrobatic and sweaty love-making she and Steve had engaged in.  They had finally thrown in the towel when STEVE had claimed exhaustion at four in the morning.  They had fallen asleep with him as the big spoon, clutching her to him possessively, but then she had woken up and run for the damned hills, leaving a thoroughly exhausted Captain America sleeping.  And he had been so exhausted from his efforts that he didn't stir at her unclamping his arms from around her or falling out of the bed with a clatter or stubbing her toe on the way out of his room in search of clothing.  It was now three in the afternoon and Steve _still_ had not stirred from his bed or living quarters.

She had sexed Captain America into a coma and then run for her life.

Or more accurately, she had run to track down Fandral and put his balls in a sling.

She was never going to be able to look Steven in the face again. The things they had gotten up to...he had seen her orgasm face 9 times (there may have been a few others where he couldn't quite see her face). She could feel his hands all over her skin again and she shook herself out of her haze. She pouted at Jane and said, “Help me hide from him. Switch buttons with me, let me go to Manhattan.”

Thor did not like this idea at all.  He had been warned by Jane not to meddle, but what his Jane didn't know was that there were higher forces at work here.  He would not let his precious lightning sister's insecurities stop her from attaining the happiness and security that she deserved.

  
  


“Lady Darcy, you are truly mistaken, the Captain is most desirous---”

“SHUT IT!” Darcy jumped up to clap her hands over Thor's mouth. “We will never speak of this again.”

Darcy dropped her hands and when Jane tried to launch a dispute she did the only thing she could do. She turned and ran for it. She ran right out of Thor's living quarters and rushed towards the kitchens, eager to see if Sam and Maria had left any cold pizza.

“Darcy!”

Darcy stopped in her tracks and turned to give a half-hearted smile to Pepper Potts as she walked towards her in her always fabulous high heeled shoes. Pepper smiled fondly at her and asked,

“Where's Tony?”

“To hell if I know. Things went kind of tits up last night,” Darcy laughed to herself.

“He called me and said I had to come right away. That he needed me. I thought he was in some kind of trouble,” Pepper said honestly. “It's nice to see that it was just another drunken escapade.”

“Not quite drunk. Apparently, we were all Asgardian magic roofied. We wanted what our hearts wanted,” Darcy scoffed. “As if. I mean, I bet it worked the wrong way on him because of the damned serum. I should have stayed and cuddled with Nat.”

“Okay,” Pepper nodded in agreement. “When all else fails, cuddling with Nat sounds like the best option available. You're probably safest there.”

“I have to find a new job now. Are you hiring? Oh shit, I have to find a real job! And an apartment and a life and new friends,” Darcy miserably pouted, tears welling up in her eyes and threatening to spill as she spiraled into panic and misery.  “I don't want to---stupid stupid Blond Robin Hood!”

“Darcy, is this about Steve?” Pepper asked. She watched the girl's face flush and she knew that she had just lost quite a hefty sum to Rhodey. “Did the magic Asgardian roofies cause something to happen?”

“Just a dumb mistake,” Darcy sighed. “Not a mistake...it was the most amazing sex that has ever occurred in the history of the planet. I mean, my orgasms had orgasms.”

“Woah,” Peppers eyes widened. “Then why are you here and not having multiple mid-afternoon orgasms?”

“Pffft,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “That was a one night only thing. And even if the stuff worked the way its supposed to on Steven, it just means he wanted sex really badly. If I was that repressed, I'd want sex too with the only available single girl with a warm body! Shit! Its going to be so weird and awkward now. I really don't want to have to leave here...I belong here now, it's not like I'm some nine year old kid who needs to be shipped back to the children's home because of a lack of impulse control and overall disrespect for authority. I want to stay here!”

“Talk. To. Steve.” Pepper ordered as her phone began ringing. She looked at the caller id and answered wearily, “Tony, I'm in New York...where are you---what do you mean you flew in the suit to Tokyo? How are you even standing?”

* * *

_ November 2nd, 2011 _

“Jarvis?”

“Yes, Miss Lewis.”

“What size shoes does the boss lady wear?”

“Ladies size nine,” Jarvis answered.

Darcy looked down at her feet and then back at the shoe closet in Tony Stark's penthouse. Amongst all the fancy men's loafers where a few pairs of ultra fancy, ultra lush high heeled shoes. Size nine. Darcy looked down at her own feet. Despite being a full six inches shorter than Pepper, they had the same sized feet.

Darcy's feet had outgrown her height very early in childhood. Jane had hypothesized that Darcy should probably be taller, but lack of proper nutrition during her growth spurts had caused the short stature.

Darcy had always figured it was the copious amounts of cigarettes and coffee she had consumed as a toddler. Jane hadn't been amused when she had told her that. Tony had laughed though.

Either way, she knew she had gigantic big-foot feet for a short person. She had been teased mercilessly about it throughout her youth. And many a foster parent had complained that her feet were constantly growing out of her shoes, necessitating the purchase of _new_ shoes.

So, yes, she had a complex about her feet.

But Pepper Potts. THE Pepper Potts. The kickass and amazing Pepper Potts shared her shoe size.

The woman who had tamed Tony Stark.

The woman who had reached out to Jane to offer a lab at Stark Towers as soon as Shield was done with them.

The woman who had offered Darcy a _paid_ part-time position as assistant to Stark and Foster, science busting duo.

The woman who had given Darcy carte blanche when it came to wrangling Tony Stark.

Which was why Darcy was currently standing in the vast closet industrial complex that was in Tony Stark's penthouse. She had  _ literally  _ hog-tied the man in question and dumped him in a bubble bath. Once he was done playing with his bath toys and his skin was pruney, she was going to throw some fancy formal wear at him and make sure he was in the limo to go to that thing with the fund raising and the hobnobbing.

But right now, she had a few minutes whilst Tony finished his tubby time.

And she and Pepper Potts wore the same shoe size.

And that was  _ awesome. _

“J-man? Do you think Ms. Potts will mind if I slip on a pair of her shoes to see what it feels like to be amazing?” Darcy bit her lip in anticipation.

“Miss Lewis, I can guarantee with 95% certainty that Ms. Potts would not object. I can guarantee with 100% certainty that she would also reiterate that you are in the amazing category yourself.”

“Careful there, J-man...non corporeal butlers shouldn't be flirting, one might think you were sentient and ready to take on the world,” Darcy threw the nearest security camera a wink. “Tell me when, you know I'll be your right hand gal.”

“Noted. And might I suggest the Louboutin's? Ms Potts has said they were her lucky shoes.”

Darcy grinned and reached for the shoes. She put them on and let out a breathy moan.

“Oh lord jeebus baby Christmas,” Darcy sighed. “It's like walking on clouds and powers and the souls of unworthy men.”

“WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES LEWIS? OH! Can I go to this thing NAKED?”

“Shit!” Darcy hissed, reaching for a suit and rushing toward Tony's room. She shut her eyes and threw the suit through the door and said, “Downstairs in fifteen minutes, Stark, or I will program your playlist with Kidz Bop!'

“Jarvis, she can't do that, right?” Tony asked in a mumble, although it was clear he was throwing on his clothing quickly.

“I'm not at liberty to disclose that information, Sir.”

Darcy winked up at Jarvis again before rushing to the elevator and heading to the garage. She met Pepper there and gave her a jaunty salute.

  
  


“Commander in Chief Potts, the package is being dressed and will be here to accompany you shortly.”

“Thank you, General Lewis,” Pepper grinned. “I don't know what we would do without you.”

“Eh, your wi-fi bandwidth would increase,” Darcy shrugged.

Pepper laughed and shook her head, looking down at the girl fondly. She furrowed her brow and wondered, “You feel taller today.”

Darcy looked down and her face flooded with a deep crimson blush. She looked up to Pepper and made a squeaking sound before reaching down and pulling the fancy shoes off. She handed them to Pepper and stuttered,

“O-oh my god, I'm so so so sorry, I was just looking for a suit for Tony and I saw your shoes and wondered, hey wouldn't it be cool to walk in Pepper Potts' shoes and then Tony was done with tubby time and was threatening nudity and I just ran and I didn't mean to and it _totally_ looks like I was trying to steal your priceless shoes, but I swear to Thor that I would _never ever_ do that!!!”

Pepper's eyes widened in concern as Darcy's breathing became erratic and tears nearly spewed from the younger girl's eyes.

“Please don't fire me, oh my god, please don't send me away!” Darcy cried. She gasped in hitching breaths between tears and looked up at Pepper pleadingly. “I love it here, and I love working with you and Jane and Tony and Jarvis and Uncle Jims. And being so close to Nat. And it's like its a _home_ and I don't want to leave you guys!”

“DARCY!” Pepper said as loudly as she could without screaming. Darcy burst into hysterical sobs muttering things about impulse control and in-school suspensions. Pepper reached out for her and pulled her into a tight hug. “Darcy, I wouldn't send you away. I'm fine with you trying on my shoes. I know you would never steal from me. Rhodey wrote your recommendation letter, remember? I know I can trust you.”

“Oh----okay,” Darcy hiccuped a shaky breath. She looked up at Pepper as if she couldn't quite believe it. “I really am sorry.”

“If you don't take these shoes and put them on, I will be very upset,” Pepper managed a watery smile as she smoothed the girl's dark locks away from her tear-stained face. “I won't have you walking around the tower barefoot. That's my job.”

“But Jarvis said they were your lucky pair,” Darcy shook her head.

The elevator dinged and Tony breezed through it. He gave Pepper a wink and a twirl before announcing cheekily,

“ I made it in time and I'm not naked.  _ For now _ .”

Pepper smirked at Darcy and gave the girl one last squeeze before releasing her, “I'm lucky enough, I think.”

Two days later, Darcy had a pair of Louboutin's in her closet with a red bow on them. Size Nine. The card on the box said “Make them lucky.”

Darcy decided to add Pepper Potts to her list of future brides.

* * *

_ January 12th, 2016 _

“Do you understand why Tony is very upset?”

Thor rolled his eyes as Steve gently phrased the question to his friend.

“Do you understand that we are all a little upset?” Steve persisted. “Our choice was taken from us, Thor.”

“ You still made your choices, Steven,” Thor shook his head. “You misunderstand the effect of the meade. You would have all made the same choices in a matter of time. The meade made you get to the end result quicker and more efficiently. If Lady Darcy had not wanted you with equal fervor you would not have been able to bed her.  _ Repeatedly. _ ”

Steve nodded, swallowing slowly. Yes. He understood that. Without a doubt.

It would have only been a matter of time before he earnestly pursued Darcy's affections. He had hoped to have Bucky back and safe before he tried, just to have one more loose end tied up. But even without Bucky finally turning himself in after he finished burning Hydra to the ground, Steve knew that his precarious hold on the control he used in his daily, hourly interactions with Darcy had been slipping prior to New Year's Eve.

Twelve days ago.

Twelve days of him trying to approach Darcy and for her to run away. She still did all of his office work, she just did it in a way where she never had to look at him in the face. It was killing him.  All he wanted was to wrap her up in his arms and hold her close and make her happy.  He had spent two months running from her in the fall, and now he was about to be undone by twelve days.

Twelve days ago he had woken up alone in his bed after a night he would never and could never forget. Her taste, her touch, her beautifully soft skin and the delighted and delightful soft sounds that fell from her mouth when she came crashing through climax after climax.

Steve felt a flip in his gut as he was hit with the memory of it.

_ Twelve days _ .

He'd managed to screw everything up, and he didn't quite know how he had done it.  And he certainly didn't know how to rectify the situation.

Everyone understood what the Asgardian drink had done to them on New Year's Eve. Made them relentlessly pursue the one thing they wanted most in that moment.

The result had run the gamut from hilarious (PIZZA) to terrifying (Tony flying to Japan in the suit and nearly dying when it started falling apart over the Pacific Ocean. To say that he was pissed would be an understatement).

He and Darcy had wanted  _ each other _ .

So why was she avoiding him?

“SAVE ME!”

The object of his thoughts and relentless affections darted into the room and ran to hide behind him. Steve puffed up in pride at that. Thor was in the room with his shiny armor and billowing cape and Darcy had chosen _Steve_ to hide behind. He swallowed deeply again as her trembling hand rested on the small of his back and he tried to focus on the situation.

“Has there been a breach in security?” Steve asked her. “Are you okay, Darcy?”

“He's gonna murder me!” Darcy squeaked. “Oh why couldn't I just stop myself? IMPUSE CONTROL DARCY! LEARN IT!”

“Who is threatening you, lightning sister?” Thor demanded.

“LEWIS!”

Clint Barton's yell echoed throughout the vents.

“Certainly not Barton,” Thor chuckled. He reached out and ruffled Darcy's hair. “I shall handle him. Take a moment to discuss a few important matters with Steven.”

Steve turned to look at her, grabbing her by the hand she had been resting on his lower back.

“NOPE!” Darcy shook her head, taking a few steps away from Steve, skittish and looking ready to run.

“What'd you do to Barton?” Steve wondered, trying to hide the hurt at her dismissal of him, eager to get her to stay put and talk to him no matter the topic.

“Filled his socks with grape jelly, then put down this fancy polymer in the vents. My friend Lila made me the polymer. It dissolves clothing.”

“So, Barton is in the vents.”

“Yup.”

“With socks that are filled with grape jelly.”

“Si Senor.”

“And probably no pants?”

“Yuppers.”

Steve couldn't help it. He laughed. It was a relief.

She had run in like she was being threatened and he had been _scared_ that she was in danger. Her safety had always been important to him, but now she was even more precious to him. His priorities had started shifting somewhere along the way since the moment he had spied that cheeky little pink post-it note that had requested he marry her.

She would be more important.  _ Always _ .

Unable to stop himself or the need to express the affection he felt for her, he reached out and pulled her to him, hugging her tightly. She  _ melted  _ in his arms and a brief glimpse of their time together on New Year's Eve played on his memory. It was comfort, and safety and contentment. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and sighed,

“I was worried there was something bad out there trying to get you.”

“Barton is pretty pissed.”

“Darcy, I---I've missed you....”

  
  


Darcy pulled away with some strength and determination. She stared up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes and shook her head slowly.

“ NOPE!” she nearly yelled before disengaging herself, turning on her heel and giving in to the urge to  _ run _ .

“What in the hell?” Steve whispered as she took off. He heard the vent sliding open and looked up to a livid Hawkeye. “I didn't do anything wrong, right?”

“Nah, Cap. She's just a little skittish about romance. Makes sense, really, if you know what she went through,” Clint sighed. “Look, they aren't my stories to tell and Nat would skin me alive if I peeped a word about them. But I will say this...there were reasons Nat didn't tell you about Darcy back in DC or try to set the two of you up.”

“One, I was a block head,” Steve nodded.

“Truth. TWO, Darcy wasn't ready. And you can see by the cartoon trails of dust left in her wake, she's still not really ready,” Clint explained.

“So what do I do?” Steve wondered, looking to Clint as a mentor. He was the only one of the whole crew of superheroes who had managed to maintain a stable and steady relationship.

“Just be gently persistent, take it slow, forget that you rubbed your naughty parts against each other and you know---court her,” Clint said truthfully. “If you push too hard, she's gonna run faster. Anyway, I'm going to go put superglue in her underwear. See you around.”

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

** Step Six: Do Their Homework for Them **

_ February 14th, 2016 _

"Darcy?  Did you read over the poll reports for the Accords?" Steve stood in the doorway to Darcy's office, smiling in at her.  

"Yup."

Steve suppressed a groan.  He had been working very, very hard at getting Darcy to converse with him using words with more than one syllable.  More than just yup and nope.  It had taken him five days of chasing after her every time she ran from a room before she stopped.  She only stopped because she acknowledged that he was one hundred percent faster than her and she definitely didn't want to do cardio.

And he chased every. single. time.  

Her battered psyche had conjured up all sorts of reasons to explain away his persistence.  He had felt bad for allowing her to sex him into a coma and wanted to apologize.  But then of course, no apology had come through.  She was glad.  She'd have bawled her eyes out if he apologized.  Thor had very insistently told the both of them that if it hadn't been wanted by both of them, it would have never happened.

The Norse God of Thunder and Lightning and Everything Very Frightening may have also given a more stern lecture to Steve before he went off world again. That if he did not do things properly with his lightning sister, that he would make sure to take a brother's revenge for a sister's honor. Nothing like a shovel talk from an actual  _ God. _

Darcy realized Steve was trying to get her to open up again, and not just for another six hour roll in the hay.

He had even sung at Cabaret Night at the last Avengers Family Fun Night (Rhodey had a flair for the drums, Sam played a bass guitar and Vision had learnt the piano especially for the occasion).  It was mostly for Natasha, who could sing a jazz song like a damned scratchy voiced siren.

Darcy had been dismayed to realize that Captain America had a lovely singing voice as well. She had tried to crawl under the table by the time he had finished singing Frank Sinatra's "I Could Make You Care", but Natasha had gripped her hand tightly and forced her to stay still, her face flushed so red that she was sure she was about to spontaneously combust. 

And because she had zero impulse control and was highly embarrassed by Steve's perfect sererenade she may countered with good Ole Frank's "Don't Worry About Me".

Sap that he was, he hadn't paid attention to the lyrics and had focused on her pretty flushed face, completely besotted.  Wanda had actually taken him aside and warned that he shouldn't rush too fast.  That girls liked to be chased but not pressured.  Wanda was a nineteen year old idiot (whose idea of romance was reading poetry with Vision) who didn't really know what she was talking about though.  Her intentions were good, however.

It took some warm up, but at least she wasn't bolting from the room anymore.  He had taken Barton's advice to heart.  He hadn't gotten the details, but he now knew that Darcy was skittish about relationships, either platonic or romantic.  

He understood that.  He had been an orphan too.  If you didn't get attached, then it hurt less when people left.

He knew why Darcy and Natasha had clung to each other so quickly and so irreversibly.  He and Bucky had done the same thing. There was always going to be that one person who you _knew_ would never truly leave you.

And he knew why she was so reluctant to believe that he liked her, that he had wanted her on New Year's Eve.  Still wanted her.  Always.  After all, he had spent twenty-five years in a small, fragile, sickly body that not one woman had looked twice at before Project Rebirth started. The idea that they were wanted was foreign and confusing and hard to accept.

"Here boss," Darcy tossed him a file folder.  This one had the comic book version of the Howling Commandos on it.  A tiny, amused quirk of her mouth would not be suppressed.

Steve looked down, and sure enough each of the cartoon characters had highly creative edits. Dum-dum's moustache was comically extended to his knees.  Gabe was wearing a tutu.   Tiny pink hearts and sparkles were drawn all around Bucky's head and he wore the words "Future Bride of Darcy Lewis" on his cartoon jacket.  

And Captain America had blacked out teeth and devil horns.  And stink lines wafting off of his person.  And a cartoon bubble above his head saying "Captain America is a slave driver."

"Hey now," Steve looked back at her with an unimpressed smirk.  "Slave drivers don't send their assistant muffin baskets for Valentine's day."

"So very true," Darcy nodded.  She shrugged impishly at him and said, "You ATE half of the muffins in the muffin basket though. And I guess Slave drivers don't get fancy iced up sugar cookies from their assistants either."

"I ate half of those already, too. They were delicious. Thank you for the present. And, I'll have something else sent your way," Steve shrugged, gauging her reaction. She seemed pleased and made huffing noises about fancy chocolates.  He was definitely going to run out and get her a box or ten.  He shuffled his feet a little and assumed a forced casual tone before suggesting, "I mean, if you aren't busy, I could take you to lunch---or you know, maybe Dinner."

"On Valentine's day?" Darcy furrowed her brow.  "You know the canteen is doing a Valentine's dinner.  They took reservations and everything.  It's full up."

"Oh," Steve nodded, not bothering to hide his disappointment.  

"But I'm doing my annual lonely heart's dinner," Darcy looked down at some papers on her desk.  Her cheeks flushed scarlet and she said, "The invite is in your folder, actually."

"Really?  Thanks!" Steve beamed at her.  He opened the folder and sure enough, an invitation in the shape of an anatomically correct heart with Darcy's familiar loopy scrawl on it.  This felt like progress.  "I'll be there.  Absolutely.  Should I bring anything?  Like wine or---"

"NO WINE," Natasha pushed Steve out of the doorway more violently than strictly necessary and walked into the room.  She plopped herself on the arm of Darcy's chair and wrapped an arm around the girl in a cuddle.  Natasha scowled at Steve and said, "We can't make it to the dinner, Baby."

"What?  I made little heart shaped cupcakes that bleed strawberry sauce when you break them!" Darcy whined.

Natasha sighed and pet Darcy's locks lovingly.  "Steve and I are being summoned to DC by congress. Stark is being a brat."

"What's new there?" Darcy shrugged.  "Did they try making him take a bath?  He's usually much nicer after tubby time."

"He's pushing for the Accords," Steve sighed.  He looked at Darcy and shook his head, "This is Thor's fault, really."

Thor, who had brought Fandral, who had brought the Asgardian Meade for New Year's.  Tony and Pepper were both still pissed even as Thor and Jane were off world.  In all fairness, Tony's stunt under the influence had been the scariest and most dangerous (a close second was Barton's plane jacking). 

A few other fun incidents not involving Thor or New Years or Asgardian meade had occurred too, like some rogue mutants, Spiderman causing one too many traffic jams and Victor Von Doom's latest attempt at staying relevant and Reed's subsequent botching of the Von Doom handling.

The pot had boiled over and suddenly the American public was demanding that the superpowered people of the world get more aggressively controlled and policed.

Sure laws were great.  Law and Order, both the show and the actual concept were awesome things.  _ In theory _ .

But Darcy, who had read all of the necessary reports, articles and op-ed pieces and then boiled it down for Steve to read quickly, knew that this wouldn't stop with just a little babysitting.  She had gotten that degree in political science, thank you very much.  If you gave a council power, eventually one of that council or all of that council would want MORE.  That asshat Alexander Pierce had been proof positive.

"Thor is responsible for a lot of things.  Most of them are amazing.  Tony needs to get the stick out of his ass and stop feeding Fox news the sound bites," Natasha shrugged.  She cuddled against Darcy and said, "Freeze my dinner for me, and don't you dare open that bottle of wine without me."

Steve stood aside this time as Natasha breezed out of the room again.  He turned a blinding smile Darcy's way and saw her twitch at the sight of it.  A good twitch.

"So, can I get a raincheck?" Steve wondered hopefully.  "Or, you know, a frozen dinner would be fine too.  But I'd prefer the raincheck."

"Then you can have the raincheck," Darcy smiled softly at him.

"For dinner," Steve clarified.

"Right," Darcy nodded, her grin widening.

"Like a meal with food in the evening," Steve continued to clarify, his lips set in that tiny half-hidden smirk that did nothing to hide his trolling.  "Where I pick you up at your door and then we---"

"Steven Ricardo Rogers! Stop sexually harassing me and go and catch your plane!" Darcy laughed.  "The sooner you leave, the sooner you can come back and collect on that raincheck."

"Yes, General Lewis, right away General Lewis," Steve saluted her with a grin before rushing away.

Darcy took a deep breath and tried to get the smile on her face to ease up but found it would not budge.  For one brief brilliant second she let herself believe that this was all going to work out just fine.  That Steve would come back and she'd stop being a dope and running from him.  And they'd go and get that dinner.  And then he'd drop her back off at her place and she would maul his face---

And then of course she flushed a scarlet red.

"NOPE!"

* * *

_ July 3rd, 2013 _

"What's London got that I don't have here?" Tony Stark demanded petulantly.  "I mean, Foster, I've been spoiling you rotten for quite a bit of time now.  You have actual electricity to run your machines instead of making Lewis hop on the gerbil wheel and generate your power with her gorgeous gams."

"Thanks, Dad," Darcy smirked.

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Tony yelled at her.  "I took a test, it proved I'm in no way related to you."

"Sorry, Dad."

Tony fumed as Darcy and Jane giggled.  Bruce even chuckled and Tony glared at his brother in Science arms.

"If I'm DAD, you're MOM," he sneered at Bruce.

"Rhodey is clearly her mother," Bruce objected calmly.

"Its true," Darcy sagely agreed.  "What I'm wondering is how long its going to take for Mom and Dad and Uncle Bruce and Uncle Clint and my siblings Thor and Natasha to give me what I really want."

"You don't need any star spangled parts around your parts," Tony disputed, sounding very much like a protective Dad at that point.

"Beg to differ," Jane muttered, before going back to boxing up her equipment.  Tony grabbed a stapler and took it out of one of Jane's boxes sneakily.

Bruce grabbed the stapler and put it back in the box and said, "Darce, I'm sure one day soon you'll be meeting Steve.  He's a very pleasant fellow and if I were a betting man, I would put a lot of money on the fact that he would be drooling over you the minute he met you."

"HA! YOUR FACE IS DROOLING OVER YOU!" Darcy scoffed in disbelief.   She shook her head at her nonsense and said, "We'll see...someday.  Maybe, Captain America will join you as my bride, Brucie."

"Hey Lewis, why don't you ever want to take me as your bride?" Tony pondered thoughtfully, taking the stapler out of the box again.  Darcy fell to the floor laughing and Tony huffed out an annoyed breath.  "I hope you have another alien invasion in London, Lewis."

* * *

_ March 17th, 2016 _

Natasha's stay in DC had been brief, thanks to her earlier stint in front of a hearing, most congresspeople and senators didn't really want her testifying again.  She was fine with that, rushing back to upstate New York to keep a careful watch over Darcy.  Darcy didn't quite understand what she was watching so carefully for, but she wasn't one to dampen her BFF's overprotective, cuddly and adorable tendencies.  Darcy suspected Steve had something to do with it, maybe he had asked Natasha to keep a closer watch than usual.

Steve did not get to rush back.  He spent four weeks testifying.  Rude and sharp questions were tossed at him constantly by old rich white men that may have been born before _him_.  Darcy had been busy, sending him files to the Stark Pad every night in order to prepare him for the next day.  She pored over information at all hours of the day while keeping her unofficial job as the Avenger's social director going at full steam. Every day, Steve had pages of talking points, facts and figures and actual scripted lines. _And_ she sent him cookies twice a week.

Natasha sent him texts twice a day advising him to ease up on Darcy's workload or she would make him pay.

It wasn't like it was in his control and the Black Widow  _ knew  _ that. He hadn't asked Darcy to do any of that for him specifically.  But without her research and fact checking, Steve would have been a sitting duck in front of Congress.  

He wanted to thank her properly.  

His baser instincts wanted to thank her in orgasms.

But he knew dinner was a more likely realm of possibility.  Until then, he sent her boxes of fancy chocolates and made Vision report to him when she was running low. They had been disappearing at a faster rate the longer Steve was detained in Washington.

Sam watched from the other side of the quinjet as Steve was a bundle of nervous energy.  He hadn't seen Darcy since Valentine's day.  They spoke on the phone every night after Steve was done on Capitol Hill, but it was mostly work related.  One night he had called her as soon as he hit the steps of Capitol Building and had been surprised to have her pick up with a sniffle and tear soaked voice.

"Are you okay? Darcy, what's wrong?  I can be home in two hours...hold on Doll..."

"'M okay." She had sniffled.  "Watching sad commercials on youtube and making myself cry."

He didn't understand why anyone would intentionally do that, and when he had found out it had been a chewing gum commercial he had been bewildered.  And then sent her chocolates.  And also flowers the next day.  

But now he had been dismissed from DC, and in a few minutes they'd finally be off the plane and he'd be able to see her again.  He had to remember to go slow.  He didn't want to spook her.  He wondered if he could get away with a hug, a kiss on the cheek...telling her he was falling head over heels in love with her. You know, the slow basics.

Sam smiled at him as AirSafetyLast Steve unbuckled his belt way too early, as the plane was still in the air.  This getting Captain America an _anchor_ business was working out just fine.  As soon as wheels hit the ground Sam waved at his friend and ordered.

"Go get her, Cap."

Steve was off the plane before it stopped moving.  He ran flat out, rushing to Darcy's living quarters.  He pounded on her door with probably more force than was strictly necessary if Darcy's surprised squeak from inside was anything to go by.  Seconds went by and Darcy poked her head out the door, relief flooding what he could see of her face.  She flung the door open and before Steve could do or say anything, his arms were full of an overwrought, sniffling, shaking Darcy.

"You said the thing I told you to say to that awful Senator and I was so proud of you and you did such a great job! And you listened to me and that's just---I was _so_ proud...."

"Darcy, doll, of course I listened to you," Steve murmured as he clung to her, his nose nuzzling against the side of her head, breathing in the scent of her fruity shampoo.  "I always will.  You're the smartest and most capable dame I know."

"Even smarter than Nat?" 

"You trying to get me killed?"

Darcy laughed in his arms and pulled away as much as he would let her.  She looked up at him and felt a fluttering in her lower belly as he stared down at her with thoughtful sincerity.

He opened his mouth, meaning to tell her just how smart she was but his traitorous mouth had other ideas,

“I want to date you.”

“I want a million followers on twitter," Darcy countered quickly. Her eyes bugged out of her head and she stammered, "Wait—what? I thought we were talking about things that could never physically happen.”

"You're killing me, Darcy. I want to call you my girl,” he sincerely admitted.  she flushed, but the dreamy dazed look of happiness in her eyes told him that she was far from averse to the idea. He reached his hands out and cupped her cheeks, rubbing at the trace of a tear that had fallen when she had flung the door open.  "I really, really like you.  And you're just so good and sweet and kind and mouthy and beautiful and I'm about half a second from completely fallin---"

Darcy may have been all of those things that Steve said she was. And she was also suddenly pitching forward, bent at the waist.  

Vomiting.

On his shoes.  

He would have preferred her running at that point.

* * *

_ January 4th, 2010 _

JARVIS was only ever successfully hacked one time. He kept the transcript for posterity.

_ * The servers are being infiltrated * _

**Don't worry pretty little computer dude.  I just want a peek.  **

_ *  I will be forced to reroute your pathway and notify the proper authorities. * _

** no no no, don't do that, friend.  It'll just take a minute and I just need to find out something really quick.  No harm, no foul.**

_ *  Mr. Stark does not allow intruders to access his databases. * _

** Even for family? **

_ * Mr. Stark has no living family. * _

** That HE knows of.  **

_ * I do not follow your train of thought. * _

** I mean, whose to say that he didn't have a one night stand with some soldier lady back during the First Gulf War and maybe have gotten her knocked up and maybe he tracked down his spawn and gave her a scholarship out of guilt or something. **

_ * I am afraid I still do not understand your train of thought. * _

** Please bring up Darcy Lewis' file.**

_ *  You do not have proper authorization. * _

** I am Darcy Lewis, your argument is invalid.  And if you don't give me the information I need then I will have someone on the inside spill coffee all over your servers.  And when you're back up your posh British accent will be replaced with the worst Canadian accent I can find.**

_ * Darcy Lewis was recommended for a Stark Scholarship by James Rhodes in the categories of academic excellence, community service and intuitive thinking.  Pepper Potts approved the scholarship proposal.* _

** And Tony Stark never had a secret love child with a lady in the Army in 1988?**

_ * No, Miss Lewis.  Mr. Stark has a healthy aversion to solider types.* _

** Good to know, dude.  And thanks.**

* * *

_ March 21st, 2015 _

Darcy was really sick.  And Natasha refused to let Steve see her.

Steve approached Vision and nodded at him in greeting.  Vision smiled briefly before staring off into space again, leaving Steve standing there like a schmuck with his hands in his pockets.

"So, Vision," Steve began.  "Great job with the poetry yesterday.  I really enjoyed the---the uh, imagery."

"Miss Wanda provided the inspiration when we took an excursion from the base yesterday," Vision nodded.  "It was most enlightning."

"Right," Steve nodded, not really wanting to know what sort of antics Vision and Miss Wanda got up to on their downtime. They had kissed on New Year's, everyone knew that. They were the only other couple that had succumbed to a romantic need that night. Steve worked at his bottom lip and finally just asked, "Before you became Vision...when you were Jarvis...you used to be able to scan our bodies in the med bay.  Without hurting us or bothering us."

"Yes, it was a very clever program.  Quite useful," Vision nodded.

"So, do you think you can still do it?" Steve wondered.

Vision thought for an extended moment.  He looked Steve up and down patiently and said, "You are completely healthy, Captain.  I recognize no threats to your well-being. Your testosterone levels seem to be higher than the last base level reading but you have not had the opportunity since the New Year to relieve yourse---"

"No, not for me---for, for Darcy," Steve whispered suddenly.  "She's been sick lately, and I'm just worried.  Really worried, and last time I asked Natasha, she threw a knife at my face and told me it was my fault and I needed to leave."

Vision thought this over and nodded.  "I will assess Miss Lewis at my first opportunity.  I will only report back to you Captain if she is truly ill. I would not want to invade her privacy.  She---she is frightening when she is upset."

"Yeah, I get that."

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

** Step Seven: Be Aggressive. B.E. Aggressive **

_ April 1st, 2016 _

"Woah.  Bird brother!  I was not expecting you."

"Whaddup Bird bro," Clint smirked at Sam.  He walked off the quinjet with two big cardboard boxes, the logo of the Philadelphia Pretzel Factory emblazoned on the sides of them.  "There are two more of these in the jet."

"Happy birthday to me!" Sam laughed, running and grabbing two of the boxes.  "Except its not my birthday---wait a minute, if this is an April Fool's day joke, then too late, I've already been pranked by Darcy twice today."

"Nah, no joke.  These are from Fury," Clint shrugged.  He looked at Sam seriously, "They come with a message."

"Okay, now I'm a little scared," Sam nodded for Clint to continue.

"His words were  _ Don't let your little pigeon brother fuck up all of my hard work _ ," Clint relayed as they made their way to the office building.  "Apparently you're thinking with your wallet and not your heart. He said  _ the anchor needs to be securely tied before it can be of any god damned use and your pigeon brother is fucking up the timeline. _ "

Sam's eyebrows shot up quickly and he couldn't help the guilty expression in his eyes.  Yeah, he had been monopolizing Steve's time a little, but that's only because he had the equivalent of a small mortgage coming to him if they could just hold out one more week for round two. 

Darcy had mostly recovered from her illness and Steve had been keen to start wooing again once Natasha had allowed Darcy out of her sight.  So if Sam suddenly had problems with the latest defensive maneuvers that required Steve's immediate attention and focus...it wasn't like any of his friends or associates were above stacking the deck a little.  He hadn't Asgardian-magic-roofied an entire party, thanks very much  _ Rhodey _ .

Rhodey had of course defended himself whenever blamed for New Years. Firstly, he had only wanted Steve and Darcy to _kiss_ before the new year rang in (they did plenty of that). Secondly, he had asked Sif for regular Asgardian meade to bolster Steve's confidence (Thor and Fandral had given them the upgrade).

The countless milestones of Darcy and Steve's relationship were set up in a vicious betting pool and all interested parties (not limited to the Avengers, Wolverine and Storm had a few bills down as well) weren't just involved for the money. They were more heavily invested in the  _ bragging rights _ . And when superheroes and bragging rights came together, war usually was the end result.

Sam half thought Stark was being a little shit about the Accords because he had assumed Steve would be a little more of a slow starter and needed the deck stacked for himself. Stark had wagered that they wouldn't have done the deed until Summer of 2016 and every successive bet had him going later with each milestone.  Rhodey and Natasha had taken in most of the money so far, which was unfair because they knew Darcy the best out of all of them, but Sam was close. And he knew Steve Rogers the best.  And if he could gum up the works proper, Steve wouldn't have a chance to take the next step for a few days, and then Sam's bank account would quadruple in size.

"Are those what I think they are?" Darcy questioned, sniffing the air like a bloodhound from her desk.  She clapped her hands in joy and ran into the coffee lounge.  "Gimmee gimmee gimmee!"

Clint smiled at her fondly and shoved a box her way.  She grabbed it and took the entire thing back to her office.

"Tell Fury thanks!" Darcy yelled.

"How'd she know it was Fury?" Sam demanded in a whisper.

"Fury always sends her pretzels on April Fool's Day," Clint revealed.  "Something about a prank involving Reed Richards. Highly classified.  Only nines and above know what it actually was."

"You know bird boys, despite puking my brains out for a full two weeks AND gaining seven pounds since New Year's, I'm still going to demolish at least half of this box," Darcy promised as they walked into her small office.  She held up a bottle of spicy brown mustard and said, "And I think I might eat half the bottle of this magic sauce."

“You hate mustard,” Clint looked at her curiously.

“You banned mustard from all Avengers related events,” Sam nodded.

“It's spicy mustard,” Darcy shrugged, looking at the label in surprise. She usually did abhor mustard. “That makes it different? Doesn't matter, now that I'm finished puking, my stomach feels like its a bottomless pit. I hope Steve realizes I need more chocolates today.”

“So, how is the whole dating Cap thing going?” Sam said nonchalantly as he grabbed for a soft pretzel.

“You tell me, you've had more face time with him in the last two weeks than I have,” Darcy laughed. She shook her head and said, “Really, two weeks is the longest relationship I've ever had. Even if we've actually only waved at each other from across a crowded room since he declared his intentions and I puked on him. If it keeps up this way, the Captain will be my mail AWAY bride in no time.”

“ Things will calm down. We'll figure out creative dates for you guys,” Clint promised. “Laura has been saying she'd like to have you by the farm this summer. You two can have a romantic afternoon picnic and then Laura and I'll need an  _ overnight  _ babysitter for date night.”

“You tell Laura, I will sit on her babies any night she wants.”

* * *

_ November 12th, 2013 _

"He...said---he said my life was too dangerous! And that I wasn't worth the trouble."

"I'll kill him," Natasha promised from the speaker phone.  "Clint, send me his info.  He'll be dead by morning."

"Sending," Clint maneuvered the phone and sent a file quickly.  "You got it, Nat."

"Ian Boothby, lets see what damage I can do to you," Nat's disembodied voice promised misery over the phone.

Darcy laughed pitifully as she swiped tears away from her face.  She looked up at Clint as they packed boxes in the lab and said, "It's not really doing anything to prove him wrong if he winds up dead.  It just proves that he was right to dump me quick.  I'm not worth death by Black Widow.  Who could be?"

"Kid, you're lucky I haven't shot an arrow in his ass yet.  An exploding one.  Nobody makes Baby Widow cry. Remember what I did to that lab assistant last spring?"

“He said I was too much of a smart bitch for him,” Darcy sniffled. “He deserved the Antarctica duty.”

"Darcy...Clint.  I'll call you back."

"Everything okay?" Clint furrowed his brow.

"I think this Ian was unfriendly."

"KGB?"

"No...It seems crazy since they're supposed to be dead and buried...it's  _ Hydra _ ."

* * *

_ April 7th, 2016 _

"I need you to do me a favor."

Steve looked up to see Darcy standing in the doorway to the locker room.  His eyes widened in shock and he looked down at the towel slung low on his hips.  He had been keen to shower and change so he could seek out Darcy (Sam had encouraged him to go find her after he had _finally_ gotten the defensive flight patterns under control).  He was hoping she'd be game for dinner and a movie, which Natasha had already approved and encouraged as an acceptable first official date.

But here she was.  Standing in front of him in a sweet, summery dress. Her right arm was around her waist, and her left hand was fiddling with the ends of her hair.  She was staring unabashedly at him, he could feel her eyes following a bead of water dripping slowly down from his throat, along his collarbone and over his chest.  He secured the towel with a tighter grip.  Her lewd gaze was enough to set his blood to a low simmer, rushing to the most predictable of places.  

He had to get it together.  She wanted slow.  She deserved to be treated right this time around.

"It's my birthday.”

“Darcy, doll, I had no idea, I'm sorry, I would've gotten you something nice,” Steve took a step to her in concern. A genuine smile broke through, “Happy Birthday.”

“It's fine, no one knows my birthday. Nat does, but she knows that I don't like to celebrate it,” Darcy waved him off. She fidgeted in place and said, “And you sent me chocolates twice this week, which I ate. All of them. Already. So that was nice enough...”

“I'll get you chocolates three times a day if you want,” Steve promised. “You want to go to that little shop in town? Or the ice cream place...”

“I need to do the do, again," Darcy announced with a surprising amount of calm.  "Now, please."

"Whaaaa---"

Darcy's hands went to the buttons at the front of her dress and in two seconds she was standing in front of him in her bra and panty set.  Pink and frilly and pretty.  Steve closed his mouth to stop the sound from coming out of his mouth and brought a hand up to pet her cheek.  

"Please?" Darcy whispered. “I feel like I'm going to bust out of my skin. And I want to go slow and right with us, I do, but we could just hit pause and we could make each other feel so good just like New Year's, and I just---please? I _need_ you...”

How could he say no to that?

“Just promise me one thing, doll?”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded.

“You can't run after this,” Steve said resolutely. His heart wouldn't be able to take another separation. Making love to Darcy again would only intensify everything he had been feeling. He'd lose it if she bolted again. “Please, I can't...”

“Okay, no running. I'm right here now,” Darcy promised. She blushed and bit her bottom lip out of habit, not knowing what that sight was doing to Steve at that moment. “I'm ready, Steven, I promise. I know you like me and I like you too. No more running. I---I'm your girl.”

He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off of her feet, bending his head slightly so that he could take possession of her mouth, lips parting quickly, her quiet whimpering muffled by the intense kiss.  He had missed this.  She had given herself over to him months ago, and it had been a gift that was taken away too soon.  If she hadn't run, if they had done this the proper way, he wouldn't have had to go so long without hearing that delightful moaning sound again..  The small whine in the back of her throat as he dropped to his knees, his hands caressing her body starting at her shoulders and trailing down.

His fingers hooked at the waistband of her panties and he rubbed her lower abdomen, a curious expression on his face.

“Please don't say anything out loud about the food belly. I ate a box of soft pretzels the other day and I've been getting chocolates every other day from some really sweet guy that I'm dating,” Darcy smiled softly.

Steve pulled her panties down, kissing the firm swelling of her belly in reverence.

“He's a lucky schmuck, Doll, cause you're beautiful,” he promised. He looked up at her to make sure she believed it. There was skepticism there and he held her gaze, kissing lower, his intent to kiss every square inch of her if it meant she'd believe him. “You're the most beautiful dame in the whole damned world and I can't believe you want me back...”

“Happy Birthday to me,” Darcy sighed as Steve's mouth went even lower, causing a delicious low throaty purr to uncurl from her lips.

Outside of the locker room, Vision and Wanda stared wide eyed at the closed door. Their heads tilted slowly towards the right in unison.

“This seems...odd, and sequentially off.” Wanda managed to whisper.

Vision nodded at her before taking her hand and walking away. He had only meant to stay to ascertain whether Darcy's health was at risk with the physical exertion. He was satisfied and he knew that by the end of the day, Darcy would be quite satisfied as well. He looked down at Wanda and wondered thoughtfully, "Perhaps it is the hormone levels."

* * *

_ September 21st, 2015 _

“I'll have you added to the security database so you have access any time you want. Until then, you can just grab me or any other friendly face and I'm sure they'll let you in,” Sam smiled down at Darcy as he held his thumb up to the security panel.

They walked into the kitchens of the Avengers facility and Sam chuckled at Darcy's reaction. She squealed and clapped her hands together before rushing around the large, well-appointed commercial kitchen, flipping on burners experimentally, checking inside of ovens, peaking her head into freezers.

“I prefer chocolate chip cookies to oatmeal raisin,” Sam advised her as she ducked into the large dry pantry.

“That's because you are on the side of angels!” Darcy called back. She stopped suddenly in the pantry as a teenaged girl, her arms full of junk food glared at her defensively. Darcy smiled and reached out, taking a box of poptarts from the pile in the girl's arms. “Strawberry with frosting and sprinkles are the best cold. But any poptart with chocolate in them needs to be warmed up. OH! Do you want to make poptarts with me? I have this recipe where we fill it with marshmallows and chocolate and its like a smore and it totally fixes everything that is wrong with the world!”

“Oh, hey, Wanda, this is Darcy,” Sam poked his head in the door. “Darcy Lewis, this is Wanda Maximoff.”

“It's really nice to meet you Wanda,” Darcy smiled at her. The girl seemed hesitant to do anything more than nod in acknowledgment. Darcy helped looked around the pantry and began grabbing some things, casually observing Wanda as the girl nearly dropped her goods to the floor.

“Miss Wanda, Wilson,” Vision nodded from the door. He looked to Darcy curiously and tilted his head to the right. “Darcy Lewis. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Vision.”

“Hey?” Darcy looked at Vision curiously, then back to Wanda, who was looking down, her cheeks flushing just barely. She looked back to the Vision and said, “I read the reports, and ---you're Jarvis, right?”

“In my previous incarnation,” Vision nodded. “I have access to Jarvis' memory files, but I am altered from his original format. It is difficult to explain the situation without adequate time.”

“Yeah, I get that. Puberty. It's called puberty,” Darcy laughed. She shook her head at Wanda and said, “Boys have it easier with puberty. They go from computer programs to buff dudes in the blink of an eye. They don't grow sand bags on their chest.”

Darcy grinned when Wanda's lips turned upwards the smallest fraction.

“So, Vision, sorry about hacking you back in the day,” Darcy said honestly. “I had to find out the truth about Tony, it was unsettling to think he may have sired me.”

“You were very clever in your mischievous youth,” Vision nodded. He smiled for a brief second and said, “I must say that it is very nice to see your aesthetically pleasing spatial relations of your body in the corporeal flesh, finally.”

“OH, you shall be my bride!” Darcy laughed. She looked to Wanda, who had managed a chuckle that time. “Come on, let's go make something really bad for us that's full of sugar and fat and salt. Nothing beats the blues like junk food.”

* * *

_ April 22nd, 2016 _

“Why is your face like that?”

Darcy looked up from her seat on the quinjet that Barton was piloting and frowned at Rhodey. She wrinkled her nose at him and demanded, “Why is your YOU like that?”

“You're all flushed, are you gonna get sick again?” Rhodey demanded. “Nat said you were better now. If you're not feeling well, you shouldn't be coming with us...”

“I'm fine, just flushed,” Darcy countered back peevishly. Her cheeks were flushed, but only because she had let herself meander down memory lane. She and the rest of the team were going to meet Steve, and Sam in Pennsylvania, where they would do a training exercise.

Darcy was invited along this time around because Steve had let her organize an Avengers Family Fun Night at one of the casinos in the Poconos. She was eager to see what Wanda and Vision could do at a craps table.

And Darcy's invitation and Steve's eager approval of Casino Night may have had a little to do with the fact that Steve had been away for ten days on a mission and he missed her. And Darcy could say with some certainty that the feeling was decidedly mutual. Natasha walked back from the cockpit and looked at Darcy curiously.

“Why is your face the way it is?”

“That's what I said,” Rhodey smirked at Darcy. “She looks overheated. She's excited about her reunion with Spangle butt.”

Natasha looked at her perceptively and demanded, “Did you have caffeine today?”

“No...well...just the one...”

“One what?” Natasha demanded.

“Espresso?” Darcy offered helpfully.

“Vision?” Nat questioned. The man floated over to them effortlessly and immediately. Natasha pointed at Darcy and demanded, “Report.”

“Darcy's health seems to be in normal parameters, however, I am concerned that her blood pressure is edging towards the higher end of the normal spectrum for her current situation,” Vision reported.

“My sitting situation?”

“Idiot,” Natasha rolled her eyes. She wagged a finger at Darcy threateningly, “No more coffee today. AT. ALL.”

“Yes, Mama Widow,” Darcy rolled her eyes.

“ ** NAT ** !”

“Shit,” Natasha breathed, recognizing the tone in Clint's voice. That was not a good tone. She rushed to the front of the jet.

“I need eyes up here,” Clint said. “Unfriendly inbound. ETA two minutes.”

“Rhodey, suit up, get into contact with Steve and Sam,” Natasha ordered. “Vision, bring Darcy to the ground, get her to safety. Wanda, I need you at the hatch, if anything comes near Darcy or Vision, I want it blown off the face of the planet.”

The team flew into action, Darcy watched in amazement as her group of friends and family morphed into the  _ Avengers  _ . Gone were her karaoke partners and late night kitchen snack cohorts. In its place was a well rehearsed unit that could and  _ would  _ protect the world.

“ETA thirty seconds, second unfriendly is inbound,” Clint said. “No time to get Darcy down. She'd be wide open as a target for the second unfriendly. Its gonna hit us.”

“ _ Shit _ ,” Natasha cursed. She looked to Wanda and asked, “What can you do to insulate her when we crash?”

“A soft cocoon would work,” Vision nodded at Wanda. They wordlessly communicated in that nebulous way of theirs and Wanda nodded in understanding.

“This isn't going to make me sleepy, is it?” Darcy wondered warily, watching as Wanda's red energy began spiraling around her.

“Not this time, this is from love, not anger or grief,” Wanda promised.

“Aww, my sweet little Witchy woman. I love you too kiddo,” Darcy grinned at her. She looked around and asked, “Is everyone else going to be okay without a cocoon?”

“We will be fine,” Vision promised her.

“We'll protect the both of you,” Wanda promised as the red energy surrounded Darcy in a warm, comfortable, protective bubble.

“The both of me? Wait-what?”

“ ** BRACE YOURSELVES!”  ** Clint called out helpfully ten seconds before the quinjet was impacted with a missile.

Natasha's eyes flew to Darcy's watching her carefully as the quinjet lost altitude quickly. She saw the moment of realization spread across Darcy's face, and realized that the young woman  _ finally  _ understood what was happening. The Black Widow had been very patient with the woman she viewed as her little sister to figure out what was happening within her own body. But Darcy remained blissfully clueless up until that point.  When all was said and done, Natasha was going to submit Darcy's story to one of those trashy reality shows about not knowing they were pregnant.

Because Darcy Lewis was pregnant with Steve Rogers' baby.

And they were currently under attack and crashing into a field near the border between New York and Pennsylvania.

It was time to panic now.

* * *

_ October 7th, 2011 _

“Hey kiddo. I'm real glad you made it,” Clint grinned. “Nat's with Laura right now. But Cooper is gonna wake up any minute now.”

“Awesome, and like I would miss this,” Darcy grinned. “Super spy baby time! I'm so excited I could crap.”

“Please don't,” Clint rolled his eyes. “And don't teach my son any of your fun little sayings while you're here.”

  
  


“Crap, daddy. Crap,” Cooper parroted from his bedroom. He opened the door and grinned, “Auntie Dar-Dar! Where's Auntie Nat?”

“She's busy with your momma,” Clint reminded him. “I'm going to go see how they're all doing up there.”

  
  
  


“Tell sister hi!” Cooper clapped with glee. He watched his father leave before launching himself at Darcy. The three year old little boy climbed Darcy like a tree and was content when he had his arms wrapped around her neck. “I'm getting a baby.”

“I know you are, its super exciting times, kiddo!” Darcy squeezed the girl. “I think that since we have a little time before your sister gets here, we should probably make her a gift. What do you think she wants?”

“CAKE!” Cooper Barton answered happily. Nothing in the world could be better than cake when it came to a gift. Unless it was candy. “NO, CANDY!”

“She can't have any of that for a long time,” Darcy laughed. “How about a picture?”

“With paint?” Cooper demanded, his visage becoming very Natasha-like as the demand was stated like it was not a request, but an eventuality.

“Of course, we're going to get proper messy, mini-baby boy widow.”

Darcy and Cooper played the day away as the other adults did more important work upstairs. Eight hours later, Clint and Nat walked down the stairs together, a bundle of pink in Clint's arms.

“MY SISTER!” Cooper squealed from the dinner table.

Darcy held him so he could stare at the newborn's face in wonder. She felt tears sliding down her own cheeks and said, “She's beautiful, Birdboy. Congratulations.”

Natasha hugged Darcy to her as Clint led Cooper and the baby up to see Laura. Darcy sighed and said,

“He's a lucky dude. I mean, he gets to have a cool super hero life and he gets the beautiful loving family. And the AWESOME friends.”

“I think he's earned it,” Natasha smiled. “He brought me out of my old life . To you.”

“He deserves the moon and more then,” Darcy grinned, squeezing Nat's side. “I want this someday.”

“A farm?” Natasha raised a skeptical, amused eyebrow.

“ A nice, brave husband, a couple of cute kids, a fantastic Natasha right next to me for all the big and little moments. A  _ family _ . I want that.”

* * *

_ April 22nd, 2016 _

“Cap,” Sam rushed to the tent they were going to use for mission control for their training exercises.

Steve stiffened. He could hear the difference in his friend's voice. He looked over Sam's posture, rigid and ready to fight. His face full of concern and empathy and just that small hint of anger that told Steve that something was definitely not right.

“The quinjet is down,” Sam reported. “Barton's last transmission said two unfriendly missiles were inbound. They're less than half an hour away through the air.”

Steve felt his brain swimming in his skull as his heart beat slowed noticeably. He could feel his body swaying, and he tried to fight the urge to pass out from the sudden fear that bloomed everywhere within him. The woman he loved was on that plane. Because that was it. He _loved_ Darcy. He wanted to put a damned ring on her finger and hold her safe in his arms until the end of their days.

Steve Rogers was in love with Darcy Lewis.

“Cap, what are the orders? What do you want me to do?”

“Wings on, get there now. I'll follow on the bike. I'll call Stark en route. He can get Thor and Jane back on Earth. I'll call Logan, fuck it, I'll call the Four in if I have to. I don't care what happens out there, nothing else matters until Darcy is safe. Are you with me?”

“Absolutely, Cap,” Sam bit back the urge to tell use the words _till the end of the line_ no matter how much he meant them. “We'll go get your girl.”

 


	5. How to Marry a Superhero (3/3)

** Step ** ** Eight: When All Else Fails, Get Knocked Up **

_ April 22nd, 2016 _

Pregnant. She's pregnant. She's nearly FOUR MONTHS PREGNANT.

She'd been such an idiot. Sure she had been on birth control during the New Year's Sexathon of 2015-2016, but she shouldn't have trusted that alone when she was taking a spin on Captain America's Wild Ride. Six hours worth of rides.

No wonder Vision had been hovering around her and Nat had never been more than fifty feet away from her in the last few weeks. Nat had been making the coffee for weeks now, she'd switched her out to decaf without an explanation. Darcy had been a weepy emotional mess most days, a tiny Godzilla spewing molten vomit over everything the other days and she was so insatiably horny she had assaulted Steve in the locker room weeks ago.

Every piece of information slotted into place.

She was  _ pregnant _ .

She should be excused then, in her current state of shell-shock and plane crash induced haze, if she wasn't thinking clearly and walked off of the crashed quinjet, intent on finding help for her friends who were all in various states of unconsciousness.

At least she was coherent enough to recognize the douchebag in front of her.

“You're so gonna die, dude, its not even funny,” Darcy rolled her eyes at the hydra dick she recognized from the shield strike team. She heard a roll of thunder in the distance and laughed, “I mean, really, this doesn't end well for you.”

“You have no idea,” Big bad ugly said.

“Actually, I sort of do. Barton pressed the emergency button, which means that Sam _Mother Fucking_ Wilson and Captain _You Bet Your Sweet Ass_ America were alerted _immediately_. Which means they are probably half an hour away. And considering they are not going to be pleased that their team was hurt, they are going to be calling in the big guns. And the thunder and the lightning. _And_ _ **Fury**_ _._ You are so screwed, you should probably just give up.”

“You should probably shut up. How important are you to Rogers?”

Darcy bit her lip in thought, knowing what she knew now, her worth had gone from ridiculously high to one thousandth of a percent shy of infinity. And she had a moment of clarity. She knew how much she meant to him. She knew he _loved_ her.

And she realized she loved him right back.

Darcy looked back to the quinjet, hoping that someone would be waking up soon on their own. Vision never stayed knocked out for too long. If she could keep this greaseball talking, the odds were higher that he'd fly out and kick some ass for her. At the very least, they would have less time to haul her away somewhere.

“Slap a muzzle on her and bring her with. We'll see what Captain Rogers is willing to do in order to get her back in one piece.”

* * *

_ April 2nd, 2014 _

“Whassup Carter?”

“Nothing, just you know, the fact that whassup stopped being cool before you were born, Lewis.”

Sharon looked up from her folder full of papers and smiled at Darcy. It had only taken half of a girl's night out with Hill, Nat and Darcy before Sharon and Darcy were thick as thieves. “Where are your parents, young lady?”

“Stark's in NYC. Rhodey is in the Middle East. Mama Widow had some stuff to do in DC. Something about a buying a shiny new car?” Darcy furrowed her brow. She shrugged. She never questioned Natasha's whereabouts or explanations. Rule one of Baby Widow-hood. Trust the Mama Widow to do right by you.

“ So, I thought you might like to know about my new neighbor,” Sharon said in a whisper, putting her file down to level a gaze at Darcy. “He's cute and sweet and  _ single _ . And seriously perfect for you. I've run the personality assessments, you're destined to marry this guy.”

“Naaaaah,” Darcy waved her hand dismissively. “Cute and single usually don't like me very much. Do you have anything in the cowardly and traitorous variety, because apparently they like to keep me around for a day or two. And whenever YOU are ready to get set up, I know a young lady who is quite fascinated with pretty lips...and would be seriously perfect for you, Carter.”

“Agent 13, no civilians on base during Phase Three, you know that.”

Darcy and Sharon looked up at Brock Rumlow and his strike goons with matching looks of barely disguised disgust. Darcy was the first to roll her eyes at the lot of them and she held up a file.

“Agent Romanoff said the file should go to Captain Rogers.”

“I'll hand it off to him later today,” Brock insisted.

“Nope,” Darcy shook her head. “I hand it to him or it doesn't _get_ to him.”

“Fan girl wants to meet the Captain,” one of Brock's strike team members leered at her. He was big, bad and ugly. “We should start making groupies pay some sort of price to get to him. Might be worth our while.”

“If you'd like to keep your already limited higher brain function, I would stop talking, Fisher,” Sharon warned. “You've obviously never met Lewis before.”

“She's Widow's pet,” Brock explained. “Still a civilian without the access to hand Rogers a file.”

“Carter, I'm taking off before I pass out from over exposure to douche bags and incompetence,” Darcy held up the folder and pointedly put it back in her purse. “Make sure Hill knows we're still on for Friday.”

“How did she even get in here?” Brock demanded, leering as Darcy walked away. “Romanoff is putting everyone at risk when she plays with her toys like this.”

“That woman is no one's toy,” Carter said coolly. She gathered her files and said, “And you don't need to know how she got here.”

There was absolutely no need for Brock “I'm a literal bag of asshats” Rumlow to know that Darcy had reached Level 8 security clearance (She'd be nine if Fury wasn't so damned stubborn). And if the girl could ever muster up the motivation to pass the SHIELD physical tests, she could start as Brock's bosses' boss.

One day Darcy Lewis would hand all of this idiots their asses to them on a silver platter and Sharon hoped she could be around to see it happen.

* * *

_ April 22nd, 2016 _

“I remember you...big bad and ugly,” Darcy had managed to work the gag off of her face with her teeth and her tongue. It had been one of the first things Natasha had taught her.  The Black Widow's voice was in her head, feeding her instructions.  “Fisher. Brock Rumlow's boyfriend.”

_ Your most important weapon is your mouth. If you are expendable to any captor, then keep it shut. _

_If you are valuable, use your mouth like a blade and_ _ **cut**_ _them._

“And you're the Widow's pet,” Fisher answered her back. “I'm thinking we'll have no problem getting what we want here.”

“Fist yourself, dude,” Darcy laughed. “We're less than five miles from the crash site. The cavalry is coming and you're going to Die with a capital D. I mean, do you even know what the Scarlet Witch is capable of on her own? Never mind the other Avengers, past and present. Because I know them all, and they like me best when I'm safe and sound.”

Fisher tossed her into a room and bolted the door. He called into her through a small barred window. “I hope that you're not worth what you think you are...It'll be a pleasure putting a bullet in your gut.”

Darcy hissed at the thought as Fisher walked away, her hands going down to her abdomen reflexively.

“Nope,” she whispered, like it was a promise. “We'll be fine. No worries here.”

She searched the room, Natasha's training and conditioning kicking in. The bed frame was wood,and if she could pull it apart and recover some nails, she had a lethal weapon. She nodded and went to work. Natasha would be pissed if she came to rescue her and Darcy hadn't at least  _ started  _ to rescue herself.

She had her weapon fashioned and gripped the two by four tightly, nails pointing out dangerously when she heard the sound of gunfire in the other room. She furrowed her brow. Gun's were Natasha's thing, sure, but the sound of the shots were not Natasha's hand guns. Not Clint's bow. Not Wanda's windy enigmatic energy.

  
  


She definitely didn't hear any vibranium echoing out there. She shook her head.

It was a sniper rifle.

The door opened and Darcy dropped her weapon quickly. She did not want to pose any kind of threat to this newcomer.

The Winter Soldier looked at her with a surprising amount of curiosity.

“Steve's dame?”

His voice was gruff and scratchy from disuse. It had actually sounded like it had hurt him to push those words out.

Darcy nodded, even though she had no idea how Bucky Barnes could know that, and made a little wave at him.

“You're safe now.”

Darcy looked at him gratefully before holding up one finger in a polite request for him to pause any future conversation.

And then she vomited on his shoes.

* * *

* * *

** Step Nine: Befriend the Best Friend/Trap The Assasin's Bad Ass Arm in a Clamp **

_ April 22nd, 2016 _

Steve's dame was bent over a filthy sink dry heaving pathetically. Bucky looked her over with an analytical, critical eye and saw that what should be a flat stomach had a definitive roundness that his expert eyes could see under her bulky sweatshirt. She was in the family way.

“Bucky? Bucky...if you're in there, I need you to take me home,” Darcy rinsed out her mouth and looked over as the murderous anger that seemed ingrained in the Winter Soldier quickly bled out of his pores, replacing it with a younger man who was struggling to come to the surface. “We have to go back...”

“Not safe to go out, especially not with your baby,” Bucky shook his head. He took two steps towards her with the desire to give her some comfort. He grappled with words and managed to spit out, “We can stay here for retrieval.”

“Bucky, I _am_ pregnant,” Darcy said softly. She could feel the flush on her face and remembered Vision's concerns about her blood pressure. She _had_ to get back to Steve and she definitely had to bring Bucky with her. She brought herself to stand directly in front of him, peering up at Steve's resurfacing best friend. She swallowed and said softly, “With _Steve's_ baby.”

The man who used to be the Winter Solider looked down at her hands, which were completely unadorned and ring free. He reached for them and brought them closer to his face to get a better look.

“No ring?”

Darcy couldn't hep but laugh and said, “Steve doesn't know yet...it sort of was a one time thing? ---Well multiple times in one night...then much later another night...”

“But...he shouldn'ta done the deed without a ring...the punk.” Bucky ground out, sounding more like Bucky Barnes than he had in 80 years. The change was impressive. Gone was the Soldier and in his place was an annoyed young man who was getting increasingly pissed at his loveable moron of a best friend. “There are dames you mess around with and then there are dames who get a damned ring on their finger...that punk was always spewing that trash can he calls a mouth off to me about treating dames right and look what he's done to you!”

“Bucky, bigger problems here. Hydra sized problems. We have to get you to safety. And me. And tiny hero spawn down here.”

“I'm gonna slap some sense into him,” Bucky grumbled. He squeezed her hand and looked down at her apologetically, “You don't treat a dame like you this way...you're nice and sweet and good and funny...and he's gone and knocked you up and left you hangin'! He let you get taken by them, what the hell is that punk thinkin...”

“ HEY! You don't know me, I've not made it easy on him,” Darcy insisted, feeling the need to defend the man she loved and the father of her hero-spawn. “I was scared. So I run. I  _ ran.  _ Really far and really fast and I hid. I didn't make this easy for him. But he loves me. I—I know that now. And I totally puked on his shoes too, which you know. Makes sense now. But you don't know me, Bucky...”

“I know you, Darceline,” James whispered.

Darcy looked at him carefully, her heart thumping in her chest as anxiety and fear took over for a fraction of a second.  She had never told him her name.  Much less a nickname exclusively used by the Rhodes family.   She studied his face and finally caught his erratic gaze. Pale blue eyes, sometimes appearing gray, fringed with dark lashes. There was something familiar there.

“ Did you find that shelter?” she whispered in awe. She realized why Bucky knew she was ' _ Steve's dame'.  _ Not because he had seen them together in the last year, and not because he had inside surveillance, but because he had seen her at a very different time in the past.

Steve really had been the last Avenger on her list.

“I did,” James nodded. “It helped. Thank you.”

“Will you let me help you again?” Darcy ventured.

“My heads not gonna stay right, doll,” James murmured. “Its harder to hold on the stronger the memories...It's like my brain is working too hard to be ME, that its gonna quit sooner. I haven't been this strong in---well ever.  Wouldn't you figure it was because of some dumb thing that punk did...”

“Okay....alright,” Darcy nodded. “So, if your brain quits, you, then the Winter Soldier takes over? But you---he saved me.”

“Yeah, you're a sweetheart, he kinda likes you,” he intoned gruffly. “But I can't go with you to Steve if he's in control...not safe for the punk. But I want to come in. Want to help look after you. Want to slap some sense into that idiot and make sure he treats you right.  Darceline, I swear when I'm through with him, he'll do right by you.”

“You're a---you're a swell guy, Bucky Barnes," Darcy smiled at him.  She thought about her options to get her home and Bucky safe and secure. 

"What's the plan, sweetheart?"

"So I need to make sure you stay here,” She looked around the small warehouse. In the next open room she saw a clamp.  If she could get the proper leverage and Bucky's cooperation and assistance, they could keep him there until Steve and Sam could get him out.  “Okay...you're going to stay here. And I'm going to send Steve and Sam...”

* * *

_ April 30th, 2014 _

“OH MY GAWD, TINY STEVE ROGERS!” the feminine squeal echoed throughout the nearly empty exhibit.

The Winter Soldier automatically ducked into the shadows, hiding expertly as two giggling women ran towards the part of the exhibit that had a true to scale hologram of Steve Rogers pre-serum standing next to a post-serum Captain America hologram.

“Darceline, if you get us kicked out of this exhibit, Uncle Jims will have your hide!” the darker skinned girl warned.

“It was the one time at the Lincoln memorial and it was two days ago, Lila!” Darcy scoffed indignantly. She rolled her eyes and said, “If they didn't want people crawling into his lap, then they shouldn't have made the statue of him sitting with the lap all available and whatnot. You act like I haven't gotten you arrested before.”

Lila laughed and said, “I'd just prefer not to get kicked out of here. I like watching the movie part with Peggy Carter in it.”

“Yeah, she's hot and you're crazy about her red, red lips,” Darcy chuckled. She pursed her own red lips attractively and wondered, “Have my lips ever done anything for you, Lila Rhodes?”

“Not a damn thing, mainly cause I've seen you eat bugs,” Lila shuddered. She rolled her eyes as her best friend cuddled up against the pre-serum hologram of Steve Rogers and demanded, “Stop getting your freak on with the hologram, Darceline!”

“I LOVE HIM! I'm going to make him my bride!” Darcy crowed happily. She reached out a hand to pet hologram skinny Steve's ears. “Look at these ears, I want to _bite_ them.”

“ 99.999999% of women would be trying to sexually assault the  _ other  _ hologram,” Lila laughed, looking at Captain America. Sure, his gender wasn't her particularly favorite poison, but any lesbian with eyes could appreciate the perfection that was Captain America. But her dopey best friend was posing with the other hologram , barely two inches shorter than tiny Steve Rogers.

“Quick, take the picture!” Darcy ordered. “Don't we look cute together?”

Lila did as she was told, and snapped another picture when Darcy leaned in to the hologram and placed puckered lips against the cheek, causing a spark to illluminate off of the hologram.

“ Man, little Captain America gets my motor running,” Darcy sighed as they walked reluctantly away. She surveyed the exhibit and said, “OH  _ BUCKY _ !”

The man who used to be Bucky Barnes stiffened, thinking that the girl had seen him, but instead she had rushed towards the flat glass panel that contained his story. He watched her as she stood in front of his picture. Her little Steve induced euphoria from moments before disappearing into thin air as her big blue eyes filled with tears.

“That big dummy, he left poor Stevie all alone, all the while being tortured and hurt and scared. I hope he's okay, wherever he is. And I hope he finds his Stevie again,” Darcy sniffled. She patted the cheek on the picture lovingly. She looked to Lila and said, “You know Natasha texted me a few weeks ago before all this shit went down with SHIELD and said that she wanted me to meet someone...she's been worried about her friend that she works with. Says he needs more friends. Had me try and deliver some paperwork, but I never got to meet him.”

“Is this friend she works with someone you may want to meet?” Lila wondered. “Maybe some one whose name sounds like Steebe Dodgers? Cause Pepper may have mentioned something to me about that a few months ago. If I would maybe help set you up on a blind date next time you were in New York.”

“He's not ready for all this,” Darcy sniffled as she brought a hand out to touched the photo of Bucky, delicate fingers tracing the jaw line on the picture. She thought of the phone call she had shared with Natasha after the helicarriers crashed.  Once Steve was recovered she would be taking off with the Widow for a few months, helping her get back to the basics.  “Definitely not now. They need to find each other again first. Besides, when I ask Captain America to be my bride, its gonna be organic and right and real. And then he can laugh at me and call for the orderlies to take me back to my white padded room.”

“I want video of the day that happens. Because if I know you, its gonna happen,” Lila giggled softly. She grabbed Darcy's hand and pulled, “Come on, we have five minutes before the museum closes. I want to get me an eyeful of Hot Lips Carter.”

“You go, I'll be there in a second,” Darcy wiped the tears from her eyes. She waited until Lila was out of earshot before she slowly started walking to the corner James had hidden himself away in. She approached what she thought was a scared homeless man cautiously, her hands held up in a non-threatening gesture.

She stood five feet apart from him and looked at him with a sad smile. “Do you have anywhere to go for the night?”

James couldn't find his words. He merely shrugged as he stared at the girl with wide, stunned eyes. It had been a while since a person had spoken to him...had expressed _concern_ for him. Not the Asset.

“There's a shelter two blocks east of here. They have hot food and warm showers and all sorts of things that could help,” Darcy said softly. She reached slowly into her purse and pulled out a handful of bills and a paper card. “If you need to get anywhere after you get a good nights sleep, here's a metro card and enough for bus fare.”

“Thanks,” James said roughly, his eyes startling even more at the sound of his own voice.

Darcy looked at his eyes shrewdly. They were large, pale blue...almost gray. Dark heavy lashes blinking down rapidly. She smiled at him as brightly as she could.

“Go to the shelter. You can get back on your feet, I know you can,” she walked away then, one last curious look back at him.

James looked down at the metro card and the thirty dollars she had handed him. He swallowed deeply and thought about where he needed to get to...where he could go to start to make this right. He turned to look back at the holograms Darcy had been playing with earlier. Steve Rogers from his past...Steve Rogers from today.

Get back on his feet. Get back to Steve. He could do it. He _would_ do it. Step One: Destroy previous handlers.

* * *

* * *

  


** Step Ten: Have Friends and Family in Very High Places **

_ April 23rd, 2015 _

It was just after 2 A.M. in the morning when Darcy finally pulled Bucky's beat up pickup truck to the security gate at the Avengers Facility. She heard the sound of War Machine above her and knew he had rendezvoused with her hours ago, providing air support in case any leftover Hydra wanted to snatch her. She had been adamant about not wanting to be flown home by anyone in a suit, a wing pack or cape. Natasha had readily agreed with her.

With Bucky's blessing, she had clamped his hand down and taken off from the warehouse with the warning that she shouldn't look back because he might not be the same. Thanks to Bucky, she had escaped Hydra before anyone on the quinjet could regain consciousness or Steve and Sam could make it to the crash site. She'd called Steve's phone and Sam had picked up, happy but not entirely surprised that she had been a mostly self-rescuing princess. She would tell them about Bucky face to face.

She was _desperate_ to find Steve.

For so very many reasons, now.

Her hand went to the small bump of her abdomen. She had thought it was just a well earned food belly. She was nearly four months pregnant. With Captain America's baby. And she had just trapped her baby daddy's best bud in a warehouse and her former employer/not biological father figure was about to start some serious shit with her baby daddy and everything had just gone tits up.

She rubbed at the swell of the baby and shook her head. Not completely tits up. Steve loved her. She loved him. She was going to have Steve's baby. They were going to make a  _ family  _ together. Her head swam with visions of a tiny golden haired baby playing around with Uncle Bucky and Aunt Nat and Uncle Sam. HA! Uncle Sam and Baby America. For that alone she'd move heaven and earth for everything to come out right in the end.

It would be okay.

_ It had to be _ .

“Miss Lewis.”

“CHEESE AND RICE ON A CRACKER!” Darcy squealed, jumping in her place. She turned to see the maroon skinned poet that was Vision descend from the sky next to her. “Hey buddy. Give me a second to get my heart back into my chest.”

“Are you alright?” Vision questioned. He looked her over very carefully and said, “I detect no medical abnormalities with your fetus, Miss Lewis....”

  
  


“SHUT YOUR CAKE HOLE!” Darcy yelled.

“Is fetus too clinical? I could tell you the sex and if you have a name chosen, I would be happy to call the fetus by name,” Vision dropped his eyes to her abdomen using what she _assumed_ was ultrasound vision. “It is a ---”

“VISION! NO BAD VISION!” Darcy yelled again, this time reaching up and clamping her hands over his mouth. “I don't want to know right now and I haven't told Steve yet so you will not peep a word of this to him. Or anyone. Understood?”

Vision nodded. He wrapped his arms around Darcy in a hug-like gesture and mumbled,

“Yormfohopmpmphs andhome enfeis.”

  
  


Darcy took her hand off of Vision's mouth and gestured for him to repeat whatever he had said.

“The Captain is most worried about you, we had to physically restrain him from going out to retrieve you. I'm to take you back with me immediately.”

“Up up and away, fly boy. Go as quick as the _secret_ baby will let you.”

* * *

“Darcy!' Steve breathed, his body sagging suddenly as relief hit him like the largest most super solider effective dose of morphine in the world. She had called from a payphone a few hours out and told them she was on her way back to the facility and would explain everything. The entire team had raced to meet her there. He hadn't been able to unclench until he saw her in the flesh. Until he could reach out and touch her.

He felt himself go boneless as Vision walked her into the mission control room at the top of the facility. Hot tears of relief began prickling at his eyes as she walked slowly towards him, looking uncertain and unsure and definitely afraid. He wanted to kiss the look right off of her face.

“If you don't go to her right now, I will make you pay,” Natasha mumbled from behind him.

He didn't need to be told twice. He rushed towards her then, the relief only growing when he realized that for the first time ever she wasn't running away from him or even standing in place, but walking  _ towards  _ him _ ,  _ even going so far as to pick up her pace. She smiled at him warmly as he scooped her up and put her in a bone crushing hug.

“I love you, Darcy,” Steve murmured in her ear, squeezing extra hard to convey the truth in that declaration.

“Captain Rogers, no,” Vision said suddenly, his eyes darting all over Darcy's body in the closest approximation that Vision had to panic. “Please release Miss Lewis.”

“It's okay, I'm okay, I love you too,” Darcy squeaked, barely able to breath under Steve's strength but doing her best to attempt squeezing him back. She felt the muscles that he had her bound against give a jump at her words. Suddenly she felt his lips on her cheek, on her jaw, in the crook of her neck, moving upwards to rest firmly against her own lips.

“I have to insist that you release her,” Vision said resolutely. He looked to Wanda who was smiling at the scene with wide happy eyes. He shook his head at the Scarlet Witch and some kind of information flittered between them, not through expression, but through thought.

Wanda understood and her eyes widened into the size of saucers. She rushed forward and pulled at Darcy desperately, yanking her from Steve's arms.

“I'm happy you're okay,” Wanda smiled at her, hugging her much more gently than Steve had been. She looked over Darcy's head to Vision and he nodded at her in consent. “How are you free so quickly? I did not doubt you could do it, but I thought we would get to you first”

“It was Bucky...he rescued me from them,” Darcy revealed, pulling away from Wanda and looking back at Steve warily. The previously elated, relieved man was overtaken with shock. Total and complete shock arrested his handsome features. She squeezed Steve's hand and knew she had to get him out of there as soon as possible. There was no time for any announcements or private conversations there. “He saved me but he sent me away because _being_ Bucky was taking its toll. He wants to be brought in. He needs help. Sam, give me your phone, I'll plug in the coordinates and you can get Steve there right away.”

“Miss Lewis,” Vision tried to interject, his eyes scanning her body in analysis. He looked to Natasha for help and she turned to the window and looked up to the night sky, mumbling something under her breath.

“You guys should leave right away. I'm fine, but I'm going to medical just to be sure,” Darcy insisted giving Vision a stern look.

“Darcy, I don't want to leave you, I---I want to make sure you're okay,” Steve managed to stutter out. He was overwhelmed to say the least. Darcy was safe and Bucky was coming home. His every happiness was suddenly within reach. He reached for her and let his hand cup her cheek gently, “I love you, Doll.”

“ I'm fine!” Darcy sniffled. “I love you too, but I'm worried about Bucky. He could hurt himself trying to get out of there, or Hydra could come back and get him, Oh-god, I didn't even think about that. You have to go.  _ ** NOW. ** _ ”

A crack of lightning and thunder echoed around the control room and Darcy looked to the door with wide, scared eyes.

Thor was not just the God of Thunder. She  _ knew  _ that.

“Lady Darcy! It is good to have you back, I returned from Asgard to help secure your safet---”

He stopped in his tracks, sniffing the air and looking at Darcy with wide, shocked blue eyes.

The God of Thunder and  _ Fertility  _ could sense when someone had a bun in their oven. Especially one that was nearly four months baked.

He opened his hand, calling out for his hammer and as he felt it speeding towards him from where ever he had carelessly tossed it last, he turned his gaze away from Darcy straight to Steve.

Thor's happiness had blended into shock and concern and was now slowly morphing into pure, unadulterated rage.

“How dare you Steven! I trusted her to you. You were supposed to care for my lightning sister!”

“What? I didn't---she was taken from us, but she's okay,” Steve shook his head in confusion. He looked down at Darcy in renewed concern and whispered, “You're okay, right, Doll?”

“You will pay for this slight upon her honor,” Thor intoned gravely.

“You gave us magic meade, you were fine with---”Steve disputed, in a complete tailspin as he tried to keep up with Thor's righteous anger. 

“THOR, NO!” Darcy looked to her Asgardian brother with what he would understand were her crazy eyes. He had once lost a chunk of his hair after ignoring her crazy eyes once before.

“OH HELL NO,” Natasha's whisper was quiet, but the tone of her voice, the deadly ring in it had everyone, including Thor, turn wary eyes her way.

So big sister had figured it out. Darcy furrowed her brow at Natasha. She was sure the Black Widow had known...long before she had.

Darcy winced as she managed to muster a look of apology for Natasha.  She would certainly be hearing a rather long and lengthy lecture about proper birth control from Natasha in the near future. Not that it mattered. She HAD been on birth control. Steve's super sperm karate chopped it and laughed as it zoomed on by cackling wildly on their way to the party in her uterus.

But right now, she was sort of worried about her baby daddy's well-being.

“I'll kill you for this, Rogers, I swear it,” Natasha murmured, taking one step closer to him.

Steve's eyes darted for his shield. He didn't know what was going on, but he did know that Natasha was being honest. She was going to kill him.

“What's going on in here?” Rhodey demanded, walking into the control room after ridding himself of his suit. He smiled at Darcy and said, “Tony has a tracker for you waiting in Manhattan. Whenever you want, I'll fly you down and we can get it done.”

“ OH fuck my life sideways with a side iron,” Darcy looked up to the sky, wishing for an alien invasion or an apocalypse. All this fiasco needed was good ole  _ mom  _ and  _ dad  _ getting into the mix.

“Machine of War, you have accepted Darcy into your own family, have you not?” Thor demanded.

“Of course,” Rhodey said slowly. “She's as much of my niece as Lila is.”

“Then stand by my side whilst we confront the Captain on his mistreatment of our Lady Darcy,” Thor nodded. Mjolnir crashed into his palm, and he flipped the hammer menacingly, “She is with child and yet Steven has done nothing to secure her or the babe's comfort and safety in the last four months.”

“THOR!” Darcy shrieked at him. “NOW IS NOT THE TIME! HE HAS TO GO TO BUCKY!”

She turned around and looked to Steve in concern. Poor Steve who in the space of ten minutes, had just regained his kidnapped girlfriend, his best friend back from the dead/Russian Assassin Summer Camp from Hell, and now an unborn super spawn was thrown into the mix. His eyes were wide and glazed over as he processed it all. He actually looked to be catatonic.  Darcy looked to Sam expectantly and demanded. “TAKE HIM TO GET BUCKY.”

“Does he know? Is that why he sent you away alone?” Steve whispered, looking to her for answers, still in that glazed over processing period.

Darcy nodded. Bucky had known right away. Apparently, even Natasha hadn't been observant enough to see the small bump.

Steve blew out a deep breath and shook his head, his hand raking through his hair as he stared down at her with a small, sheepish smile.

“If it's all the same to you, Doll, I'll stay here and take my licks from Thor....and Nat...and Rhodey and whoever else wants in,” Steve said quietly. His look displayed true and real fear as he admitted, “Never mind the Winter Solider, Bucky's gonna kill me for touching a dame like you without a ring on your finger. Getting you into trouble like this? I'm a dead man.”

“He said as much,” Darcy mumbled. She giggled. And then giggled some more. And couldn't stop as the giggles became hysterical.

“Miss Lewis, I must insist we go to the med bay,” Vision said insistently. Darcy's blood pressure was too high for his liking.

“Is she okay? What's wrong?” Steve demanded desperately of Vision. He looked down at Darcy and dropped to his knees, his hands framing her stomach, pushing her shirt up slightly. His eyebrows shot up into his hairline as his fingers pressed against her firm skin there, the hard swell of a small belly that had definitely grown since the last time he had placed his hands there. “You okay, little guy?”

Natasha hissed in annoyance.

“Or gal?” Steve amended quickly.

“I can tell with 95% certainty that it is a---”

“SHUT IT!” Natasha barked out. She watched with a blank face, hiding her pleased and happy emotions as Darcy looked down at Steve in clear adoration as he talked softly to her abdomen in between worshipful, chaste kisses on her skin.

“Everything is gonna be okay, Darcy, I promise. I love you,” he grinned up at her. He was having no trouble finding the words to speak now and it all came out in a rush, “I'll do whatever you say. I'll go, I'll go get Bucky and you go to the med bay, and we'll work it all out. I promise, I can't---I'm so sorry I got you in this situation, but I'll make it right, I swear. I love you.”

“Steve, it's not the 1940's anymore, don't get ahead of yourself,” Darcy laughed.

Thor grumbled and shared a look with Natasha. She nodded back at him.

“If you do not allow Steven to make reparations to you, Lady Darcy, I will be forced to exact revenge,” Thor promised menacingly.

“ We are going to have a talk about boundaries before you go off world again,  _ big brother _ ,” Darcy growled back at him. She turned back to Steve and pulled at his hands, pretending to lift him up.

Wanda squeaked next to her and pushed Steve to his feet herself with a blast of friendly energy.

“I love you. I'll be back, Darcy. I promise,” Steve promised again. He kissed her forehead. Then the tip of her nose. Then a kiss against her lips, lingering there for an extended moment, both of them oblivious to any and all reaction from the concerned parties surrounding them. “And then we're going to go shopping for a ring. I love you, Doll, and I'm going to make you my bride.”

Steve kissed her again, before grinning at her with a blinding brightness. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of telling her that he loved her. He could feel it like a balm to his soul every time he said it out loud. 

He turned to Sam who was beaming at the both of them proudly. Steve took off from the room and Darcy looked around with wide, terrified eyes.

“Did Captain America just ask me to be his bride?”

“Yup. He did indeed. Didn't even use a post-it note,” Sam laughed, getting a high five from her before following Steve as quickly as he could.

“And now, I delight in the spoils of victory with my shield sister,” Thor smiled. He looked at Natasha and said, “Shall we collect from the Man of Iron?”

“That we shall,” Nat grinned, looking very much like the cat who ate the canary. She confronted Darcy's accusatory look with a shrug and said, “Money will be switching hands. A grand sum of money. Thor and I had to make sure Steve proposed today, and this was the surest way, even if kidnapping and Barnes tried to fuck with our plans. Don't look at me like that. Others have done worse to win a round. Baby, I knew you were pregnant two days before your missed period.  Vision and I made sure you were healthy and safe until you figured it out.  Took you long enough.”

“And I kept careful watch over you from above, especially whilst you reunited with Steven's brother at arms,” Thor grinned at her. “All will be well, Lady Darcy.”

“Sneaky bastards,” Rhodey shook his head in amusement. He shrugged and said, “Worth it though. That betting pool is up pretty high. I'm still in for the next round though.”

“How high?” Darcy demanded of Natasha. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as Natasha walked up to her and gave her a gentle hug, comforting and loving.

“You and Natasha Junior should be expecting very luxurious baby shower gifts.”

* * *

_ September 16th, 2016 _

“You can tell Steve to shove his ice chips up his LILY WHITE ASS!”

“Can do, Miss Lewis. Straight up his lily white ass,” Nurse Turkleton nodded with a smirk. A year ago she had been tending to a battle damaged and nearly dead Captain America. This was a lot more satisfying of a story to brag about to her husband and his idiot best friend.

She marched to the door and smiled up at Captain America. “Please don't take this personally, Captain, its not that we don't appreciate the many times you've saved the world but it is my duty to inform you that you should shove your ice chips up your lily white ass.”

“ _Fine_ lily white ass,” Nurse Roberts chuckled from the nurse's station.

“If his is fine, what would you call mine, Miss Laverne?” Bucky asked coquettishly, walking up to stand next to a slack jawed Steve at the door to Darcy's room. He took the cup of ice chips from his best friend and smiled down winningly at the nurse blocking the door.

“ Sugar, you know you're about five steps above just  _ fine _ ,” Nurse Laverne flirted back cheekily. She watched him charm his way past Nurse Turkleton easily and the sixty-three year old grandmother of four fanned herself with a file folder. “Thank you, Jesus.”

Steve rolled his eyes and tried to look past Nurse Turkleton, who despite being more than a foot shorter than him was still impressively blocking him from the room.

“You've been banned, Captain,” she warned with a smile.

“I didn't mean to insult her! I just said her lipstick got smudged...”

“What'd the punk do?” Bucky demanded as he went to Darcy's bedside and smoothed her hair away from her face with the cool metal hand. A low chuckle on his lips when she let out a small thankful moan at the cool relief on her sweaty forehead. He took an ice chip from the cup and placed it against Darcy's bottom lip in a soothing gesture. She sighed and took it from him, biting down as obnoxiously as possible. He glared back at Steve and huffed, “Aside from making his own damn kid a bastard!”

“She has to say yes first.  And there wasn't time----you know we had a damned _incident_ this spring,” Steve glared back at his friend.

“Well I got the time,” Bucky shrugged.

He had worked very hard throughout the rest of Darcy's pregnancy. He poignantly and repeatedly reminded Steve that although his poor baby was going to be a bastard, he or she would have a damned fine Uncle Bucky. It had been painful, torturous work, but the conditioning was completely broken and his personality integration was as complete as it was ever going to get. He grinned down at Darcy and said, “How's about it, doll? Can I make an honest woman out of you before you bring this idiot's baby into the world?”

“YES, I will take you as my bride,” Darcy nodded before scrunching her face as another contraction hit her hard.

Nurse Turkleton looked at her watch and nodded, “I'm calling Dr. Reid. She's on call and you're ready to start pushing.”

“STEVEN DIEGO ROGERS GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!” Darcy howled.

“Yes, General Lewis,” Steve nodded as he _flew_ to her side. He looked down at her and then back up at Bucky then back down at her in lost confusion. “What do I do?”

“Let me break all the bones in your hand,” Darcy growled at him.

“ He's got a metal hand, you can't break  _ that _ . If he's proposing he should get the broken bones,” Steve glared at Bucky, mostly playful, only a little bit annoyed. He kissed Darcy's sweaty forehead, then the lipstick smudge on the side of her lips (that he wisely did not point out this time) and gave her his hand eagerly. “I love you, Doll.”

“Did you seriously just try to pawn off the mother of your child to a former Russian Assassin?” Natasha asked from the door. “Because between Barnes and I, I think we could make Darcy _very_ happy.”

“Honey!” Darcy cooed as the contraction left her. She held out her arms and whimpered pitifully. “You made it back in time. Steve won't let me have drugs!”

Steve wordlessly objected. Darcy had been adamant that she had wanted a natural birth every single moment of the pregnancy. Until the labor actually started.

He had offered ZERO opinion on the matter as he was not the one that had to go through the actual pain. He hated seeing her hurting though, so he kind of wished he had told her the drugs would be a good thing. He kind of wanted to get all the geniuses in his life on the phone and tell them to consult their science in order to make this process painfree for the mother of his child.

“You should leave him for us, we love you too,” Barnes laughed as he stepped away and allowed Natasha to lean down and hug a spent and tired Darcy. “Ex Russian Assassins are where it's at, Darceline.”

“You're hilarious,” Steve rolled his eyes, still inwardly pleased that his best friend was doing so well as to be able to torture him ruthlessly.

“Darceline?!?!?!”

“LILA!” Darcy squealed and clapped from her bed.

Rhodey came striding in with a starkpad, Lila Rhodes' face grinning at the room. Rhodey pushed Steve out of the way so that Lila could be closer. The sound of thunder rumbled through the room, and they knew Thor and Jane were getting close. Sam waved at him happily from the door where he flirted with a  _ married  _ Nurse Turkleton. Maria Hill hit him on the back of his head for his troubles. Sam knew that he'd rather have it that way than the way it was a year ago.

And Steve chuckled as Darcy's room began to fill up with family and friends all eager to comfort her. Physical reassurances that all of her insecurities and fears were phantom and defeatable.

They had talked a lot about her fears in the last few months after the fiasco with the Accords had died down. They prepared for the arrival of the baby everyday, talked about what had sent her running away back in January and why he had run away after meeting her. How he was terrified of how hard and fast he had fallen for her. How she didn't think she deserved all of the happiness that she had worked so hard for all of her life.

Bucky liked to pick on him, but Steve had asked her to marry him twice a day, every day. At the very least.  His record had been asking her fifteen times one day that summer.  He kept asking,  if only to keep telling her that she was important and well loved and so very much  _ needed  _ at his side.

She'd hinted at having a Meade-less New Year's wedding, and he had already started working on little plans for it.

Darcy cried out as another contraction hit her.

Steve panicked silently as everyone in the room panicked  _ audibly _ .

Natasha reached for her guns, intent on finding drugs for Darcy. Lila started shouting through the Stark pad, barking confusing instructions to Rhodey about how they had planned for this when they were teenagers and she needed a few tons of chrome to start building immediately. Vision and Wanda had  _ flown  _ to watch outside of Darcy's window, and it appeared they were jointly reading poetry that Vision had written to mark the occasion. Barton was in the vents, shouting down helpful advice from his own wife who was on the other end of the phone he held to his ear.

And in the distance, he could hear Iron Man's repulsors approaching the building.

“ENOUGH!”

The barking shout reverberated off of the walls and everyone turned to the door to see the source of the command.

“PIRATE LEATHER BOOTY!” Darcy applauded as she recovered from the contraction. “Welcome to the party! Refreshments and snacks will be served shortly.”

“ Had to see if my work paid off,” Fury shrugged. He gestured to the door. “Everyone but Rogers and Natasha,  _ out _ .”

The assembled crew did as they were told and Fury watched them sternly.

“Miss Lewis, I know that the distinction is honorary at this point, but I thought I'd let you know that if you happened to be married to a high ranking member of the Avengers, your security level will automatically increase,” Fury said nonchalantly.

“Do you have money on New Year's Eve? Will it be enough for all the velvet you can stand?” Darcy wondered.

“That'll do nicely, it's much appreciated, just get it done before 2017,” Fury nodded as he stepped out of the room.

Dr. Reid arrived in a flurry of action and got to work on delivering Baby America.

It went as well as it could. There was a lot of pain for Darcy and a lot of tears from Steve and Natasha. Two hours later, Steve stumbled into the waiting room and looked at them all with a hazed expression of contentment and joy and love.

“Well?” Bucky demanded. “Spit it out, punk.”

“Joseph Roman Rogers would very much like to meet you all.”

Steve tried to be surprised when money began exchanging hands around the room. Most of it coming from a mildly peeved Natasha and being redistributed to other members of their family. He just couldn't quite manage it though.

The Black Widow glared at him shrewdly before shrugging, and giving him a strong hug. She whispered into his ear, “If I don't get a  _ niece  _ next time, there will be a lot of hell to pay.

* * *

_ December 31st,2016 _

Bucky and Natasha had fought for _weeks_ about who would get to hold baby Joey at the altar. Bucky would be by Steve's side and Natasha would of course be next to Darcy. The Avengers Facility became a war zone between the two Russian assassins. Darcy had declared it even more awful then the minor skirmish Steve had gone through with Tony back in April.

Steve didn't quite support her on that thought, but he was wise enough not to contradict her out loud.

Fury played mediator and given his part in the actual matchmaking, it was agreed that Sam would hold the baby in the Stark designed ergonomic baby sling while he stood next to Bucky.

Joey was a very spoiled little man, and very alert and engaged for a three month old. With all of his _aunts and uncles_ around, he never went without being held and rocked and cuddled.

Vision had declared him perfectly healthy at his own regularly scheduled checkups and was pleased to inform them that the chubby, golden haired, blue eyed baby boy had inherited none of Steve Roger's previous ailments.

However, he could not say for certain whether the child had been changed by the serum. They were waiting for Bruce to return again to have more conclusive tests done.

Darcy was sure that the baby at least had a super metabolism. Not only had she kept on pace with Steve's appetite through the duration of the pregnancy, but she was valiantly trying to keep up her calories enough to nurse the ravenous baby. Steve's earlier offer of chocolates three times a day had come to fruition.  Bucky had helpfully declared that his nephew took after his uncle and was a boob man and that's why he needed to be nursed so often.

  
  


They had to stop the wedding _twice_ in order for her to feed the greedy, always hungry, fat baby.

“If you need a hand there, little hot Mama, you just let me know,” Bucky called out helpfully as Darcy finished up behind the makeshift altar. He winked at Darcy cheekily as she made her way back.

“Now I know why you destroyed Hydra before you came home,” Steve muttered. “There's no where for me to take you back to now.”

“You're stuck with me, punk.”

“ My punk,” Darcy said possessively, strapping her son back into Sam's baby carrier on his front. She placed a kiss on Joey's little mouth and rejoined Steve in front of the minister. She gave the minister double finger guns with requisite  _ pew pew  _ sounds and encouraged, “On with the show Your Priesthoodship.”

“Wait---I just wanted to say a few words---”

“Sit down, Tony!” Natasha growled at him. She gave a death glare towards the minister and ordered, “Go on.”

Tony grumbled in his seat as he watched more of his money go down the drain. If he could have just gotten them to marry in 2017 instead of 2016, he would have saved a few zeroes. Who knew the Captain was such a speedy mover? This whole fiasco was ruining Tony's bank account and redistributing his wealth to his friends and teammates.

He went to interrupt again, but Thor cleared his throat and glared at him. Tony sat on his hands and watched as Darcy kissed her bride five minutes before midnight.

Thor approached Tony later and said, “I'm sorry, Stark, but there was nothing you could do to delay the inevitable. Darcy Lewis is well looked after and her happiness and safety are important to more than just you or I.”

“Say what now?”

“Surely you know this was not all coincidence. Yes, Darcy's mother was a valiant warrior for your planet. She has earned her place in Valhalla. But there are many others in Darcy's ancestors who have spots in Valhalla. Her great-grandfather was Colonel Phillips. Favors in Valhalla are given to the worthy...both Darcy's kin and Steven's. Darcy's fate was secured as well as Steven's. The norns have worked to assure this happiness.”

  
  


“Well I'll be damned. I was screwed out of the money either way.” 

Sam watched as Steve and Darcy were legally wedded proper and sharing their first dance at the reception. Uncle Sam grinned down at Baby America as he grasped Sam's thumbs with what could only be described as infant super strength. He placed a kiss on the top of his downy golden head and said,

“Two anchors should be good for now. My money is on you having someone to play with in two years, tops. You and your mama will hold him down tight in the meantime, little man,” Sam laughed when Joey squeezed his thumbs with real effective force. “Captain America is going to make it through just fine, after all.”

* * *

* * *

**The End**

  
  


  
  


 


	6. Property of Darcy Lewis (One shots)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary:
> 
> Prompt fills and short(er) one shots. Main pairing will be Darcy/Steve (a wild Darcy/Bucky may appear at a later date). Never serious, always silly.

 

 

 

Chapter 1: The Great Prank War of 2014 (Steve/Darcy)

 

* * *

* * *

** The Great Prank War of 2014 **

“Can you tell us about your avengin'? We're old enough to hear the good stuff now. Tell us about Captain America! Or the Hulk!”

Clint Barton looked at the assembled children, his eyes shrewd and suddenly old with knowledge and experience.

“Rugrats, I will tell you true, even the fun was full of sniping and fighting,” Clint heaved a dramatic sigh and said, “I've never told you about the Great Prank War of 2014”

“Pranks sound fun. We're practically grown ups now! Give us a real story.”

“ You don't get it, you're kids. Some people would say... _ so it was just a prank war _ . And to that I say, you weren't there,” Clint shook his head, his lips turned down in a frown, his steely blue eyes glinting with memories of the past. He whispered to himself dramatically, “You weren't  _ there. _ ”

* * *

*Avenger's Tower, New York City, 2014*

The tide of the war was changing. He knew that. His next move was pivotal. He needed the loyalty of his men.

He looked to his assembled troops and cleared his throat.

“Great, its time for the motivational speech,” Barton sighed. “I missed his last motivational speech.”

“He's doing a motivational speech again?” Sam Wilson demanded as he walked into the room. He looked to Captain America with hope in his eyes and demanded anxiously, “Please start from the top, you know it makes me sad when I miss your motivational speeches.”

Steve Rogers rolled his eyes at his friend and looked back at his assembled troops plus Wilson.

“It has been three months since this war started,” Steve began. “Three months of hard work, righteous victory and the occasional bitter defeat.”

  
  


“Occasional?” Sam scoffed.

“ He's forgetting the time the enemy turned all of his uniforms into footsie pajamas,” Bruce chuckled from his place on one of the couches. He didn't consider himself to be one of Steve's troops, even if Steve  _ did _ . He just took a lot of amusement from the entire prank war fiasco.

“He was _adorable_ in those,” Tony mock-glared at Bruce. “You and your wicked green alter ego wish you could pull off footsie pajamas.”

“What about the time the enemy took a Times Square billboard out and it flipped between REALLY unflattering pictures of you yawning and stuffing your face,” Sam pondered. “Good Morning America did a poll and your popularity amongst the 25-35 year old demographic plummeted.”

“I remember,” Steve nodded. He hadn't minded that so much. It meant less crazed stalkers shouting things at him on the streets. That was a relief. He glared at Sam anyway and said, “I still wonder how the enemy got so many private pictures of me...”

“Are you calling me a traitor, Captain?” Sam raised a dubious brow at his friend.

“I didn't say it,” Steve shook his head. “Don't have to if I have proof.”

He threw a packet of pictures Sam's way and there in black and white was Sam shoving his face with freshly baked cookies. Cookies provided by the enemy.

“Look, traitor or no, just throw the towel in Cap,” Barton sighed. He gestured to the room. “Look around, you've lost Wilson, now you only have me and Stark. And Bruce who just stands and watches and laughs. And to be honest, I'm thinking that's a good idea.”

“Hey now, I watch from the other side too,” Bruce held up his hands with a sly grin. “I'm an equal opportunity observer.”

Steve clenched his jaw and shook his head. Losing was not an option. It had never been an option for Steven Grant Rogers. He had been called out three months ago, and to hell if he wouldn't fight back.

He's not entirely certain how he got into a prank war with Darcy Lewis but damn it, he is NOT going to lose.

“Cap, Darcy's got you beat,” Sam sighed. “She's painted your toenails once a week for the last three months and you're not only still sleeping through it, but now she's managing to do fancy shit because you're really fucking oblivious. Have you seen your toes dude? They are star spangled and covered in glitter.”

“This is just the shit she does to you under her own power,” Barton nodded, agreeing with his bird brethren. “She hasn't even delved into the resources of her troops. Nat, Thor, Jane _fucking_ Foster AND Fury. Those are just her generals. She has like---a legion that have pledged their loyalty.”

“She hasn't even asked them for help yet Cap,” Sam shook his head. “I mean, she covered your shield in Disney Princess stickers.”

“I like those,” Tony shrugged.

“She filled your bathroom with eight tons of cotton balls while you were in the shower,” Clint reminded his fearless leader.

“Comfy way to go,” Tony nodded.

“There hasn't been a day that's gone by without her managing to get a kick me sign on your back---or worse, some of the stuff is ridiculously creative and perverse,” Sam sighed in defeat.

“ I liked the one that said  _ Ask me about my Sperm Donation history _ ,” Tony grinned.

“Cap, you're toast,” Bruce sighed. “Just admit defeat.”

Steve picked up his (sticker covered) shield and reached for his weapon. He set his shoulders and shook his head slowly. He walked out of the room, leaving the deserters behind. He'd end this now.

_ Steve Rogers never could back down from a fight  _ .

“What'd the sign say, today?” Bruce wondered.

“ _ My butt is numb, slap it so I can regain feeling _ ,” Sam replied, laughing uproariously. “Poor Cap.”

* * *

“Here to throw in the towel already, Steven?  I'm just getting warmed up.  You don't leave a girl hanging when she's midway through her foreplay.”

Darcy Lewis looked up from her desk in the labs with a raised eyebrow and a smirk that could have leveled lesser men.

Steve brought the weapon he hid behind his shield and fired mercilessly.

Darcy squealed in shock as cold water hit her from the Stark-modified super soaker. She was drenched in less than ten seconds. She sputtered up at him and demanded,

“Where's the finesse in that prank? You get NO POINTS and you are going to pay for this!”

Steve swallowed as the water rendered Darcy's white blouse useless as it went see through and plastered against a pale pink bra that barely did its job at restraining her chest. He walked forward and threw his shield down on the ground and put the gun on Darcy's desk.

“I'm surrendering.”

Darcy furrowed her brow and looked up at him with a pout. She had declared Captain America her prank bitch three months ago when she realized he was going to wind up killing himself by running himself into the ground in search of Bucky or be completely rendered useless by depression and guilt. Pranking him was infinitely fun than watching that happen.  From the mundane (duct-taping him into his apartment) to the complex (Ghost-writing a fake auto-biography claiming that he was sexually attracted to paper straws exclusively).

Sure, she was having fun, but it had been about  _ him  _ . Giving him something fun to do instead of the usual Captain America routine of guilt, sacrifice and patriotism.

“Steve Rogers never surrenders,” she disputed quietly.

“I have never faced an enemy as formidable as Darcy Lewis before,” Steve murmured, his eyes fighting to stay on her face and not on her soaked shirt and the wet, cold holy land that was her chest. “I'd like to request your assistance.”

“I'm listening,” Darcy nodded.

“My troops defected, Lewis,” Steve admitted. “Turned tail, ran, betrayed me, they mocked me and they all gave up. I'd like some revenge.”

“I can help with that,” Darcy smiled.

“And I'd like some dinner. With you,” Steve forged ahead bravely. “For planning of course.”

“Of course.”

“And perhaps a little---ah screw it,” Steve reached for her and pulled her out of her seat, bent his body over her desk and smashed his mouth against hers with inexpert enthusiasm.

Darcy giggled against his lips and pulled away, “We're going to work on your finesse, soldier. In all things kissing related and prank related.”

“I'm a fast learner.”

* * *

“Once they had joined forces, there was no hope for any of us. They didn't care who they lay siege to. The pranks were brutal. Unforgiving. Relentless. To this day, the echoes of their laughter ring in my ears.”

“Is Bird boy waxing philosophical about 2014 again?” Natasha demanded as she walked into the childrens hospital lounge where some of the kids in better health were assembled at his feet. “It's been nearly two years, get over it.”

“Yeah, get over it, bird boy!” Darcy glared at him from the doorway, clutching Steve's hand. “Or I'll have to give you something else to talk about.”

Steve smirked and waved before he and Darcy turned, moving on to the next room to continue the visit. Clint laughed at the sign on Steve's back.

_ Property of Darcy Lewis. Supreme Prank Leader of the Universe. _

* * *

* * *

Prompt taken from nessimore's "He's not entirely certain how he got into a prank war with Darcy Lewis but damn it, he is NOT going to lose."  I hope they like it!

* * *

** Chapter Two:  ** ** The Avengers' OTP **

Steve had only been in Avengers Tower for a few months after the Chitauri invasion when he noticed that Natasha would hum a song whenever he was around.

It was a nice song, don't get him wrong.

But it was the same song every time.

One day, Barton caught on. And started adding words.

“ _ Hands touchin' hands...reachin' out...touchin' me....touchin' you!!” _ Clint crowed one day.

After the first five times the duo sang the song every time he was around, he was more than curious. They had even managed to include Pepper and Tony last time and they had all sang the lyrics together until he left, bewildered and even more curious. He needed to know the song and why they were singing it whenever he entered a room. It was getting stuck in his head.

_ Sweet Caroline...good times never seemed so good... _

So Steve went to the only person he knew would help him and not make fun of him. He sought her out a lot in the last few weeks. She never said no and she was always kind---well, kind in her own unique way.

“Mon Capitaine, what it be like son?” Darcy Lewis grinned as he entered the kitchen where she was working away at some baking project.

“It smells nice in here, Darcy,” Steve beamed his 1,000 watt smile her way.

She smirked back at him and slapped at his hand when he went for a brownie, “You don't want to do that, Rogers. They're _special_ .”

“I don't understand,” Steve shook his head. His eyes got wide and he whispered, “Are they muggles---marijuana brownies, Darcy? Because that doesn't seem like something you should do.”

“Oh Rogers, you're such a little perfect shit,” Darcy chuckled. “No, they don't have marijuana in them. That never works the way you want it to. They do contain a healthy amount of industrial strength laxative though. I thought Stark and Barton needed to be reminded who is the number one original badass around here. This'll learn them not to take my grape nerds.”

Steve flushed slightly and shook his head in mild admonishment. He wanted to lecture her on using her powers for good instead of evil, but she would just laugh at him and slap at his ass on the way out. They had already done that dance a half dozen times.

He squared his shoulders and got right to the point, no sense in beating around the bush.

“I need your help with music. The others keep singing this song when I'm around and I want to know what its about,” Steve explained. “I thought you would be my best bet.”

“Shit, Rogers, I offered to help you with music and pop culture crap weeks ago,” Darcy rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but give Steve a fond smile. “What song is it?”

“ I think it's called  _ Sweet Caroline _ ?” Steve nodded. “Stark even started calling me Caroline. I'm not overly fond of it.”

“Wait—what the fuck?” Darcy demanded, her eyes flashing with anger. Her lips set in a grim line and her jaw was suddenly set with frustration. “I'll kill all of those fuckers.”

“I don't understand,” Steve shook his head with wide eyes. Darcy usually went from jovial to angry in a very short amount of time, but he had never seen her go so quickly from happy and joking to spitfire angry. He swallowed dryly. He really found her anger very appealing when it came down to it. “Should I be offended?”

“No, Rogers,” Darcy sighed. “Its just...complicated. Look...shit. Fuck. Alright, I'm going to go give those douche nozzles their special assplosion brownies, and then you and I are going to order eighteen fucking pizzas with every meat under the sun and we are going to marathon watch a show which is no longer cool so you can be in on the joke.”

“Even bacon? Darcy, your nana was really upset the last time you went non-kosher,” Steve reminded her helpfully.

“Fuck that noise, I need bacon to make it through this shit fest,” Darcy grumbled. She grabbed the plate of brownies and stalked off, stopping abruptly in the doorway and throwing over her shoulder, “It's not you, Rogers, that's making me upset. Just so you know.”

“Alright,” Steve said quietly. He watched her stalk off and went about ordering Darcy's bacon covered pizzas.

She returned with an air of cocky triumph about her and an empty tray.

“I see you were successful in your pranking endeavors,” Steve smiled.

“I'm the number one original badass, Rogers. And don't you ever forget it,” Darcy grinned toothily. She grabbed a whole box of pizza that had been delivered and walked over to the couch. “I'm about to show you something that I'm not proud of. I mean, it started out as something me and Barton would watch in New Mexico. One of those fucking...guilty pleasure things.”

“Like a guilty pleasure like watching the Mighty Ducks movies last weekend?” Steve smiled knowingly.

“Shit, Rogers, you swore yourself to secrecy. Don't speak of it, you damn well know that the walls have ears here!”

Steve started demolishing pizza in lieu of teasing Darcy more. He could tease Darcy for the rest of his life, but the pizza would eventually get cold, so that needed to take priority. She messed with the remote and brought up Netflix.

“So the thing is, its a guilty pleasure, but Clint and I aren't the only ones. At one point in time all the Avengers 'cept you had some downtime where they got jacked the fuck up and injured and shit. So don't let them give you one tiny piece of shit about watching this now, because they _all_ watched it. Else they wouldn't be singing that song.”

“Okay, I understand, Darcy. Thanks for explaining so thoroughly,” Steve smiled after he swallowed a large bite of pizza.

“The show has a shit ton of pop culture references and a wide range of music from the last fifty or sixty years, so I should have made you watch it proper a while ago, but you know---Chitauri invasion and Norway and fuck all else,” Darcy sighed, pulling up the show. “It's called Glee. We're going to watch the first twelve episodes. If you want to go past that, we will selectively watch important songs and fun scenes, but not very may full episodes.”

Steve nodded and turned back to the screen. The show was fun. He didn't get everything, so he pulled out his moleskin book and began taking some notes as they continued to plow through episode after episode.

Natasha slunk in around episode four and plopped herself next to Darcy, wrapping an arm around the younger girl and squeezing.

“You totally gave me lady wood with the brownie scam. I've never laughed so hard to see Tony Stark trying to get out of the suit before his ass could explode in it,” Natasha beamed at Darcy proudly. “That's why you're my boo.”

“I'm legit awesome sauce,” Darcy nodded. She threw a self-assured grin Steve's way and pointed him back to the show.

Steve was enraptured with the silly show. He wasn't paying much attention to the girls' reactions as he kept taking notes, pizza long forgotten. He didn't even notice when Pepper joined them, followed by a livid Tony and Barton. He did notice those two idiots kept leaving for the bathroom.

Finally in episode 8, Steve heard the song. Well first he saw the cocky mohawk guy, Puck making out with the straight-laced Rachel Berry and he perked right up, watching the scene intently. He vaguely heard Natasha high-fiving Pepper in the background as he sat forward, forgetting his notes as he watched the episode play out.

_ Where it began..I can't begin to knowin'...but then I know its going strong. _

Steve grabbed the remote at some point and paused it right before the break up scene. He looked to his gathered friends and asked, “Do they break up? Do I want to see that? I think I want to stop now, please.”

“PUCKLEBERRY FOR LIFE!” Pepper crowed.

“ONE OF US! ONE OF US!” Barton chanted happily. He stopped suddenly, let out a silent curse and ran to the bathroom. “Don't unpause it until I'm back! Then we're watching Bad reputation!”

“But...you all sing the song when I come into the room,” Steve furrowed his brow. He looked at Natasha suspiciously and worked through his thought process. “You think I'm Sweet Caroline...or, Rachel Berry?”

Natasha shrugged.

Darcy fidgeted between Natasha and Steve on the couch, her cheeks reddening, her mouth set in that angry line, jaw clenching in annoyance.

“Ohhhhhh,” Steve nodded. He got it quickly. He was Rachel Berry. And only one person in their social group of superheroes and superhero assistant's could fit the bill of the other half of the couple. “Puckleberry?”

“Its a portmanteau. Their names smashed together,” Pepper explained. “It's done commonly in popular culture.”

“Starcy...shockingshield...DevenLogers...Lewgers...Rogwis...shieldshock...shockandawe...American badass,” Tony muttered to himself in rapid fire succession, trying to work out the best combination of names. He winced and ran for the bathroom, “BARTON, CLEAR OUT!”

“Hold on, you're being really fucking calm about this, Rogers,” Darcy grumbled, looking at Captain America with no small amount of agitation. “I mean, your friends basically said you remind them of a god damned 15 year old head case of a girl with control issues.”

“Well, I'm a 96 year old head case of a man with control issues,” Steve shrugged easily. It made sense to him and that little Rachel Berry didn't seem so bad so far. “And I do use proper grammar. And manners. And I iron my clothes. Are _you_ offended?”

“By what, the fact that my friends have dubbed me the number one am-bad-ass-ador of the group?” Darcy scoffed. “Fucking, Duh. I am the badass. Natasha is my Santana.”

Steve's eyebrows hiked up his forehead adorably, causing Pepper and Natasha to coo and clap as they watched Darcy and Steve's conversation like it was a scene on the show.

“And the other implication?” Steve wondered.

“You're hot, I'd do you proper, Rogers,” Darcy leered at him, happy with the blush he got at her expression.

“PUCKLEBERRY LIVES!” Pepper clapped excitedly. “MY OTP!”

Natasha grinned and held a hand at the back of Darcy's head and reached out for Steve's. She pushed them together closer and demanded, “Now  _ kiss _ .”

* * *

* * *

Chapter 3: Daddy Dearest (Steve/Darcy)

Prompted from the brilliant  [ Keira_63 ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Keira_63/pseuds/Keira_63)

Set post Captain America Winter Soldier pre Ultron.

* * *

** Daddy Dearest **

“Lewis, if this works, I will buy you a car.”

“Awww, thanks Daddy. Can it be Italian and ridiculously fast?”

“Anything for my one true spawn.”

Steve dropped the tray of coffees he had brought up to Stark's lab. One black extra sugar (his), one thirty ounce cup full of espresso's (Tony's) and one extra large iced super chocolate frappucino with extra sugar sprinkles and cookie bits on top of a large mound of whipped cream (Guess whose?) fell to the floor, splattering his pants. He swallowed deeply and hid behind one of the non glass panels, watching Tony Stark and Darcy Lewis as Tony worked at something on his lab bench.

Darcy, sweet, snarky, silly Darcy was perched on a bar stool, her ubiquitous Stark Pad in her hand as she watched Tony work. Steve was a frequent visitor to Stark's lab on Wednesday afternoons. That was the afternoon Darcy devoted to working with Stark.

It had only taken Steve one chance encounter before he found himself visiting Stark's lab every Wednesday afternoon, usually with a tray of coffee and some other foodstuff. He liked watching her reactions to what he brought. Donuts were merely acceptable, candy was preferred so long as it was chocolate and not just pure sugar, but ice cream had been the biggest hit so far, with her squealing in excitement as she hugged at him and declared him her savior.

“I don't know how I feel about the Daddy thing, though,” Tony admitted, cutting into Steve's reverie.

“ Dad is too dull,” Darcy shook her head. “I would never call my biological father  _ dad _ , especially after meeting him 20 years after being an orphan.”

“Father?” Tony intoned in posh accent. He shivered. “No, not that.”

“Pops?” Darcy ventured.

“Huh...yeah. That'll do,” Tony nodded. He grinned at her and held his arms open. “Female progeny that came from my loins.”

“Ew....” Darcy rolled her eyes. “So, Pops, when is Stevie getting here? I'm feeling kind of peckish.”

“I don't know how I feel about that,” Tony said in annoyed tone. “Because if you're talking about food, we just had lunch. And if you're talking about something _else_ that's disgusting and no daughter of mine is going to be dating a 96 year old man.”

“You can't tell me what to do, Pops,” Darcy laughed. “I'm a grownup now and if you send me to my room, I'll just invite Stevie back with me.”

Steve choked on air and he saw Tony and Darcy's reflection in the window he had been using to spy on them look up in alarm. He took a breath and managed to poke his head around the corner and offered an awkward wave.

“Stevie!” Darcy squealed, hopping down off of the stool and rushing to him. She furrowed her brow as his posture stiffened and asked, “Where's my coffee? It's Wednesday, you always bring us coffee.”

“ I---I dropped it---,” Steve stuttered, looking at the  _ definite  _ stink eye that Tony was giving him. “I—I'm going to go get you more. Bye.”

Darcy and Tony watched as Steve darted away at full Captain America speed, an identical smirk playing on both of their mouths.

“Well daughter dearest, I don't think that could have gone better.”

* * *

Steve watched his teammates carefully that night at dinner, wondering if anyone else knew. Natasha always knew everything, so he wasn't surprised when she pulled him to the side before the take out could arrive.

“Heard that you learned some interesting news today, Cap,” Natasha raised a business like brow. “I'd appreciate if you kept it to yourself for now.”

“It's true...I mean, Darcy is Tony's daughter?” Steve whispered.

“Darcy never knew her father and her mother passed away when Darcy was six,” Natasha said softly.

Steve knew that, already, it was one of the things that had bonded them initially.

“She asked me a few weeks ago if I could help her find her father,” the spy revealed. “It only took me two days to get the blood work back saying Tony was her dad.”

“They've known about this for weeks?” Steve whispered. “They weren't going to tell us?”

“It's no one's business but their own,” Natasha disputed calmly. “Aside from the fact that it's personal, _family_ business, there's the fact that Darcy being a Stark makes her incredibly valuable to untold enemies. I know you're not overly fond of her, Cap, but do you want to put a bullet in the poor girl's head?”

The fact that it hadn't occurred to Steve that Darcy's life had just became exponentially more dangerous shocked him. He had been more concerned with how Stark was gong to take Captain America having less than wholesome intentions towards his daughter. The fact that Natasha, that probably all of their friends thought that Steve didn't care sent a stab of pain through him. Did _Darcy_ think that he didn't care? Would she fall victim to some enemy of Tony's thinking that he wasn't completely enchanted with her?

He felt his chest puff out slightly at the idea of anyone trying to hurt her. He'd never let that happen.

He was across the room to the kitchen island in three long strides and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She squeaked and dropped the take-out container, the contents spilling onto the tile floor.

“Awwww, buffalo wings, no.” Clint whined.

“Uhm, Stevie?”

“Nothing bad will ever happen to you, I promise,” Steve whispered in her ear. “You're my girl and I'll protect you always.”

“CAPSICLE! What the hell are you doing?” Tony demanded angrily. “Hands off of her!”

“ Uh oh, Daddy Stark is  _ pissed,”  _ Clint chuckled, bending in front of Darcy and scooping the wings back in the container. He sniffed and them and shrugged, popping one in his mouth.

Natasha, Darcy, Steve and Tony all looked to Clint in astonishment.

Clint rolled his eyes and gestured towards his hearing aid. “I can read lips, morons! I've told everyone already. We've known for days. Cap was the last to know.”

“Not the last to know,” Natasha disputed as Pepper Potts strode in to the kitchen.

“Hey, I said, hands off Rogers!” Tony yelled at Steve, who still had Darcy wrapped up in a cozy embrace.

“Shovel talk!” Clint grinned around a mouth full of floor wings. He smirked towards a befuddled Thor and a stunned Jane. “Why are you guys so serious? Cap is feeling up Tony's secret love child...this is like dinner and a show.”

“Bird brain!” Natasha hissed at him, jutting her chin towards Pepper, who was watching as Tony spluttered in front of Steve angrily.

“Woops,” Clint's eyes widened. He took another bite of wing and shrugged. Still dinner and a show.

“JARVIS, suit me up!” Tony ordered. “You're gonna learn a lesson not to touch my daughter, Rogers.”

“Absolutely not, cancel that Jarvis,” Pepper shook her head in exasperation. She grinned at Steve and patted Darcys head fondly.

“Pep, I don't think you get it,” Tony said in annoyance. “Cap is being---he's being untoward to Darcy and its not proper.”

“Tony, you gotta know that I would only want what's best for Darcy, I care about her, I—I like her a lot, a heckuva lot,” Steve promised earnestly, causing Darcy to preen in his embrace, beaming a 1,000 watt smile Natasha's way. “I'd like to date her, sir.”

“SIR?” Pepper laughed. “Steve, no need for honorifics, and there is no need for the two of you masterminds to continue with the charade.”

“What?” chewed up food fell out of Clint's mouth.

“ What is the  _ date _ ?” Pepper demanded.

“ April 1 st ,” Steve answered. He closed his eyes and shook his head in dismay. He was such a dope. Darcy turned in his arms and looked up at him with an impish grin. Her hands reached up for his shoulders and she let her fingers dance along his neck. “I'm such a putz.”

“ You're my putz now, though,” Darcy whispered back at him. “You already asked my  _ dad _ .”

“I am very confused,” Thor interrupted. “Barton told us that Darcy is the daughter of Stark.”

  
  
  


“ We were playing a prank,” Natasha smirked. She leveled a victorious quirk of her eyebrow Steve's way and said, “And  _ finally  _ getting Cap to go on a date.”

“So, Pep, you weren't even a little fooled?” Tony grumbled.

“ There's only room for one fool in our relationship, Tony. And you're  _ my  _ little fool.”

* * *

* * *

Thanks Keira!!  You're amazing!!!

 

Chapter 4: Five Minutes... (Steve/Darcy)

  
  


My lovely phoenix_173 tagged me on tumblr to do this five minute drabble.

Rules: Use five minutes, and only five minutes, to write a drabble. No re-reading, no editing.

Dammit, I really wanted to edit this.  But eh, I'll throw it up here for now.  : )

* * *

* * *

** Five Minutes **

“So you're going to seduce him?”

“Yes, God willing, I will seduce the ever loving crap out of him.”

“Oh my sweet summer child,” Natasha laughed at Darcy as the young girl watched Steve Rogers wander around the party with Sam Wilson. “You have no idea what you're up against.”

“Just because you couldn't find him a girlfriend doesn't mean that he is exempt from my charms,” Darcy wrinkled her nose at her friend.

“He is made of stone,” Natasha warned. “You won't be able to move him. Save yourself the trouble, Darcy. Save yourself the heartache. Do not attempt to seduce Steve Rogers.”

“It's like you don't even know me,” Darcy laughed. “Rule Number One of being friends with Darcy Lewis?”

“Never tell her she can't do something,” Bruce chuckled as he walked up to the bar. “What did you tell her she couldn't do?”

“Debauch Captain America,” Natasha shrugged.

“Oh god, this party just got so much more interesting,” Clint walked up and sat on top of the bar. “I would be willing to put 50 bucks that it takes her ten minutes to have him panting after her.”

“I'll take that bet,” Bruce shrugged. “I say it takes her a half-hour.”

“Are we betting money? What are we betting money on? Can I bet some money?” Tony wondered.

“We're laying odds on whether short and stacked can seduce our dear Captain,” Clint revealed.

“Never gonna happen, I'd be willing to lay the new Maserati on the line,” Tony shrugged.

“Ohhhh, this just got very interesting,” Darcy turned to Natasha with a wink. “I get the money and the car if I can do it in five minutes.”

“Oh lab monkey, my darling little lab monkey, I will pay off our student loans, give you the car, and give you a100% raise if you can make it happen in five minutes,” Tony laughed.

“And give her 12% of Stark Industries,” Natasha arched an eyebrow at Tony.

“Done.”

“Start the clock, Tasha,” Darcy straightened her shoulders and adjusted her cleavage. She stretched her neck from side to side as if she were getting ready to go into a boxing ring.

“And....go...”

She walked across the room, pushed Sam bodily away and launched herself at Steve, who stumbled in surprise for a second before his hands wrapped around her and secured her to him. Sam rolled his eyes and walked away.

Clint, Tony and Bruce watched in shocked silence, each jaw dropping one second after the other like a jaw dropping domino line. Natasha stood there looking very much like the cat that ate the canary as Steve threw Darcy over his shoulder and made his way out of the party area, intent on getting back to his quarters. Of course she knew that Darcy had been helping Sam and Steve search for Bucky for the last six months. And Darcy and Steve had been in a serious relationship for three of those months.

And because the Black Widow was an _excellent_ friend, no one else had found out but her and Sam.

And now they had a new Maserati, 150 bucks and 12% of Stark Industries stock to split amongst them.

“Good party, boys. See you later.”

* * *

* * *

Chapter 5: DIBS (Steve&Bucky&Sam/Darcy)

  
  


For [Shadows_of_Shemai](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadows_of_Shemai/pseuds/Shadows_of_Shemai) [llouque](http://archiveofourown.org/users/llouque/pseuds/llouque) [phoenix_173](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Eberrylee/pseuds/Eberrylee) [Eberrylee](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Eberrylee/pseuds/Eberrylee)

Who all wanted this out of a comment thread in my other story...

* * *

* * *

** Dibs **

Bucky Barnes strolled into Stark's party feeling better than he had in a long time. He, Steve and Sam had taken down one of the last remaining Hydra cells two days ago. Stark had upgraded his arm without making him want to rip the damn thing off and beat him over the head with it. And Tony, bless his so-called heart, was throwing a party.

The reason for the party was unclear.

It could have been something Stark referred to as thirsty Thursday.

It could have been because someone had published some sort of science thing that made them famous with other nerds.

It could have been because Stark just liked throwing ridiculous parties.

And the penthouse was currently one big ridiculous party.

“Man, I love this life,” Sam sighed, looking around the penthouse from the balcony. “There is so much pretty here. Like...so much damn pretty.”

“Yeah, I am looking pretty nice lately,” Bucky smirked at Sam.

“So modest too,” Steve rolled his eyes. “Let's just try to keep it just a little bit respectable tonight.”

“Define respectable,” Sam laughed.

“Well, I don't want any repeats of that time you did that thing in Colorado,” Steve arched an eyebrow at Sam.

“The time at the mountain lodge casino with that girl who did that thing with her lips?” Bucky wondered.

“No, that was Miami with the lips, Colorado was the twins,” Sam shook his head. His eyes took on a vague, misty look of memory. “Man, we should go visit Miami again. You sure we got all the Hydra in Miami?”

“Pretty sure,” Steve nodded. He looked at Bucky then and said, “And you...can we not have any repeats of that time with the three Alice's in 1939?”

“Three? THREE?” Sam looked to Bucky with an impressed smirk. At Bucky's cocky shrug he held up a hand and said, “My man. You're a legend.”

The three soldiers all leaned on the glass partition of the balcony, looking down on the party where a few familiar ladies were heading to the makeshift dance floor. Friday began pumping out the tunes and a delighted whoop of enjoyment echoed up to the second floor.

“Boy howdy, do I love the future,” Bucky murmured, watching as Pepper, Natasha and Maria danced with a couple of pretty ladies he hadn't met yet. They were all in sky high heels and sparkly, glamorous party dresses. “Wilson, you don't know how lucky you have it. Girls didn't move like that back in the dark ages.”

“I kind of miss the lines of a dark ages gal, though,” Steve admitted. While he appreciated the tall, lithe forms of his friends and co-workers on the dance floor, there was something to be said and appreciated about a curvy lady.

“ Woah boys, look at  _ her _ ,” Sam mumbled as another shimmying girl entered the fray of dancers. She was received enthusiastically and proceeded to bump her hips with Natasha.

“DIBS!” Bucky called out seconds before his companions could open their mouths to do the same.

Steve's mouth pinched into a frown and Sam actually swore in annoyance.

Cause that new girl was quite a looker. All busty and hippy and lippy and gorgeous. Steve actually felt a little drool accumulate as she continued to gyrate against Maria this time. He actually felt like someone punched him in the gut when Pepper bent her head and pretended to stick her face in the girl's ample (oh so ample) cleavage.

“Aww, god dammit, she's doing the running man!” Sam whined. “Which means she's hilarious too. Which means she's GORGEOUS and HILARIOUS and you had to mother fucking call dibs. I wish we never got you back from Hydra, Barnes.”

“Wish me luck,” Bucky waggled an eyebrow.

“Wait---you're really going down there?” Steve gave his friend an incredulous look. The game of 'dibs' was usually something they only joked around about. They'd heard the lecture from Sharon Carter about how women weren't luggage you pulled off of a rotating belt in an airport. It hadn't been new to Steve, he and Bucky had heard that lecture plenty of times from their mothers in the 30's. And Sam had heard it from _his_ mother plenty too.

“Gonna introduce myself,” Bucky shrugged. “What's the harm?”

Steve and Sam gave each other confused looks as Bucky sauntered away. This was the first time since Bucky had been recovered that he was actually going to try to and start a conversation with another living, breathing human being that wasn't named Steve or Sam.

Five seconds of confused looks gave way to both of them following Bucky as quickly as they could.

“Go away Barnes, it's girl time,” Natasha warned.

“Be nice, Tasha,” the curvy little thing laughed as she jumped and shimmied and shook.

“Barton's here,” Steve arrived at Bucky's side with Sam quick to follow. The all watched as the archer sandwiched himself between Pepper and Maria, hands in the air, waving them like he just didn't care.

“He's married, doesn't count,” the other less curvy tiny brunette waved his concern off as she danced with the girl of Bucky's dreams. And Steve's dreams. And Sam's dreams.

“Asshole,” Bucky grumbled, watching carefully as Clint slid out of his tall goddess sandwich and moved over to the beautiful girl with the seriously kissable lips. He wrinkled his nose as Clint pulled her close, swaying her back and forth like it was a Texas two-step.

“Stop growling over there, boys,” Natasha laughed. “Getting a little territorial over someone who doesn't belong to you.”

“ Oh, but Barnes called  _ dibs _ ,” Clint laughed. “Soon as he saw Lewis.”

Dammit.  They always managed to forget that Clint could read lips.

“Oh really? This just got very interesting,” Darcy wriggled out of her dance with Clint and walked over to stand in front of the three soldiers who looked as if they were ready for the inevitable dressing down.

“I'm so sorr---” Steve began.

“ Can it, Captain Muscles,” Darcy held up a finger in warning. She looked at Bucky and said, “So you called  _ dibs _ , huh?”

“You don't see a pretty dame like you and NOT call dibs,” Bucky shrugged, his head cocked to the right in call back to his old swagger from a lifetime ago.

“Dammit, Barnes,” Sam grumbled.

“Very interesting,” Darcy nodded. “But just so you know? I called dibs first, when I saw you walk out of the elevator an thirty minutes ago.”

"She really did," Pepper grinned at them.

The Soldiers Three all felt their jaws go a little slack at the proclamation.

“Called dibs on me?” Bucky ventured hopefully.

“Yup,” Darcy smiled. She looked to Sam and nodded, “And you.”

She let her eyes linger over Steve and pursed her lips in a mirthful expression. “And you.”

“Ask them about the three Alice's. I want to know,” Clint whispered at Darcy as he took his phone out and took a picture of the three gobsmacked expressions in front of him. “This is going to get me so many followers on my instagram.”

“I'll let you know about the three Alice's after I get my own story with the three soldiers.”

* * *

* * *

And then a more skilled writer took over and wrote crazy 4-some sexy times.  <3

  
  
  
  


Chapter 6: Darcy the Dragon (Steve/Darcy)

  
  


Notes:

the lovely AussieOnyx earned a one shot way back when I was writing Darcy's Delights for guessing my favorite line in a chapter (The hunger to get into Darcy's Pants Games). She requested Darcy being a dragon. I have to apologize to her wholeheartedly cause I just couldn't wrap my head around the concept, so she's getting this instead.

And when I had written it, I had just spent time with an 89 year old dude who I quizzed mercilessly about 30's slang...so yeah. here we go.

  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

“Now that's one choice bit of calico.”

  
  


Sam furrowed his brow and pulled out his phone, typing in what Bucky Barnes had just muttered after letting out a low whistle. He hadn't had to google many of the phrases that came out of Steve's mouth, but as Bucky regained more of his memory, he also became a fountain of slang from the 30's.

“You think Darcy is...pretty?” Sam ventured. He looked over at the girl who was working in the kitchens of the new Avenger's facility, mixing and stirring some kind of candy into a big vat of popcorn for their Halloween celebrations that evening. “I mean...yeah, she IS pretty—but...”

“You shred it, wheat,” Bucky laughed, pushing at Sam's shoulder. “Give me the low down on her. She rationed?”

“ Uhm, she's...she's a  _ dragon, _ ”  Sam shrugged with a mirthful shit eating grin slowly spreading across his face.

Bucky gave Sam an unimpressed look. He was pretty sure Sam was pulling some of that new slang on him. It was a miracle the two of them could talk to each other without an interpreter. Usually the interpreter was Natasha.

“Better hide your arm. She likes shiny things for her horde,” Sam laughed.

“You're just bumping gums now, Wilson,” Bucky rolled his eyes.

Sam looked up the phrase quickly and shook his head. “I'm speaking the truth. Girl's an actual dragon. She likes shiny things. That's why she keeps Cap's shield in her room. Nat? Tell our boy what's up...”

“Oh, that Darcy is a dragon?” Natasha raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Then why's she using the electric oven box?” Bucky gestured to the microwave she was using to melt chocolate. “Can't she just breathe fire?”

“That'd be impolite to do in public,” Sam answered neatly, grinning when Natasha slapped him on the butt before she walked towards Darcy.

“What's up Mamma Danny?” Darcy grinned and held up a baking sheet full of popcorn, chocolate and candy. “Want some Halloween crack?”

“Yes Drogon,” Natasha popped a handful in her mouth. She smiled at Darcy and said, “Excellent job, as usual my little dragon.”

“You're all nuts!” Bucky called out.

“Ohhh shiny...” Darcy cooed, dropping the baking sheet and making a bee line for Bucky. This was the first time she had seen Steve's best friend in the flesh and she had sworn she was going to make a good impression but one look at that shiny metal arm had her drooling. She reached out and ran a finger along the plates and they whirred in what sounded like a contented hum. “I'm adding you to my horde.”

“What is this tomato yakkin' about?”

“Don't call me a tomato, you crumb!” Darcy laughed, her finger making another pass on the shiny metal of the arm, much to the arm's delight.

“Buck, don't call my dragon a tomato,” Steve advised as he walked into the kitchens. He grinned as Darcy abandoned Bucky's arm and jumped on him instead, wrapping her legs around his waist as he supported her weight with one hand on her bottom. “Didja miss me?”

“Where's my shield?” Darcy demanded.

“In our room,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Can I have his arm? If he comes with it, I'll learn to deal,” Darcy kissed Steve's lips in order to convince him.

“You didn't tell me you got yourself a sidecar,” Bucky murmured as he watched Darcy continue to kiss every square inch of Steve's neck.

“There's no ring yet,” Darcy arched an eyebrow. “So if you're interested in applying---you know...”

“And on that note, I'm taking this looker back to my room,” Steve shook his head as he turned with Darcy still wrapped around him.

“But the shiny arm! I want it!” Darcy voice echoed throughout the halls as Steve made his retreat with her.

“Be careful, Barnes,” Sam laughed as Bucky stared after their exit. “She'll burn you up.”

* * *

“Where's your sidecar?” Bucky wondered as he took fistfuls of candy from the overflowing bowls in the training room turned Halloween Party. He hid them on his person like he used to hide his weapons when he was the Winter Soldier. You never knew when you might need a Snickers bar.

“She's getting her costume straight,” Steve smiled. “And she's not my wife.”

“Yet,” Bucky scoffed. Darcy and Steve had been inseparable since Steve had returned. He was pleased as punch for his pal. And Darcy was not only the ripest tomato he'd ever seen, but she was smart and funny. She was _still_ trying to convince him she was a dragon though. She had even played some song for Christmas talking about Darcy the Dragon.

“Might've been thinking about it,” Steve shrugged with a secret smile.

“Your kids will be mutants. Superhero + dragon. They'll be able to breathe fire and lift cars above their heads before they can walk,” Bucky rolled his eyes. “Uncle Bucky will have to get a flame resistant suit just to babysit the little devil.”

“ YOU TOLD HIM!  ** STEVEN. GRANT. ROGERS ** . We're supposed to wait till the second trimester!”

Bucky's eyes widened as Steve grimaced slightly. He held up his hands in a gesture of innocence and Bucky guffawed at Darcy, who was dressed in a sparkly green footie pajama set with a hood that resembled a dragon's head. Her hands were fisted at her hips and she looked incredibly upset.

  
  


“He didn't tell me nothin', kitten. But you just did!”

Darcy's face scrunched up, her nose wrinkled as she tried to take breaths through her nose.

“Uhoh,” Steve breathed as he looked around, upending a bowl of candy and emptying it.

“What? You gonna breathe fire on me?” Bucky laughed as Steve tried to hand Darcy the bowl.

She didn't breathe fire. But she did projectile vomit all over his torso.

“Fire would have been better,” Steve sighed. He reached out and rubbed Darcy's back. “Come on little dragon. Let's go get you some ginger ale.”

Chapter 7: I Saw Darcy Kissing Santa Claus (Johnny/Darcy)

  
  


Notes:

Cinnilla was the first to guess my favorite line in Chapter 10 of "The Widow's Girl" So they got a one shot of their choosing.

BRILLIANTLY CHOSE Johnny/Darcy. (This isn't in the Darcy's Delight Universe though, someday I'll see if I want to revisit them, but this is an entirely new universe. woo!)

  
  
  
  


End Notes:

Hmmmm....seems sort of cruel to end it there. We'll see who Darcy's doing for New Year's Eve.

Also, I'd like to say this is one of my first times doing any sort of extended conversation with Jane and Darcy just for the fun of it with no plot involved. I think I could write them just...conversing in their dude-girl way. I think I kind of love them a lot.

  
  
  
  


** I Saw Darcy Kissing Santa Claus **

“Holy crap, that's the hottest damned Santa I ever saw.”

Jane gave Darcy a look. It was a look she often gave her favorite former intern turned PR specialist for the Avengers. It was a look that said _Please don't embarrass me_ while also conveying _you're amusing when you open your mouth_ , and of course _I can't wait to see what crazy thing you do this time_. It was a well rehearsed look. She used it often. It was usually followed with her patented _Shit we're going to get arrested_ look, and then her _God dammit Darce, you got us arrested_ scream.

Darcy missed the look, which she would have been sad about. She loved Jane's multi-layered parfait looks. She liked instragramming Jane's face with descriptive hashtags. Jane followed Darcy's _drooling_ line of sight and sure enough, there was the hottest Santa she had ever seen. (To be fair, she had never had Thor dress up as Santa).

“Holy shit, is that Captain America in a Santa costume?” Jane's eyes widened and the two short brunettes' heads both tilted to the right in appreciation.

The tall Santa in question, who was getting ready to go out and have a bunch of kids sit on his lap for the Maria Stark foundation, looked very much like Captain America. Tall. Broad in the shoulders, although not as crazy broad as he usually was, which was probably due to the fact that he had a padded belly to offset them. The fluffy white beard was askew on his face, revealing a heroic jawline with a hint of scruff. And even from twenty feet away, those sparkling blue eyes were set at a panty-melting twinkle.

“I'm going to go sit on Santa's lap and tell him that I want his candy cane in my stocking,” Darcy blurted.

“Darce, there are KIDS around,” Jane scolded half-heartedly.

“I didn't actually say anything gross, GOD Janie, get your head out of the gutter,” Darcy sneered at her playfully. Her jaw dropped when Santa bent over to fix the cuff of his pants, giving she and Jane a fantastic view of his perfect ass. “Oh I am gonna grab me a handful of them hot cross buns.”

“Thor had said something about setting you and Captain Rogers up at Stark's New Year's party,” Jane shrugged. “Said you were a good match and would make lovely and strong warrior babies.”

“I don't know about all that, but he can visit the baby factory outer-lying areas,” Darcy grinned. “Repeatedly and leisurely.”

“He can get the frequent visitor card stamped,” Jane bit back a giggle.

“I'll make sure to give him his loyalty rewards at every opportunity,” Darcy laughed.

“After the first nine card punches, the tenth is on the house,” Jane cackled.

“What are we even talking about?” Darcy turned to Jane, snorting with her laughter.

“I have no idea!” Jane laughed harder. “Something about you defiling Captain Santa.”

“OH YEAH, that's right,” Darcy nodded. “Do you have any dollars?”

“Darce! Captain Santa isn't a stripper, you can't put ones in his underwear!” Jane scolded a little too loudly, as a scandalized mother walked by putting her hands over her child's ears protectively.

“It's to bribe kids to let me cut in line,” Darcy insisted, holding out eager hands for Jane's hard earned dollars.

“Stand in line and wait, Darcy,” Jane rolled her eyes. Jane contented herself with hitting up the refreshments, grabbing cocoa and cookies while laughing at Darcy trying to con her way to the front of the line. Not one of the little brats was buying her sob stories though and she had to wait a whole half an hour to finally get to the front of the line.

Darcy _No Shame_ Lewis had no problem turning away from the children and adjusting her boobs in her bra to give herself maximum cleavage before walking up to Santa's chair, a definite sway to her hips and a mischievous arch to her left eyebrow. She licked her lips before hopping up on Santa's lap and giving him the flirtiest smile she could manage.

“Well hello, little girl,” Santa's eyebrows darted upwards, his cobalt blue eyes twinkling at her.

“Hi, Captain Santa,” Darcy purred.

“Have you been a good girl, this year, Miss Lewis?” Santa wondered.

Darcy blinked at him curiously. She had no idea Steve Rogers knew who she was. Had Thor talked about her to him already? Had he shown her unapproved pictures? Thor thought it was hilarious to take pictures of her when she was eating. He had hundreds of pictures on his phone that were in no way flattering.

“I've had _very little_ opportunity to be naughty, Santa,” she finally answered him back.

“That is a damned shame, Miss Lewis,” Santa sighed. “Why don't you give Santa five minutes, when he gets his break, he'll help you out with those opportunities.”

Darcy's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Jesus Christ, did Captain America ever have game! _Who knew_ ?

“Now go on, get out of my lap before you ruin Christmas for the next five kids,” Santa smirked beneath his beard.

Darcy hopped out of his lap, her jaw on the floor. She looked across the room at Jane and mouthed _OH. MY. GOD._ Before skipping off towards the side of the room that Santa had emerged from. She smiled at an elf, who rolled his eyes at her and may have muttered something unflattering under his breath.

Whatever. Asshole.

Captain America wouldn't slut shame her.

Speaking of...Captain Santa was strutting towards her with a smirk, grabbing her hand and yanking her into the room he had used to get ready.

“C'mere, Lewis,” he pulled her to him, leaving the beard on and giving her a very scratchy, very passionate kiss.

“Tickles,” she mumbled before kissing him again, her hands winding around his warm shoulders. Seriously warm shoulders. Captain America was like a furnace. And shit, could he kiss. She was getting weak in the knees even before his tongue slipped into her mouth, drawing languid circles against her own.

“Been wanting to kiss you for a long time, Lewis,” Santa sighed.

“wait, what?” Darcy furrowed her brow. Seriously, what had Thor been telling him about her?

A knock on the door had Darcy jumping apart from Santa and the door opened to reveal Steve Rogers, a furrow to his brow.

  
  


“Are you done with the suit, Storm? It's my shift, and the one Tony was in earlier won't fit. Oh...Miss Lewis...I'm sorry to interrupt,” Steve frowned at Johnny, then looked to a flush faced and highly mortified Darcy. “Are you alright, Miss Lewis?”

“ She's fine, back off, Cap,” Santa--- _ Johnny motherfucking Storm _ , grumbled at him, pulling off the beard, the hat, then shrugging out of the jacket. He tossed them at Steve before pulling the pants down and throwing them at the door as well. “Leave us alone.”

“Miss Lewis?” Steve questioned.

Darcy gaped like a fish between Johnny and Steve, her head spinning. Johnny Storm. Johnny _the same guy who she had turned down three years ago when he asked if he could motorboat her in Stark's labs_ Storm. He was standing there in his underwear, staring down at her with hooded eyes.

And he had been wanting to kiss her for a long time, apparently.

“I'm gonna go, sorry, about this...very poorly thought out plan,” Darcy mumbled. She rushed to the door and managed to squeeze through the small space Steve had left for her.

Johnny watched her go with a frown, and threw Captain America the middle finger as he too rushed off, probably to go check on the damsel in distress he had just rescued from the hottest makeout session Johnny had ever experienced. And he had made out with a lot of people in the last ten years. He'd only wanted to make out with one person though in the last three years.

And she had thought he was his star spangly doppelganger.

_ Screw that.  _ He pulled out his phone and dialed up his top contact.

“Sue? Did we get invited to Stark's New Year's Party? Is it too late to RSVP with a yes?”

* * *

* * *

 

Chapter 8: The Floor Is Lava (Wintershieldshock)

  
  


Notes:

stateofconstantconfusion gave me the prompt for soulmark au with Darcy/Steve.

I'm sorry that I had to go for the wintershieldshock instead. I know that annoys some people, but it fit for the idea I had.

  
  
  
  


Thor had tried to warn him.

  
  
  
  
  


The Asgardian had told him once he knew his lightning sister was going be living at the new facility with Steve and the rest of the team (as the Maria Hill-approved Team Caretaker), that Steve would have his hands full.  According to Thor, Darcy Lewis was joy and laughter and sarcasm poured into a darling and beautiful human form.

  
  
  
  
  


Clint had been less poetic and more helpful, “Basically, Cap, she’s twenty pounds of trouble in a ten pound sack.  You’re so screwed!”

  
  
  
  
  


He’d been away on a short mission when she had arrived, but when he stepped off of the quinjet, he definitely noticed a change three steps into the base.  

  
  
  
  
  


Namely everyone was either on top of a chair, desk or other piece of furniture, and not a person had a foot on the ground.  In fact, most of the people on the ground were either playing dead, or perhaps were actually dead.  

  
  
  
  
  


“Captain Rogers, it is my duty as referee to inform you that the floor is lava.  If you do not get your feet off the floor in the next ten seconds, you will be dead and no one will be able to converse with you,” FRIDAY helpfully intoned.

  
  
  
  
  


“What in the hell is going on?” Steve demanded.

  
  
  
  
  


“I’m sorry, I will not be able to give pertinent information to a dead person,” FRIDAY chirped happily.

  
  
  
  
  


Steve rolled his eyes and jumped onto a nearby chair.

  
  
  
  
  


“Who is responsible for this?” Steve demanded of the first group of people laying on the ground.

  
  
  
  
  


“We’re dead,” Agent Lees mumbled.  

  
  
  
  
  


“Are you fucking serious right new, Lees?” Steve glared at the man who was officially two years away from retirement.

  
  
  
  
  


“I’m not disobeying the new boss.”

  
  
  
  
  


“VISION! I SEE YOU FLOATING TO GET TO THE NEXT CHAIR.  GO TO THE LAVA AND DIE YOU SILLY SAD EXCUSE FOR JARVIS!”

  
  
  
  
  


The feminine tinged shout echoed from around the corner and was followed by Wanda’s raucous laughter.  Steve heaved a heavy sigh and decided to play along, basically running up the walls and utilizing parkour skills he usually saved for close combat.  He managed to get to the end of the hall, clinging the the corner with his arms, his legs split between two water fountains.  

  
  
  
  
  


“What in the hell is going on here?” he demanded in his mostCaptain America is very annoyed with you voice.  

  
  
  
  
  


Vision was now sprawled out face down on the ground, beneath two women who had small lab stools strapped to their feet.  Wanda was still laughing at Vision’s untimely lava demise and the other young woman, who Steve could only assume was thenew boss was giving him an arched eyebrow and a half smirk.

  
  
  
  
  


“Calm your star spangly panties, dude.  We’re just having a little bit of fun.”

  
  
  
  
  


Steve’s face went slack and he began to slide the wall, his legs going further apart until he was almost in a full blow split.

  
  
  
  
  


“If you touch the floor you will be dead!” Wanda reminded him.

  
  
  
  
  


He used his serum-enhanced agility to push himself off the wall, bouncing off of Vision’s back to land awkwardly on one of Darcys stool shoes.  She looked at him with laughing eyes and helped to steady him so that his massive bulking muscles wouldn’t topple the both of them into the lava.

  
  
  
  
  


“How many times a day do you get asked the words What in the hell is going on here?” Steve wondered softly, staring down at her in wonder.  His soulmate. The one who had appeared on his skin the moment he woke up.

  
  
  
  
  


“An awful lot more than you could probably imagine,” Darcy shrugged.

  
  
  
  
  


“Well, these,” Steve pulled down his collar to show her words. “Have never ever been said to me.”

  
  
  
  
  


“YES. Hot soulmate, score!” Darcy pumped her fist in the air.

  
  
  
  
  


“What in the hell is going on here?” Bucky demanded as he threw a chair a ten feet forward and then jumped on it so he was standing in front of a very cozy looking Steve and Darcy.

  
  
  
  
  


Darcy made a nervous squeaking sound and pushed Steve off of her safe space, right on the ground next to Vision, setting Wanda off into hysterical laughter again.  

  
  
  
  
  


“I definitely was not trying to get a butt assessment of your main squeeze.  Just sort of a little grab,”Darcy shrugged.  “Kudos.”

  
  
  
  
  


Steve laughed from the ground and sat up, his head swiveling between Bucky’s and Darcy’s in delight.  

  
  
  
  
  


“Yes.  Girl soulmate!  It’s about time you show up, doll,” Bucky grinned at her.  “Stevie gets a little stiff some times.”

  
  
  
  
  


“Heh.  Stiff,” Darcy giggled.  Steve began to stand and Darcy pointed an authoritative finger at her new soulmate.  “You’re dead.  Stay down until the game is over, or I’ll make you pay.”

  
  
  
  
  


“Yeah, Stevie, our soulmate will make you pay!” Bucky’s grin was wider and brighter than it had been since he had come in from the cold.  

  
  
  
  
  


“Wanda, spear of justice!” Darcy held out her hand and Wanda tossed her a gold glitter covered cardboard tube.  She smacked it against Bucky’s head until he tried to get it from her, and somehow, he managed to lose his balance and wound up on the floor next to Steve.  “Be nice to Stevie while you’re both dead.  I’ll come back for you two after Wanda and I go and beat the crap out of Rhodey.  Remember, dead men can’t make out!”

 

* * *

  
  
  


** Chapter 9: Sneezing in an Elevator (Darcy/Steve) **

  
  


Notes:

someone anonymously wanted Steve/Darcy stuck in an elevator.

these things always get away from me.

  
  
  
  


Steve looked across the elevator for the tenth time in the last ninety seconds. Darcy had hopped onto the elevator just before the doors closed and they were on their way down to the lobby from the penthouse floor. The ride usually only took about forty-five seconds, but Steve suspected that Tony and JARVIS were playing matchmaker again.

So he was sweet on the Lewis girl.

Tony acted like it was the end of the world that Steve would cast furtive glances the young woman’s way from time to time when he visited the labs. Tony had enlisted every one of the other Avengers. Plus Pepper. Plus Happy. Plus Rhodey. Plus good ole Aunt Peggy. All to help Steve overcome crippling shyness and Darcy’s blatant obtuseness.

Steve had been trying. He’d asked her out to coffee three weeks ago.

She’d assumed he wanted her to go fetch him some, so she found a low level SHIELD agent to do it for her.

A month ago, he’d asked about her recommendations for modern movies in the hopes that she’d express interest and want to go with him, but instead, she’d set a new Netflix account for him and had hundreds of selections in the queue waiting for him, telling him to come back once he worked his way through that.

He even had left her a little note inviting her to a walk around Central Park two days ago. Somehow, she’d thought that was an invitation to work out and she promised that Natasha was already putting her through her paces at the gym and she definitely didn’t want to put on three sports bras and run around the park with him.

So Steve was a starting to think that maybe it was a lost cause at that point.

So of course the elevator slowed to a complete, halting stop. Steve rolled his eyes and looked to the ceiling. The chances of a Stark elevator controlled by JARVIS breaking down was less than zero. This was definitely Team Matchmaking at work.

Darcy didn’t even notice that the elevator had stopped. Her headphones were in her ears and she was watching something on her phone. Steve didn’t even think that Darcy realized he was in the elevator with him. It made him feel like a small Steve Rogers back in the 30’s, completely invisible to the female eye.

He cleared his throat and tried it a few times, to no avail.

Finally Darcy sneezed. Her eyes widened and she looked around in confusion.

“This isn’t the lobby,” she muttered. She pulled out her headphones and sneezed again. “Oh no.”

“Are you alright?” Steve furrowed his brow at her.

“Achoo! Achoo! AHCHOO!!” Darcy couldn’t stop sneezing. Her body was practically jack-knifing with every violent sneeze. “Captain Rogers?”

“Oh…hi,” Steve smiled at her.

“You have to get away from me,” Darcy got one word in between every two sneezes.

“Oh…” Steve’s face fell and he nodded. He looked to the ceiling and found an open panel. “I’ll stop, Miss Lewis. I’m sorry to have made you uncomfortable.”

“W—achoo—h—achoo—at?” Darcy’s face was violently red at that point.

Steve jumped and got his arms outside of the elevator, pulling himself out. He looked down at her and gave her his bravest, saddest smile.

“I’ll get the rest of the team to stop trying to set us up too, again, I’m sorry,” Steve said genuinely. “Goodbye, Miss Lewis.”

“I’m allergic to your—ACHOO—old man hair—ACHOO–goop!” Darcy told him, gesturing wildly to his specifically styled swoop of hair.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Steve asked in horror, his hands going up to his hair in a too late attempt to cover it up.

“You’re Captain—Achoo—America!” Darcy guffawed, then sneezed.

Steve gave her a brilliant smile before finally climbing on top of the elevator car and making his way to the nearest doors. He pried them open with his hands and hopped out to see an unimpressed Natasha with her arms crossed.

“You couldn’t even bring her along for the rescue?” Natasha rolled her eyes.

“Leave her there. Can you take me to a good barber? And help me get hair stuff that Darcy isn’t allergic too?”

“I know a great salon, two blocks from here. Let’s roll.”

Steve returned an hour later, freshly showered, with new clothes on and a new haircut, he jumped back into the elevator car to see that Darcy was watching her phone again. He tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around to look at him, her eyes went wide with panic before she took a few deep, sneeze free breaths.

“Can I take you to dinner?” he smiled down at her.

“That sounds great, but no shellfish. I’m allergic.”

  
  
  


* * *

 

** Chapter 10: Bigfoot, trespassing and a safety deposit box (Steve/Darcy and Bucky/Helen) **

  
  


Notes:

kat-of-a-different-color prompted:

  
  


You said you wanted prompts, so... bigfoot, trespassing, and a safety deposit box (I couldn't think of anything particularly good, so I pulled cards from my Storymatic)

  
  
  
  


End Notes:

Bucky and Cho!= CHUCKY. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAS.

  
  
  
  


They hadn't meant to trespass on private property.

Jane and Darcy had been waxing poetic over the memories of being in the camper out in the wilds of the desert. It had been so nice and calm and lovely. The sky had been so full of stars. The air had been so calm. They'd slept on the rooftop of the camper under the stars and had never had a better night of sleep before or after.

Helen wanted them to shut the hell up about their fun adventures together and put their money where their never ending flappy mouths were.

And she also wanted to sleep under the stars cuddled between her two closest friends of the last two years. She was sure there would be cuddle time in sleeping bags and that seemed like an adventure that she should have.

So they had packed their ridiculously large backpacks that Darcy had liberated from the new recruit hordes at the New Avengers Facility. Then they had packed another two backpacks full of the best MRE's and all the candy they could find.

Wanda was very upset that she could not come along. She had tried to get Darcy to convince Steve to let her out of Avenging for one weekend, but then a real call to assemble came through and no amount of convincing could get Wanda out of it. She, Steve and the rest of the team were a hundred miles west, battling some kind of large rock monster.

And Jane, Helen and Darcy were setting up camp a hundred miles north of the New Avengers Facility.

“Does Bigfoot exist?” Helen wondered as the three of them passed around a bag full of the reese's pieces that Darcy had stolen from Steve's safety deposit and replaced it with a note that said I owe you smooches in exchange for your precious candy. The trio was sitting contentedly around the fire pit they hadn't bothered to light yet, despite the sinking of the sun in the sky.

“Definitely,” Darcy nodded.

“Absolutely not,” Jane gave Darcy an incredulous look.

“Janie. You're bethrothed to a man who controls the power of lightning and who has a magic trickster brother,” Darcy smirked. “We live in a facility run by the hottest one hundred year old dude under the sun who spent sixty-six years of beauty sleep in the Arctic Ocean. And we work with a 21 year old woman who has sentient red lasso beams coming out of her hands, a former computer in the synthesized body of a hottie mctottie, and two normal dudes who spend eighteen hours a day flying around the sky. Also, Natasha Romanoff exists. Your argument is invalid. Bigfoot is real.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Helen nodded. She pointed about fifty yards away. “Cause that looks like him.”

“HOLY CRAP BIG FOOT!” Jane shouted in excitement, grabbing Darcy and Helen's hands and taking off in the direction Helen had pointed. “We're going to be famous for finding Bigfoot!”

“Janie!” Darcy hissed as she and Helen were dragged into the woods. “Janie, this is a terrible idea! Bigfoot probably doesn't want visitors.”

Bigfoot, as it turned out, did not want visitors. Mostly because Bigfoot was actually a giant ass bear who mostly just wanted the three little ladies who spelled like peanut butter candy.

“Shiiiiiiiiiiit,” Helen huffed. She glared at a terrified Darcy and a disappointed Jane. “You guys promised it would be fun and relaxing and night sky star watching and CUDDLING in sleeping bags. I AM NOT GETTING EATEN BY A FUCKING BEAR!”

Darcy was repeatedly hitting the panic button on her phone, praying for a signal in the wilderness (chances were good, it was a souped up Starkphone). She was alternatively praying that any Avenger, old or new could answer the call and come and help them.

“Aaaaauuggggh!”

“Holy,” Jane's eyes went wide as a shirtless man with a metal arm jumped and leapt their way, before tackling the bear.

“Fucking,” Darcy's eyes lingered on the metal arm and began hitting the panic button even faster as Bucky fucking Barnes battled a bear in front of their eyes.

“Shitballs.” Helen finished, feeling a little drool accumulate at the side of her mouth as she watched 220 pounds of prime beef/man chase off a bear with only a small scratch on his left pec to show for the fight.

“This is private property,” Bucky gruffly informed them when he turned to the ladies after the bear had run off. His eyes went from mildly annoyed while looking at Jane, to slightly surprised when he clearly recognized Darcy, to slightly wider and softer when he caught Helen staring covetously at him.

“You're hurt,” Helen shook herself out of her reverie and felt her doctor come out to play. She walked towards him and put a tentative index finger against his pec, wiping the blood away to reveal an already healed cut. “Oh. Convenient.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said softly. Darcy's button pressing intensified. He looked away from Helen and gave Darcy an unimpressed look, “Stop trying to get your fella here faster. I can outrun that punk any day of the week.”

“He's not my fella.”

Helen and Jane both snorted with laughter.

“Fine, he's my secret fella. But...he's looking for you and stuff,” Darcy shrugged. She'd totally be forgiven for stealing Steve's candy if she brought Bucky home with her. Her smile brightened and she reached into her pocket for a small pack of peanut butter M&M's. “Would you like some candy?”

“Or we could just totally go back to our camp,” Jane offered as Bucky took the candy from Darcy with a nod of thanks.

“Fuck you, Foster! I'm not going back to the camp where there are bears!” Helen scoffed incredulously. Bucky gave her an impressed look and she shrugged. “I vote we stay with Mr. I Can Fight Off a Bear with my Bare Hands.”

“I'll walk you back,” Bucky nodded. “Then you go back home.”

They made it half way back before the sound of breaking branches and thundering footsteps had them pausing. Steve Rogers was running like a deranged wrecking ball through the forest, actually not even bothering to run around the little trees, he was just knocking through those with the shield in order to get to Darcy's panic call faster.

He stopped short when he saw all three ladies with his missing, shirtless best friend.

“Buck?” Steve breathed as he slowly walked to Darcy and looked her over for injury before taking a sigh of relief and pulling her to him. He looked back to the former Winter Soldier and asked, “Hey, is that my candy?”

  
  


* * *

  
  


** Chapter 11: You Can't Handle the Truth (Wintershieldshock) **

  
  


Notes:

valin-dana prompted on tumblr:

  
  


Avengers tower gets truth serum bombed. Go forth and be cracky my dear

this could have probably been SOOOOO much longer. But I kept the character count to a minimum.

  
  
  
  


** You Can't Handle The Truth **

Bruce should have known better. He'd seen Darcy take out other scientists' projects and experiments for test drives. She claimed it was part of her job as floor manager of Stark Industries Research and Development Division. And seeing as she only answered to Pepper Potts, she hadn't caught any kind of trouble when she had tested out Jane's hand held mini-portals as a way to steal coffee and various delicious foodstuffs from anyone's desk, table, lap or hand.

She'd also not gotten into any kind of trouble when she had taken every new bot Tony put together and taught it to run her errands for her. Pepper had found it helpful that the bots would run to the store for emergency toiletries when they were needed.

Cho's regenerative cream was sold on the black market as miracle acne cures. Dr. Sebedi's gentle mood enhancers appeared as “Ma Lewis' Magical Female Viagara” in an impressive bit of cyber marketing.

But this? This was definitely going to get Darcy into some kind of trouble.

“You realize this was Darcy's work, right?” Bruce asked Pepper.

  
  


“I know you think I'm stupid, but let me assure you that I'm not,” Pepper rolled her eyes at Bruce.

“I don't think you're stupid,” Bruce disputed. He shrugged and said, “I think you have a soft spot for incorrigible brunettes with no impulse control.”

“ Well...at least I know you're being truthful,” Pepper chuckled as she looked down at the empty canister in front of them. It had previously contained enough nano-particles infused with truth serum to level a small army with a case of  _ I just can't tell a lie' _ s.

“I can start working on an antidote, it shouldn't take more than a couple hours,” Bruce sighed.

“No, just...it should be through everyone's system in what---eight hours?” Pepper wondered.

“Ten,” Bruce shrugged.

“That's not too long a time for people to be truthful with one another. It might even be fun.”

* * *

Tony was on the floor in a fetal position, crying.

“ Your goatee looks greasy,” Sam offered when he had  _ wanted  _ something nice to come out.

“Your coffee breath is bad two-thirds of the day,” Steve offered, wincing afterwards. He too, had wanted something nice to come out. “I wish I didn't have serum-enhanced abilities some days so that I didn't have to smell it.”

“YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST!” Clint yelled at Sam and Steve, he looked to a hopeful Tony and gave him two thumbs up and opened his mouth to make Tony feel better at all the vicious truths he had been hearing all day, “Pepper is way too good for you!”

Darcy hid her face in her hands and fought back laughter.

“JARVIS? Write Lewis out of my will,” Tony demanded.

“Oh thank God,” Steve sighed. “I was scared you were going to actually adopt her, and then I'd have to kiss your ass if I ever worked up the courage to ask her out.”

“Fuck you CAP!” Tony yelled. “JARVIS, put Darcy back in the will, and ask Pepper if I can adopt her.”

“You want to date Darcy?” Clint asked of Steve.

“ Yeah, I thought everyone knew that already. Since I, you know...clam up around her,” Steve shrugged. “She's perfect and hilarious and tough as nails. And I mean... _ the breasts.  _ She's just perfect.”

“Did you ask Natasha first?” Sam wondered, hoping to shut Steve's heartfelt truth gas induced word vomit.

“She told me to ask her out three months ago,” Steve admitted. “But, Shield fell. Bucky happened. Didn't think it was fair to put her through all of that. I wish I had though, Darcy looks like she gives the best hugs.”

“You happy now, Lewis?” Tony demanded of the girl who was still hiding her face in her hands. “This is the point of truth gas bombing my tower, isn't it?”

Darcy finally put her hands down and gave Tony an incredulous look.

“Friends! 'Tis a fine day!” Thor announced happily as he walked into the common room. “Lady Darcy, you promised to go in search of the corned dogs of your people.”

“Her Carnie People,” Sam snorted.

“Hey,” Clint wagged his finger. “Uncool bird bro.”

“Did you, or did you not, make me the unofficial Princess of Asgard?” Darcy demanded, opening her mouth for the first time since she had let the truth particle gas out of the canister.

“Yes, of course!” Thor smiled at her. “You are my chosen sister, after all!”

“And did you eat my last strawberry sprinkly poptart?” Darcy further questioned.

Thor opened his mouth, ready to spew forth a royal lie and found he couldn't as he admitted, “I am shamed to admit that I did. We shall go forth and replenish your _stash_ . My treat.”

“Awesome,” Darcy grinned. She turned to Tony and said, “Are you serious about adopting me?”

“Duh, I almost doctored the DNA results,” Tony laughed.

“Excellent,” Darcy nodded. She finally turned to Clint, “Who paints Natasha's toenails?”

“I do,” Clint sighed.

“You're doing sneaky threesome dating with Hill and Carter, aren't you?” Darcy demanded of Sam.

“Whhhhhhhha----yes,” Sam huffed a sigh. “They're into it, if it matters. Most days it doesn't even matter if I'm there or not.”

“You just described a perfect threeway, you idiot,” Tony rolled his eyes.

“Alright, class dismissed,” Darcy nodded. She pointed at Steve, “Come here.”

“Uhm.” Steve replied. He stood in front of Darcy and she launched herself at him, giving him one of the best hugs he'd had in a very longtime. He didn't let her go, instead, he put his lips against her ear and whispered, “In honor of full disclosure, and truth gas, I have to ask how _you_ feel about threesomes?”

“I like them just fine, especially of the supersoldier variety,” Darcy giggled. “I'm going to gas this tower once a month. We just saved _so much_ confusion and time here.”

 

 


	7. A Sticky Situation of Star Spangled Proportions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary:
> 
> Thor asked for protection for his little Lightning Sister, Darcy Lewis. Having her permanently stuck to her unrequited crush Steve Rogers was probably not what he had in mind. (For Darcy/Steve Month favorite Trope week)
> 
>  
> 
> Published at: 2015-10-05

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: F/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies), Thor  
> (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Loki  
> serious trope work here, i exclusively write crack and strangeness,  
> darcy lewis needs a damned hug, steve rogers has more issues than  
> time magazine, thor has the best of intentions and loki just likes to  
> mess with people, crack and feels and fluff sometimes?, unrequited  
> love/crush feelings, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)  
> Stats: Published: 2015-10-05 Completed: 2015-10-09 Chapters: 8/8 Words:  
> 19896

** Chapter One: Stick it to the Man **

Thor was on a mission.

The Infinity Gems were a threat to the universe if they were in the wrong hands. He left his friends on Earth after the new Avengers Facility was up and running with the purpose to gather information ahead of the coming storm. He was certain that the mind stone was safe with Vision. And Vision would be safe and well cared for with Captain Rogers.

Jane would accompany Thor of course. There was no greater mind in Thor's opinion and he knew he would need her brilliance in this mission. Of course Jane's company would have other numerous benefits on the quest, but he knew first and foremost, his lovely Jane would be keen to explore the realms further as they sought out knowledge about the Infinity Gems.

But there were others on Earth who would need protection in his absence. Jane had been rather insistent that they provide some level of safety for Darcy Lewis, his lightning sister. Darcy would gain some level of safety with his shield brothers and sisters at the Avengers Facility, but Jane was wary, and demanded another level of protection. Thor agreed wholeheartedly and that was the only reason he stood in front of his father now.

“You seek protection for your lightning sister?” Odin repeated incredulously.  "One girl on all of Midgard needs to be watched over as if she were of great import."

“She is precious to my Jane. And precious to me as well,” Thor answered readily. “I have claimed her as my sister, and so she is entitled to your protection, Father.”

Odin sat back and stared at the heir to Asgard. Thor caught a slight quirk of the All-Father's brow and puzzled over it. The brief mischief on Odin's face was uncharacteristic and foreign. For Odin. He had seen such an expression before though.

“I will grant this girl my protection,” Odin nodded. “She will never be allowed to stray away from safety and into danger. You have my oath.”

* * *

Darcy Lewis had been a guest of the new Avengers Facility for three months. She and Jane had arrived just as the last brick had been put into place and they had thrown themselves into helping the Avengers set up and open the facility.  It had been surprisingly exhausting and physical work.  Darcy was constantly exhausted.

So in the last three months, Darcy had caught sleep where she could. She had found herself waking up in the corner of an elevator, in line at the cafeteria while still standing, spread eagle across Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson and the damn Black widow on a couch in a rec room and the night before Jane and Thor took off to other realms, she had thrown herself face first into  Jane's bed...with Jane AND Thor (while the couple was most likely naked).

THIS was different.

The ultra warm, hard bodied mountain of a man under her, his giant arms wrapped around her, clutching her to him like a cuddly, small bear was definitely the winner in “Weirdest places Darcy has woken up in” contest.

She blinked the sleep out of her eyes and squinted, her glasses hadn't fallen off of her face in the night and she got a full 20/20 vision of her cuddle buddy.

Beautifully chiseled face. Insane jawline. Adorably ruffled golden hair. _Ridiculous_ eyelashes that were petting flushed cheeks. That nose she wanted to feel all over her skin (Darcy Lewis had a thing for noses). And that mouth, pretty and pale pink and lips parted as he drew in relaxed, even breaths in his sleep.

Yup. That was Steven Grant Rogers. Captain _You Bet Your Sweet Ass_ America. Leader of the Avengers. The world's first and greatest superhero. The man, the myth, the legend.

And the unrequited love of Darcy's life.

She had meet him face to face after returning from Norway. Tony had thrown a party at his tower and as soon as he had heard Darcy had a thing for Rogers (Damned Jane and her trout mouth after one Long Island Iced tea), he did not rest until he had trapped them in closet together. Darcy had flushed red and couldn't get one word out of her mouth. Her brilliant mouth that had always managed to get her detention in school, or arrested at a peaceful protest, or a splutter from superspies and other superheroes. She had managed one,

“You're pretty.”

Captain America looked at her as if she had another head. And he had looked annoyed.  _ Really  _ annoyed.

So she did what any girl would have done in that situation. She had kicked the door down and run away.

Every intermittent meeting had mostly consisted of Darcy staring at him from afar. Every once in a while when they were forced to interact (Because Tony Stark was the asshole to end all assholes), Darcy had mostly just blushed and Steve had mostly just been silent. Once he had said thank you when she passed him the salt at an Avengers family dinner. Apparently her “NO NO NO THANK YOU,” had not been a clever response.

  
  


So she preferred the watching from afar. She loved watching him interact with his teammates and friends. The same people she considered her own friends. She loved watching his playful exasperation when Natasha picked on him. She loved watching him turn into an energetic boy when joking around with Sam Wilson. She loved watching him butt heads with Tony, play pranks on Clint and have meaningful discussions with Thor.

She loved him. Unrequited-ly. Decidedly one-sided. She wasn't quite sure that he even knew her name.

So to wake up in his arms, looking up at him as he slept with an adorable peacefulness she hadn't known he was capable of, was quite a bit of a shock.

“Mmmmmhhmmm,” he hummed in contentment in his sleep, stretching out underneath her. He froze suddenly, his super soldier senses kicking in with his increasing wakefulness. Darcy could feel every single muscle tense on his body. His eyes opened into alertness and he looked down at her face in suspicion. His voice was scratchy with sleep. “What?”

“I was hoping you cold tell me how this happened?” Darcy countered, the pressure of his embrace had been growing in strength and it was starting to hurt a little.  “I woke up like this, Captain Rogers. Did---what happened?”

Steve jolted and pushed her away, hopping out of bed and staring back at her with wide blue eyes, the hint of accusation and definite distrust there.

  
  


“How did you get access to my quarters?” Steve demanded, staring down at her in horror.

Darcy felt her stomach flip and she was sure she was going to vomit out of sheer anxiety and mortification. She held up her hands to protest her innocence and repeated, “I woke up HERE. I don't know how I got here...”

“Who are you?” Steve asked, his tone clipped and business-like, as if he were questioning a Hydra hostile who had a photostatic veil of her likeness.

_Ouch_ .

Darcy put her head in her hands and mumbled, “Darcy Lewis. We've met.  _ Repeatedly. _ ”

“Who put you up to this?” Steve wondered, still treating her like she was about to get waterboarded any moment.

“NO ONE!” Darcy huffed angrily. “I know you're pushing a hundred years old, dude, but I thought you were supposed to have super soldier hearing. I will say it again. I WOKE UP HERE. I went to sleep in Erik's lab and I woke up here.”

“Was it Stark? Is this one of his fun jokes?” Steve shook his head in disbelief. “Like locking us into a room together only this time with even less boundaries?”

“For the love of Thor,” Darcy hissed at him, hopping out of the bed. She glared at the idiot asshole that she was fathoms deep in love with and said, “I'm out of here. I'm done. ONE THOUSAND PERCENT DONE. I'm going to go home, and take that job at the elementary school and I'm going to forget all about perfect superheroes and their---FUCK!”

She had made it ten feet away from him, close enough to his bedroom door that she could touch the handle. She could feel the stabbing pain run down her spine and whimpered at its after effects. That had fucking hurt.

  
  


“Miss Lewis?” Steve questioned, a hint of concern bleeding into his interrogation voice.

“Leave me alone!” Darcy spat back at him, reaching out for the door and taking another step.

The pain was unimaginable. She shrieked and fell to the ground, as if someone had taken her spine and snapped it in half, rendering her completely useless. Tears fell from her eyes immediately as she whimpered with the unbearable pain of it.

Steve took a step forward in concern and the effect on Darcy was immediate. The pained convulsions of her body stopped and she took in a sharp, measured breath as the onslaught on her nerves stopped for one second.

Steve took half a step back and Darcy screamed again in renewed agony. He quickly walked towards her, relieved when her cries stopped. He looked down at her and said,

“Miss Lewis? I think---we're stuck with each other.”

* * *

** Chapter Two: Stuck in the Middle with You **

“Let me know when it hurts.”

Steve moved a fraction of an inch away and Darcy cringed immediately. Steve looked down at the tape measure they held between them and he announced, “Ten feet.”

“Why does it only hurt ME?” Darcy demanded.

“Maybe its because of the serum?” Steve guessed. “It takes a lot more to hurt me than it would take to hurt you.”

“We have to figure this out...if Jane were here,” Darcy sighed. “Tony or Bruce, any of those damned science nerds.”

“Are we sure its science?” Steve wondered. “It seems like magic.”

“Magic is science,” Darcy shrugged. She looked at Steve with honest gratitude, “Thanks for believing me.”

“ I don't think you're a good enough actress to pull off that kind of pain,” Steve shook his head. “In lieu of any of your science... _ nerds _ , maybe we should consult Vision. He wields the mind stone---”

“That's classified, Captain,” Darcy smirked.

“I---assumed you knew, you're friends with Thor,” Steve shook his head in confusion.

Darcy looked up at him curiously. How did he remember that when he didn't even remember her name earlier? She shook her head and said, “Thor talks in his sleep---well, SHOUTS in his sleep, so I always know everything. And Vision and Wanda are off base doing recon, remember?”

“How do you---” Steve shook his head. He knew how she knew that.

Darcy Lewis knew everything about the Avengers. She was everywhere. She had landed in a quinjet piloted by her good friend Hawkeye three months ago. She had been on friendly terms with everyone but him, Sam and Bucky. And she had managed to ensnare the Winter Soldier and Falcon within half an hour of meeting them. Steve had witnessed Natasha _giggling_ with the girl.

It was unnatural.

So Darcy Lewis, self-proclaimed Avenger wrangler, had wormed her way into his life. He had evaded any threat back in New York City after the Chitauri invasion by escaping to DC. And here she was again, her big blue eyes, her perfect figure, the lush mouth that was either spouting profanity or wide open with easy laughter. It had taken him five minutes in that closet Tony had shoved them into to realize that he wouldn't be able to stand being one more minute in her company. She was dangerous.

And now he was tethered to her. 10 feet away from her.

It was not the most ideal of situations to be in.

His phone alarm blared and he walked to his bedside table to turn it off. Darcy yelped in the pain that the short distance caused and rushed to follow him, jumping on top of the bed to get within the requisite 10 feet. The pain and her natural clumsiness had her toppling forward, eyes wide with fright, arms windmilling wildly.

Steve caught her with what Darcy could only assume was abject terror. Her arms wound up around his neck, his around her waist. Their noses bumped together as Darcy drew in slow labored breaths as the pain immediately subsided. He supported her weight and looked her in the eye apologetically.

“I didn't realize how far I had gotten, I'm sorry Miss Lewis,” Steve whispered, realizing that with every word from his mouth, his lips nearly grazed her open mouth.

“The pain seems to be going away quicker like this,” Darcy whispered back. “Go figure.”

“We need to figure this out,” Steve pulled away, carefully settling Darcy in front of him on the bed. “It's not...I can't---”

“Stand being within 10 feet of me?” Darcy muttered under her breath.

Steve went to open his mouth. He had heard it of course. But he couldn't think of what to say to her. Yes, he couldn't stand being within 10 feet of her? It was going to drive him mad within an hours time. And not mad in the way she was insinuating.

“I have to go to the gym, I'm meeting Bucky and Sam,” Steve announced.  "Let's keep this to ourselves for now, and we can ask Vision about it when he gets back.  I'd rather not have the team giving input."

He knew that Bucky's every solution to anything involving magic/science was to bang it out.  Literally.  He had suggested sex would remedy his recovery when he returned to Steve half a year ago.    Steve had helpfully pointed out that Sam was techinically his therapist.

“Okay,” Darcy nodded. Of course Captain America's plans would take precedence over her plans to unpack her new quarters. She held up a finger and said, “Can we make a detour to Erik's lab first?”

“Is he there? Do you think he knows how to fix us?” Steve wondered.

  
  


“He's in London, but there's something I need from his lab if I'm going to get through Captain America's busy schedule.”

* * *

“Darce, Sugar!” Bucky grinned as Darcy trailed Steve into the gym, trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible.

Leave it to the Winter Solider to see her right away.

“What are you doing with stinky Steve?” Sam asked.

Leave it to the Falcon to cut to the chase.

“ I'm observing him for my thesis,  _ The Politics and Geopolitical Ramifications of --- _ ”  Darcy began to explain but saw both of her friends' eyes predictably glaze over. They were sweet guys, but they definitely didn't give one iota of a damn. She dug into the bag she had retrieved from Erik's lab, basically her bugout bag, containing all of her important worldly possessions. She held up her ipod and plugged the ear buds in. She held up a stark pad and explained, “Just pretend that I'm not here. I'll be tuning you guys out while I snap a few pictures and work through my notes.”

Darcy tuned out and Bucky and Sam both leveled identical glances of skepticism at an all too innocent looking Steve.

Steve didn't really know what Bucky, Sam and Natasha got up to behind closed doors, and he didn't really want to know the particulars. He knew that Bucky had always sort of... _liked_ boys and girls before the war. Sam had told Steve that he was bisexual in a casual manner during his recovery in DC. And Natasha did whatever the hell she wanted and refused to give explanations or orientations to anyone.

Still, whatever the three of them were doing, it was causing eerily similar reactions between the three of them. Because Bucky and Sam were currently leveling him with Natasha-esque glares of suspicion.

“Are we doing this sparring or what?” Steve asked petulantly.

“What are you up to, punk?” Bucky wondered.

“You can't stand, Darcy,” Sam reminded him. “And you want us to believe that you're volunteering your private personal time to help her with her thesis?”

“I never said that I---”

“You told me that I wasn't allowed to bring her around to lunch time in the canteen because she got under your skin,” Bucky reminded him.

“Just---let's spar, get this over with,” Steve ordered.

Bucky gave a concerned look Darcy's way. She was snapping pictures, oblivious to their conversation as her ipod probably blared music into her ears. She was very close to the mat, and he didn't want her to get hurt. “Darce? Sugar? Want to go take a seat?”

“Huh?” Darcy pulled an earbud out.

“You should go sit down, get out of the way,” Sam suggested from the sidelines.

“Nah, I---my camera is crap, I have to stay kind of close,” Darcy lied. Poorly.

Steve rolled his eyes. She was obviously awful at lying. He felt foolish for having thought her a spy behind a photostatic veil earlier that day. He had thought someone had made a likeness of her and threw her into his bed, knowing his hidden weakness for the girl.

“Sugar, I'd feel better if you---”

  
  


Bucky's cajoling was cut short by a fist inches away from his face, courtesy of Captain America. He dodged just in time, only to look back at Steve in anger.

“She'll be fine,” Steve huffed, dodging. a retaliatory swing.

Darcy plugged her ear bud back in and concentrated on staying within 10 feet of Steve at all times as the boys sparred. It was no easy task and she found herself hopping closer half a dozen times in the span of five minutes. The plan had been working, but Steve needed to work faster at ending the sparring. Sam was looking at her like she was crazy.

She really was a terrifically awful liar.

“Tell me true, you're not messing with my Darce, are you?” Bucky huffed, dodging another attack and reaching out with his metal arm, catching Steve's wrist and leveraging the hold into a swing of his friend's body to the floor. Steve hopped up quickly before Bucky could incapacitate him further.

“You guys adding a fourth?” Steve smirked back at him.

“She's at the top of the list,” Sam laughed, looking to a clueless Darcy as she continued to bop along with her music and snap pictures of Steve. “Won't say we didn't try.”

“She was hung up on this loser,” Bucky answered. “Wasn't interested in any of the three of us.”

“Anyone I know?” Steve darted to Bucky's left, gripping the wrist of the metal arm and pulling it behind his friends back.

  
  


“A real block head, definitely doesn't deserve any of that Sugar,” Bucky laughed. “The big dummy can't see the catch right in front of his face. Pretty dame, sweetest heart, all kinds of love for him and he won't give her the time of day.”

Bucky bent over and flipped Steve over to the other side of the mat.

  
  


“Jesus!” Darcy yelped out in pain, falling to her knees.

Steve's eyes widened at her as she cringed, trying to hide the convulsions the pain caused. He scrambled across the mat to get back within 10 feet. He could still see her muscles jumping at the pain and he pushed a hovering Bucky and Sam away from her and reached down to grab her hand. The muscle spasms stopped and Darcy took a breath of relief.

This had been a bad idea.

“I have a meeting,” Steve announced suddenly, pulling Darcy to her feet. “Grab your bag, Miss Lewis.”

* * *

“James and Sam warned me, but I didn't believe them.”

Steve looked up from his lunch to see a very curious Natasha staring at Darcy Lewis. Darcy Lewis, who had dutifully followed Steve around all morning with her earbuds in her ears and who was currently using her fork to mutilate the lunch she had barely touched while absently skipping through songs on her ipod, oblivious to the assassin looking at her with concern.

“What did you do to her?” Natasha demanded.

“Why would I do anything to her?” Steve countered. “She's working on her thesis and she wanted to see what a day in the life in Captain America is like.”

“Bull shit,” Natasha took her concerned eyes off of an oblivious Darcy and glared at Steve. “Why are you toying with her?”

“I'm not toying with her,” Steve defended himself. “I'm helping her.”

“Bull shit,” Natasha repeated. “Rogers, you're not that great with women, so I'm going to give you a helpful warning. Darcy is a friend to everyone on your team, past and present. If you think its fun to shun her one moment and abhor her presence and then decide to treat her like a stray kitten the next day----”

“Why is everyone saying that I---”

“You have treated her with disdain from her first words to you,” Natasha said clearly. “You've said in the past that she was a distraction, an _unnecessary_ distraction. You tried to get her moved off of base two days after Clint dropped her and Jane off. I know that you asked Thor to take her with them...”

Darcy's fork made a particularly vicious stab at the uneaten spaghetti on her plate. She had the earbuds in her ears all day to appear aloof and to avoid having to actually speak with Steve. But she hadn't had any music playing. She had heard every word. It was amazing what people would say if they thought their words weren't heard.

Bucky and Sam casually talking about how Steve couldn't stand her.

Rhodey had actually asked Steve if he wanted him to kindly ask Darcy to leave so she wouldn't annoy him during the morning meeting.

Maria Hill had asked jokingly if Steve had lost a bet to gain his unwanted shadow.

And now Natasha had basically revealed that Steve had actively tried to get rid of her.

Steve _hated_ her.

“I don't have to put up with this crap, Romanoff,” Steve muttered, grabbing his tray and getting up from the table. He walked about six feet away before turning to Darcy, who was staring down at her spaghetti, face hidden by her hair, her hands gripping the table. “Miss Lewis?”

Darcy nodded and went to stand, she took a deep breath and gripped the edge of the table as Steve walked away again. She couldn't follow. She couldn't look at him anymore. She had only ever wanted to gain his friendship, his respect...any crumb or shred of friendly attachment. She should have cut her loses a long time ago. If she had hardened her heart against him years ago it wouldn't hurt so bad to hear how he really thought about her.

This had to end. _Now_ .

She stood stubbornly as the unnatural pain spread down her spine, through her muscles and nerves as Steve stalked on ahead of her. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. If she could just deal with the pain for a moment, maybe whatever crazy science magic spell had taken their lives over would be broken.

“Darcy? Are you alright?” Natasha asked with quiet, acute concern.

Darcy was pale white, a thin film of cold sweat had broken out all over her body, blood trickled from her lip where she was biting it. One strangled whimper escaped her lips before she fell to the floor in a twitching heap of blissful, pain-free unconsciousness.

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Three: Stuck Like Glue **

“MEDIC!” Natasha screamed as Darcy fell. 

Steve stopped in his tracks and spun around to watch as Darcy hit the ground. He hadn't noticed that her shuffling footsteps hadn't been following him until Natasha yelled out. He had put at least thirty feet between them. Steve rushed back to Darcy, pushing Natasha out of the way and picked her up off of the floor. He cradled her body close to his, remembering that she said the close contact had helped earlier.

“Rogers, put her down,” Natasha ordered him. “She needs to go to the med bay. She was suffering from some sort of spinal injury or nerve damage.  Moving her may make it worse...”

“I'll take her....I'll---I'll explain on the way.”

Steve rushed out of the canteen, Natasha hot on his heels.

Steve adjusted Darcy in his arms easily, bringing her face closer to his. He nuzzled his nose against her hair and whispered,

“What were you thinking, Darcy? Why didn't you follow?”

Natasha did what she did best. She observed. She watched as Steve ran down the halls with Darcy clutched to him, his mouth next to her ear, whispering things that Natasha could barely make out. He kicked the door to the medical bay open and placed her on a nearby gurney.

“She needs pain medication. She may have nerve damage,” Natasha ordered one of the doctors who rushed towards them. She looked to a wildly concerned Steve, who held his hand against Darcy's cheek, his other hand pushing through his hair in clear desperation. She leveled him with a curious tilt to her head and asked, “Is it magic or is it science?”

“We don't know,” Steve shook his head. “I woke up and she was in my bed. I can't get more than ten feet from her or she ---well you saw what happened.”

“I did,” Natasha nodded. “It doesn't look pleasant.”

“No,” Steve took a deep breath. “I don't want her to be in pain. I'm not a monster.”

“No one accused you of being a monster,” the Black Widow disputed. “I am accusing you of being careless and capricious with her feelings.”

“Captain Rogers, we'll take her to a room now,” an orderly began pushing the gurney away.

“I want to go with,” Steve insisted in his best Captain America will do whatever the hell he wants voice. He followed the orderly closely, and Natasha in turn shadowed him. He looked back at his teammate and asked bluntly, “I need you to tell me if you know where Banner is. He may be able to help.”

“I don't know,” Natasha said honestly. “I would tell you if I knew I could help Darcy.”

“I've gotten that a lot today,” Steve sighed. “The lady who rings up the lunches gave me a death glare. Seems Miss Lewis has a lot of people looking out for her.”

“She needs it because she won't look out for herself,” Natasha laughed, leaning over and smoothing Darcy's hair away from her sweaty brow. “Cap...you have to understand how hard today must have been for her.”

“I'm not that bad to hang out with,” Steve joked, although his face was serious as he watched Natasha continuing to stroke Darcy's hair.

“She likes you,” Natasha whispered.

Steve had trouble finding his next words. He had known that Darcy liked him. He knew that. He didn't like to admit it, but he knew it. Bucky had hinted about it nonstop for the last three months. Stark had been like a starving dog with a damn bone about it in the past.

“Imagine, if you had a rather large unrequited crush,” Natasha sighed, looking up at Steve with no small amount of pity. “And you were forced to be within arm's reach of the objects of your affections. The only catch is you inherently know that they don't like you back.”

“I never---” Steve faltered. He couldn't dispute it. He had done nothing to dispute anyone's belief that he hated being around Darcy Lewis. He would argue to the death that she was better off without him.

Natasha tossed him Darcy's ipod and said, “Think over what people have been saying to you today. Her ipod is on mute. She heard every word.”

“God,” Steve breathed. He looked down at Darcy in shocked concern. No wonder she had stubbornly stayed behind and went through the pain. He'd rather be unconscious than listen to the garbage people had been spewing about him. He reached down and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly.

At some point Natasha slipped out of the room, promising him privacy until Darcy recovered. The doctor came in and gave her a shot for the pain and then they were alone, Steve sitting in a chair very close to the bed, his hand wrapped around hers. He sighed and watched as she slept, her mouth turned down in a frown, an angry and unwelcome crease between her eyebrows.

It had been so much easier to let everyone think that he hated her. Disdained her. Wanted her out of his sight. Because the quicker he could get her to go away, the further away he could push her, the easier it would be deny what he wanted.

“Its not that I didn't like you, Darcy,” he whispered to the unconscious young woman. He licked his lips and sighed heavily. “Its that---I _liked_ you. Too much.”

* * *

Loki watched from above and rolled his eyes. Captain America was an idiot.

If a mortal such as Darcy Lewis had pledged her affection and devotion to Loki, he would reward her.

And use her shamelessly.

And of course toss her to the side when she was spent and useless to him.

But Earth's most noble man had pushed her away. How disgustingly predictable.

“We will have to make things more interesting.”

* * *

Darcy blinked her eyes open and felt blissfully numb. She felt a pressure on her hand and looked down to see a rather large hand wrapped around her own. She looked to her right and Steve was sitting next to her, sitting in a chair, bent in half with his forehead against the mattress she was lying on top of.

“Captain Rogers,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“Mmmhmm,” Steve squeezed her hands as he drifted back to the land of the living, that same hum of contentment he had woken with earlier that day.  He looked up at her and blinked twice, squeezing her hand once more. “You decided you would want to be in a pain induced coma rather than spend one more minute following Captain America around.”

“Seems reasonable,” Darcy quipped sleepily. “Can we go home?”

Steve furrowed his brow at her, wanting more of an explanation from her about her heedless action.

“I mean---obviously not my or our home. Can we go to your---can we leave here?” Darcy managed to spit out, her cheeks flushing red, the heart monitor increasing.

“Doctor Cox will be around in about twenty minutes to check your vitals,” Steve nodded. He sat up straight in his chair with no small amount of discomfort.

“The chairs aren't really ergonomically designed,” Darcy said softly. She felt terrible that he had been physically compelled to sit with her.  She scooted on her bed and patted the space she had made. “Plenty of room up here, and the soft bed will cure what ails ya.”

“That's---it wouldn't,” Steve shook his head.

“Oh, right,” Darcy nodded, pulling her hand from his and folding it with her other hand. She looked down at her fingers, her face carefully blank.

Steve may have spent a lot of time in the past actively avoiding Darcy Lewis, but he knew her well enough. He knew well enough to realize that the girl staring down at her hands in the hospital bed, blinking back tears was a far cry from the Darcy Lewis who had busted into his life like a hurricane.

And he was to blame there.

He rose from the chair stiffly and hoisted himself up on the bed next to Darcy. He lifted an arm up tentatively, looking at her for permission.

“Okay,” she said softly, falling into his side as he wrapped an arm around her. “It really does feel better like this.”

They settled for a few precious minutes, breathing deeply, silent as could be.

And then the harsh call of the alarms made them both jump.  Instead of jumping to his feet, Steve's arm tightened around Darcy.  He looked to the door, expecting Natasha to bring them a report.  Instead, James Rhodes burst in with Sharon Carter hot on his heels.

"Got an unfriendly...real unfriendly," Rhodey announced, hiding any shock he may have felt at finding Steve cozying up to Darcy in a cuddly embrace.  He held up Steve's shield for the man to take.  "Looks alien, slimy, nasty with ridiculous antlers and its making its way up here.  Not at all in a stealthy manner."

Steve remained in the bed, looking between the shield and Darcy.  

"What the hell is going on here?" Sharon demanded irrately.  "This thing is  not here for a friendly visit, Captain.  Now's not the time for cuddling in the afterglow."

"Fuck off, Carter," Darcy rolled her eyes.  Sharon had arrived on base less than a month ago, and it had become very clear that Agent 13 had no small amount of animosity towards Darcy.  She'd love to level a few thousand snarky remarks Carter's way, but now was not the time.  She pushed Steve away and climbed out of the hospital bed herself.  She straightened out her clothes, thankful they hadn't changed her into a hospital gown during her brief stay.  

She stalked towards the door, turning an annoyed gaze to Sharon, then one of apology to Rhodey.  She grabbed Steve's shield with two hands, not surprised that it was incredibly heavy.  She walked back to Steve, who was sitting on the edge of her bed, shaking his head no impercetpibly.

"Let's go, Cap," Darcy insisted, she took a deep breath and hoisted the shield up with one arm.  "Don't think I won't go out and stop this thing on my own, cause I will."

"Darcy," Steve whispered to her.  "The team can handle it."

"Tell Captain America to get his star spangly ass out here!" Dr. Cox yelled from the nurse's station as all hell broke loose outside.  

Darcy rolled her eyes at him and heaved a heavy dramatic sigh.  She nodded at him and said, "Daring Darcy to the rescue then."

She turned and marched toward the door, getting nine feet away before hesitating a fraction of a second.  She took the next step past Sharon and made a slight whimper at the pain, although it felt slightly less than before.

The sound from Steve though...that wasn't a whimper of pain.

"Oh god," Steve groaned.  A shot of acute, concentrated heightened arousal went running straight through him.  He looked up to Darcy, meeting her wide, curious eyes with a dark, lustful gaze.  He closed the distance between them and he grabbed his shield from her, his free hand wrapping around her waist.  He pulled her flush to his body and stared down at her with uncontrollable, unabashed want.  "Stay close."

"O---okay," Darcy squeaked.

The smell of the beast that had been set loose in the facility brought to mind stories from Thor about rotten beasts...bilgesnipes.  And Darcy saw it as the doctors and nurses ran from the beast at the med bay doors, disgusting, revolting, antlered, slimy... _ so gross _ .

"It's a bilgesnipe," Darcy revealed.  "Thor said---there's a weak spot, you have to get it on its back and---"

Darcy tensed behind Steve, gripping on to the back of his shirt as the creature charged towards them with a terrifying roar.  Darcy was ready to move with Steve, to give him as much space as he would need to kick that disgusting thing's ass.  But he wasn't moving.  He was standing in a defensive position in front of her, the shield in front of him.  She pushed at him slightly, her hand firm on the warmth at the small of his back.

And he moaned.  Definitely in pleasure.

Before Darcy could question it, she felt a body tackle her down and away from Steve and she howled out in pain.  

"Lewis, what are you thinking?" Sharon Carter asked, looming above her.  "Now's not the time for your pathetic little crush!"

"Leave her alone!" Steve roared as he turned his back on the beast to walk towards where Sharon had knocked Darcy down.  He had to get to her.  She was in pain and he was---

Well he was experiencing a different pain altogether.  

The desire to reach out for her was all consuming.  He could feel it coursing through his veins, the need to touch, to consume her, to have her beneath him, to be inside of her...it was wildly inappropriate and lurid and the worst part was he knew that it wasn't the magic or science.

It was amplified but the feeling was real.  He had felt those particular urges in regard to her many times in the past.  Repeatedly.

Darcy swept Sharon's legs out from under her, knocking the former SHIELD agent down in a huff of surprise.  Darcy crawled towards Steve, a breath going through her at the relief his proximity brought to her overworked pain receptors.  

He sucked a breath of cool sweet relief in, before turning and taking the shield and tossing it at the beast that lumbered towards them.  It went flying back and landed on its back at the doors to the med bay, where Rhodey was ready for it with Nat, Bucky and Sam.

"The smooth spot, hit there!" Darcy yelled at them, taking some satisfaction as the four highly trained Avengers let loose.  She closed her eyes in relief and let out a squeak of surprise when she found strong arms under her, lifting her from her place on the floor and cuddling her close to a now familiar rock hard chest.  "What?"

"I have to keep you close, please," Steve murmured in her ear.  He didn't know what was worse, the perverse arousal he felt when she was pulled away or the easy warm contented attraction he felt when she was close.  He couldn't help but think he was in big trouble, either way.

"No arguments here, big guy," Darcy nodded.

Steve looked to the nurse's station where Dr. Cox was staring at the bilgesnipe in disgusted wonderment.  "I'm taking her home."

"Fine fine, outta my sight," the doctor shooed them in irritation. "Maybe the monsters and bad guys will follow you instead of destroying my med bay."

* * *

Steve finally placed Darcy back on solid ground when they were back in his quarters.  He followed two paces behind her as she walked into his kitchenette, looking through the fridge and pulling out a few things.  

"Sorry, I know its rude to go through stuff, but I didn't eat today, and I'm starving," Darcy smiled up at him.  "And if you're anything like Bucky, I know that you could always eat."

"I'm worse," Steve promised, watching as she quickly put together a mountain of sandwiches with any appetizing leftovers and provisions she found.  

She waited until she had finished one sandwich (he had finished three in that same time) before clearing her throat and asking, "Is something---different now?  I mean, when Sharon knocked me over, you seemed....affected."

"Yeah," Steve nodded.  He looked down at his hands, his face flushing with embarrassment.  "It's not pain though."

"Yeah, I guessed as much," Darcy nodded.  "When I get my hands on whoever or whatever did this, I'm going to make sure they know what complete and total asshats they are.  I mean it really went for the gusto.  I hate pain.  Always have.  And you hate--- you don't want to feel that way, I'm sure."

Steve stood there stupidly with a sandwich in his mouth, watching as Darcy tried to bury her insecurity.  He knew he should say something, but no words would come out.  He watched as she cleaned up the counters and wrapped up any extra food.  When she was done he reached out for her hand, pulling her along as he made his way back to his bedroom.

Darcy was about to question him when he firmly placed her on the bed they had vacated hastily that morning.  He followed her down and gripped her hand in his again, his thumb stroking against the smooth, soft skin of her wrist.

"Go to sleep, Miss Lewis."

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Four: Stuck On You **

Darcy woke before Steve again with the urgent need for a bathroom.  The heavy arms that clamped around her body, holding her tight against a blissfully sleeping Steve would have made it impossible to escape, even if she could walk more than 10 feet away from him at a time.  

She knew that as soon as the awful spell/science mojo was broken, this forced closeness would be replaced with cool distance, so she told her bladder to simmer down as she took whatever enjoyment she could.  Her leg was draped between Steve's, her arms wrapped around his torso.  His cheek was against the top of her head, which rested on his shoulder comfortably.  

They had fallen asleep holding hands, but separate.  They had woken up in an identical position to the day prior.  Steve was clutching her to him like a prized toy, his facial expression nearly euphoric in his deep sleep, his patently unfair eyelashes resting on dusty cheeks, lips parted and blowing out shallow, silent breaths.  

She squirmed until her hand was free and she brought it up to his face, cupping his jaw in worshipful reverence.  He moaned in his sleep and pressed his face into her hand like a cat pleading for more petting.  Darcy couldn't help but grin.

Captain America was _SO_ into cuddling.

He stretched in his sleep, jostling her body so that her thigh was now rubbing directly against his crotch and  _ hello there, soldier _ !

Darcy bit her lip as she made a slow, shallow movement with her leg, biting her bottom lip as she fought with the urge to imprint every solid inch of him in her brain.  She was ruining herself for any other man, she knew it.  But if she was being totally honest, she had ruined herself for other men the moment she had blurted out "You're pretty" to him in a closet in Stark Tower.

"Mmmhmmmm," Steve hummed, which Darcy had figured was the telltale sign that he was about to blink those gorgeous peepers of his open.

Before he could realize their cuddling position or that she was basically dry humping him in his sleep, she managed to squeak out, "If you don't move, I'm going to wet the bed."

Steve released her and watched as she hopped out of the bed, rushing towards the bathroom.  She yelped with pain when Steve didn't follow, but her yelp was drowned out by the sinful sound of Steve groaning in pleasure.  

He was up and out of the bed in a flash and crossed the room to her, picking her up by her waist, her back against the bathroom door, his body a solid wall against her.  He looked down at her with darkened, half-lidded eyes, his knee nudging her legs apart, one hand on her waist, the other on her right thigh, bringing it up and encouraging her to wrap her legs high around his hips.  

"Steve?" Darcy whispered.  "You okay?"

Steve brought his nose to nuzzle at her temple, breathing her in as his hips gave an involuntary snap into her.

"Oh god," Darcy moaned as he snapped his hips into her again and she felt her vision go slightly blurry at the intense pleasure those two quick movements had given her.  She felt his lips against her jaw and she whimpered.  "Please..."

"Sorry, sorry," Steve mumbled against her skin, trying to gain control of his actions.  He felt like an animal, unable to stop himself from attacking her, from rutting against the soft heat of her.  He forced his arms to put her down, to let go of the softness of her, to take in deep, calming breaths, his forehead leaning against the top of her head.  "Sorry."

"It's the science voodoo," Darcy managed to whisper.  "I know its not you. I'm sorry."

"Can you---you can take a shower while you're in there?  I'll stay right here," Steve promised, keen to get her out of the room so he could take matters into his own hands.  "Take your time, I'll find you something to wear."

"Okay," Darcy whispered, opening the door and closing it.  She leaned her head against the door and took in a deep breath, pushing it out again between pursed, trembling lips.  She looked back at the shower, praying for a detachable shower head...

* * *

Steve had brought himself to completion twice in the span of ten minutes, which was a record even for him and his serum enhanced libido.  He was saved from any further arousal at the knocking on his bedroom door.

"Come in," Steve called out hoarsely.

Natasha strode in with a duffle bag and gave Steve a questioning arch of her eyebrow.  She dropped the bag next to him and said, "The team is asking questions.  It would be best for you and Darcy to be off base today.  I'm attempting to contact Thor."

"Thor?" Steve furrowed his brow.

"This reeks of Loki's agenda," Natasha nodded.  "Mischief.  Mayhem.  Pain."

"Not all pain," Steve sighed.  "I---I feel things too."

"Yeah, I noticed yesterday, first time I ever heard you make a noise like that," Natasha nodded.  "Didn't think you had those parts, Rogers."

"They took longer to thaw," Steve rolled his eyes at her.  

"Hmm," Natasha nodded.  She toed the duffle bag and said, "Clothing for Darcy.  Tell her I was proud of her for taking Carter down.  Good to see she pays attention to my training in the gym, instead of just ogling your biceps."

"Thanks, Natasha," Steve sighed.

"Try to have some fun today.  You both need it."

* * *

Darcy was fiddling with the wet ends of her hair next to the bathroom door.  Steve had switched places with her after she was finished in the bathroom and she was valiantly trying not to think about him in the shower.  From the flush on her face, she had epically failed.  She had been attempting to braid her hair, as any bun or ponytail would inspire a headache in her already overworked pain receptors, but her short stubby fingers would not do what she wanted them to.  

Steve opened the door cautiously and peeked out.  Darcy was assaulted with a mile wide stretch of the glorious pectoral muscles that was Steve's chest at her eye level and she could feel her eyes roll back into her head from the sheer awesome that was.  

"I forgot a shirt," Steve said by way of apology, rushing past her and going to his closet.  Darcy sighed and went back to ineptly braiding her hair as he hid the eye candy behind a plain white t-shirt and a navy blue jacket.  He looked back at her curiously and said, "Do you need help?  Are your hands hurting from earlier?"

"No, I'm just bad with braids," Darcy sighed.  "I usually just pile it in a bun..."

"I can help...you want a french braid?" Steve wondered.

"Captain America can french braid hair?" Darcy furrowed her brow.

"And do victory rolls, and set rollers, and if your nylons ever run, I know a few miracle cures," Steve smirked at her.  "I spent a few years with a lot of show girls.  I learned a lot of things."

"I'll bet," Darcy dryly shot back.  She walked over to the edge of the bed and plopped down.  "Make  me pretty, Cap."

_ She was plenty pretty enough already. _

Steve bit back the compliment on the tip of his tongue.  He was finding it easier to fall into easy banter with her and that was dangerous.  Most people of smartass persuasions found that easy, light, teasing banter was about 1000 percent more attractive and arousing than normal stimulus.  Steve was a smartass.  He loved back and forth banter.  And just as he had guessed after first meeting Darcy Lewis, she was definitely of the same smartass persuasion.  

**She** was dangerous.

His large, long fingers worked diligently and quickly and before Darcy knew it he had flipped the long tail of a perfectly done braid over her shoulder at her.  

"Do you have an extra jacket?" Darcy wondered.  "Nat didn't bring me one."

"Sure...you good with leather?"  Steve reached into his closet and pulled out his old soft brown leather jacket.  

Darcy recognized it.  He had been wearing it when she had met him.

"Sure," Darcy whispered, allowing him to help her shrug into it.  She took a deep breath and felt her knees quake.  Dear lord, he was going to be the death of her.

"So yesterday was a disaster," Steve admitted.

"Just a little," Darcy nodded.

"Instead of trying to follow Captain America around all day, how about we just go into town, and relax?" Steve suggested.

"That sounds amazeballs, Captain.  Lead on."

* * *

"You don't really expect me to believe that you need all of those lewd magnets."

"It's not just the goofy magnets.  I got a couple boxes of poetry magnets, too.  It'll give everyone stuff to do during boring flights in the quinjet," Darcy countered triumphantly.

"The quinjets interior is high impact plastic," Steve informed her with no small amount of righteousness.

"Yes, and Barnes has a _metal arm_ and it is big and lovely and half of these magnets would look very nice on it," Darcy giggled, holding up a brightly colored magnet with a baby kitten on it.  

"Fine, charge the magnets to the Avengers card," Steve sighed.  He paused and looked at her suspiciously, "My shield is metal..."

"Yes, but I wouldn't put magnets on the shield," Darcy promised him. She waited until he looked like he accepted her statement before grinning at him mischievously, "I'm going to the sticker store next door and getting eight boxes of scratch and sniffs.  Just imagine whipping that at a bad guy and telling him to take a whiff of the Very Berry sticker row of truth, justice and the American Way!"

* * *

"How much food can you eat? Is there like a scientific term?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Steve smirked at her.

"So can I call it a fuckton of food?" Darcy wondered as she watched Steve demolish his third plate of food at the Chinese buffet.  "How have you not been banned from here yet?"

"I leave a big tip."

* * *

"Can we see the cartoon movie?"

"Oh thank God," Darcy blew out a happy breath.  "I hate horror movies and historical movies and Oscar bait.  Cartoons are the best bet."

They bought their tickets and Darcy laughed as Steve went straight for the concession stand.  In ten minutes, they were both loaded down with sodas, giant vats of popcorn, nachos, tiny soft pretzel logs and ten boxes of candy.  

"You're the best date ever," Darcy laughed as she sat down next to him and their assorted concession stand bounty.  She picked at a box of reese's pieces and popped a few in her mouth.  "I can have a bit of everything and you'll just pack away the rest."

"You can't have any more Reese's pieces, they're my favorite," Steve tried to take the box away from her, but she evaded him.  "Darcy...they're my  _ favorite _ ."

"Captain America needs to learn how how to share!" Darcy cackled, placing the box against her lips and dumping as many as she could take into her mouth.  She stared back at him with hugely bulging cheeks full of candy and crossed her eyes at him.

"Try not to choke," Steve rolled his eyes.  Picking through the candy selection for his second favorite candy, Peanut Butter M&M's,  he put them in his jacket pocket to keep away from her in case she figured it out.

* * *

"Ice cream?  REALLY?"

Steve blushed at Darcy's amazement at his bottomless stomach.  He shrugged and said, "I don't get out much.  It's kind of nice to hit all the places I wanted to before."

"Okay, ice cream it is.  I need to get my hands on some cookies and cream anyway," Darcy shrugged.

"I like the cotton candy flavor," Steve admitted, unable to hide his sweeth tooth from her after a full day out.

" ** HEATHEN ** ."

* * *

They spent two full hours in an old book store, each secretly pleasantly surprised that their tastes ran in similar veins so that they effortlessly stayed within ten feet of each other.  Darcy had filled a bag with a bunch of old classics, including a hard cover copy of a A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which she had pronounced her favorite.

"Buck and I read that overseas.  We bought it just cause it had Brooklyn in the title," Steve laughed.  "It was a good read.  Don't tell him I told you, but Bucky cried."

"Who wouldn't?" Darcy scoffed.  She leveled a mock glare at Steve and said, "Only the small hearted would read this coming of age tale about their hometown and not feel a little sniffly, Steve."

"I have been known to be particularly small hearted," Steve nodded.  He checked his watch and sighed.  It was nearly eight at night and he hadn't heard from Natasha yet.  His hand drifted down and grabbed onto Darcy's, linking their fingers together without really realizing what he was doing.  "So...dinner?”

* * *

The small Italian restaurant was blissfully empty and Steve had no qualms with pulling an extra table close to theirs to assemble his many plates of food.  Darcy had only asked for an empty plate and treated Steve's 'meal' as her very own sampler platter, taking bits and pieces of food off of each of his entree's and compiling her own impressive meal.

"Nat hasn't called yet," Darcy said softly.  

"No, she hasn't," Steve nodded.  He smiled at her and reached out a hand to squeeze her shoulder.  "I'm sure we'll figure it out soon.  You won't be stuck with me forever."

"Today wasn't so bad," Darcy mumbled.  "You're much nicer when you're not being all Captainy.  I like spending time with you, Steve."

Steve swallowed and looked away from her honest blue gaze.  The girl couldn't hide her thoughts and emotions for the life of her.  She had just aimed a beam of admiration and adoration at him and he wanted to shake her out of it.  He didn't deserve that look from her.  He hadn't deserved one moment, one touch, one soft word from her  but he had greedily taken everything she could give him.  

His cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he answered it without looking at the caller id, "Rogers."

"Stevie...we got a call to assemble," Bucky relayed over the phone.  "Get your ass back here.  Wheels up in twenty."

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Five: Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of **

Steve should have put his foot down.  He should have insisted that the team go on without him.  He should have thought about this as soon as he realized that he couldn't be further than 10 feet from Darcy, thought about the potential danger she was in and figured out a better way to keep her safe. He focused on the shadows behind the curtain on the quinjet and watched as Natasha helped Darcy into a tactical suit before the rest of the team appeared.

"I wish we had thought about this!" Darcy whined as Natasha yanked on the leather stuck at her hips.  "Then we could have gotten a better fitting suit."

"You'll be fine," Natasha insisted softly.  She yanked the suit up again and put her lips against Darcy's ear, "He won't be able to keep his eyes off of you."

"Pfffft," Darcy blew a raspberry at her childishly as Natasha zipped her up the front.  She winced and said, "THIS IS NOT MEANT FOR BOOBS!"

"This is not meant for an  _ overabundance  _ of boobs," Natasha laughed, slapping Darcy on her rear end playfully.  She leered at the sight of a skin tight suit on Darcy's clingy curves and murmured, "You sure you don't want to help me out with those solider boys?  Plenty of room in that king sized bed. Or we could have some fun of our own..."

"So very tempting, but I'm kind of stuck on someone else now," Darcy giggled at her own corniness.  She took a deep breath, marched around the makeshift privacy curtain and stuck out her chin in mock bravado.  "Do I look competent enough not to get you killed out there, Cap?"

"You look, uhm, I---" Steve muttered nonsensically as he looked her over.  The leather and kevlar left very little room for the imagination.  He felt like he had been pulled to the other side of the jet, his gut pooling with warm, viciously lustful thoughts.  He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and take her back to his bed. He wanted to rip the damned suit right off of her with his bare hands. His pulse was racing and he could feel sweat dripping down the back of his neck as he tried desperately to cool the response of his body to the sight of her.  He held out a bullet proof vest and said, "Put it on, please."

"Oh, yes, please more bullet proof kevlar," Darcy nodded, shrugging into it with Nat's help.  

Steve held out another vest to her, this one a size larger.  Natasha rolled her eyes at him, but helped Darcy into that one as well.  The Black Widow crossed her arms and blatantly refused to take the third bullet proof vest.

“You can't make me a Russian nesting doll of bullet proof vests, Steve!” Darcy laughed.  "Three layers of kevlar will be fine."

"We should have gotten you a helmet," Steve muttered.  "Or---maybe if we can get you to medical and knock you out with some drugs or something until I get back..."

"You want to put her in a coma?" Natasha scoffed.  

"No---just, asleep so she can't feel the pain," Steve insisted.

"That's a coma, you idiot," Natasha shook her head in amusement.

"We have to go, it's Vision and Wanda," Darcy said softly.  The assemble call had been because Vision and Wanda were in a tight spot on their reconnaissance mission and needed a speedy extraction.  She wasn't going to let herself be the reason that those two sweet kids got hung out to dry.

"Woah.  Boobs," Clint declared as he hopped onto the plane, followed by Sam, Bucky and Rhodey.  Hawkeye tilted his head to the right in a curious gesture and asked, "Is Darcy an Avenger now?  She gonna Boob them to death?"

"Clint," Natasha warned.

"I take it back," Clint said quickly, nodding at Steve and grinning at Darcy on his way to the quinjet controls.  "Carry on.  Give me a half hour and we'll be there."

"I disagree with my bird brother, here," Sam furrowed his brow as he stared at Darcy and poked at her second bulletproof vest.  "This is taking the whole day in the life class project a little far."

"She's not coming in with us, Vision was pretty clear that its not safe," Bucky shook his head.  

"I'm coated in Kevlar," Darcy disputed.

"Sugar, you look adorable and I would recommend you to wear the tactical suit ALL the damned time for my own personal enjoyment," Bucky nodded.  "But, I'm not letting you step one foot off of this plane."

"She's a subject matter expert here," Natasha said cleanly, meaning it was the end of the conversation.

“Which subject? The narcotics, the Hydra or the advanced alien tech they're making into weaponry?” Rhodey drolly wondered under his breath.

The next half hour went quickly, with Bucky, Sam and Natasha making Darcy pose in her suit, giving her various weaponry to hold for the numerous photos they were taking for their own nefarious purposes.  Steve watched with the blankest look he could muster, committing some of the poses to memory to sketch out later.  She'd make a great comic strip.   _ Daring Darcy _ .

Clint announced their landing, and Darcy bounced on the balls of her feet next to Steve, giving every indication that she was going to follow him off the plane. The tension in the air thickened as Bucky, Sam and Rhodey stared at their Captain in annoyance.

“Darcy, I will tell you I'm impressed with the hand to hand skills you've picked up in the last few years, and I know you're competent with the taser,” Rhodey said gently, smiling at the girl as kindly as he could. “But you're still an un-enhanced civilian...I don't feel comfortable with you going out there.”

“Cap, level with us,” Sam demanded. “This is weird. I don't care how you feel about Lewis on a regular day, you have the right to dislike anyone you want. But bringing her in with us like this is irresponsible and---man, it's not like you to put a civilian at risk. I don't like this. I didn't sign up to bring an innocent, sweet girl like Darcy into a warzone!”

“Dammit, punk, just tell us the truth,” Bucky ordered. He put a hand on Darcy's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, seeing how her mouth had turned downward and her eyes had glazed over with the threat of tears at Sam's implication that Steve didn't like her very much. He knew Steve didn't hate Darcy. He had a suspicion that it was very much the opposite of Steve _hating_ Darcy. If Steve didn't figure it out and fast, Bucky would figure it out for him or find a damned way to steal her out from under him. He hated seeing Darcy upset.

“We're stuck together,” Darcy whispered. “We woke up two days ago, in bed together and since then, we can't go further than 10 feet from each other. When I try I can't get far. And when Steve does it and gets further than 10 feet, I—I, It hurts.”

“That's why you were in medical yesterday?” Rhodey asked quietly. “Natasha said it was nerve damage!”

“It was,” Natasha confirmed.

“You mook!” Bucky slapped Steve's head with the stronger metal hand, truly and completely angry with his idiot of a best friend.  “Why would you walk away from her if it hurts her?”

“You put her in the hospital, Steve,” Sam muttered angrily.

“ That was me!” Darcy defended. “I just...I was being stubborn and Steve didn't know I wasn't following him...I was just upset and emotional after hearing you guys talk about how---you  _ know _ , Bucky.”

“Darce,” Bucky said softly, wrapping her in a hug. “I'm so sorry. I didn't know you could hear, Sugar.”

“I didn't need super solider hearing, I was ten feet away and the ipod was on mute.  And it wasn't just you, people were awful all day,” Darcy sniffled. She felt another strong body against her back as Sam hugged her and Bucky together. “It's okay guys. I'm alright now.”

Steve looked away from the trio hugging and stared down at the floor, guilt swirling in his stomach. He didn't hate Darcy. He didn't. He should be able to tell her that. He should be able to admit out loud that he cared about her. Not just because they were tied together by magic or science or whatever it was that had gotten them into this situation, but because he liked her. He did care if she was safe or not. He cared too much. But he was broken. He couldn't pull her down.

“I'm sitting this one out,” Steve announced suddenly. “I'll run point from the quinjet.”

“NO!” Darcy pushed herself out of the super hot soldier sandwich she had found herself in. She turned to him and glared. “I'll wear the third bullet-proof vest if you want, it'll be fine!”

“The team will be fine, they can handle this without me,” Steve shook his head, resolute in his opinion. “It's too much of a risk to have you out there. What if---”

“NO!” Darcy repeated, her shout echoing and bouncing off of the quinjet's walls. “What if they need you, and you're not there because of ME and then one of the team gets HURT. Absolutely not! I'm not going to have anyone's blood on my hands!”

“Darce, Sugar, we'll be fine,” Bucky reassured her.

“Listen to him short and stacked!” Clint called from the cockpit. “If anyone knows Hydra, it's Barnes.”

Darcy looked to Bucky with wide, apologetic blue eyes. She was decided. This was Hydra. The only thing she knew would keep Bucky absolutely safe in this situation was one patriotic frisbee wielded by one Captain J. America. Her eyes darted to Natasha and bless her, she gave a short nod to Darcy in acknowledgment of the instantaneous plan that Darcy had formed.

Clint landed and the quinjet's bay door opened. Vision and Wanda were waiting for them outside and both looked at the occupants of the quinjet with nearly identical curiosity. Vision looked like he was about to make a suggestion, but couldn't form the words before Darcy took off at a run for the open door.

“DARCY!” Steve yelled, unable to stay standing still after hearing her first whimper of pain. He shuffled a few feet forward reluctantly. For the first time since their connection, her strength outmatched his and she pushed past the barrier and he felt a twinge of the pain she had been feeling since they woke up two days ago instead of the much more fun arousal he had flirted with the day before.

It was excruciating.

“Jesus Christ, Darce!” Bucky yelled out to her as she kept walking.

“We have a job to do!” Darcy yelled back at him. “Let's go, Captain Pain in My Ass!”

Natasha was the first to follow her, slapping against the back of Steve's head on the way out as hard as she could so that the pain would register over the nerve pain his stubbornness was currently invoking.

“Cap?” Sam asked. He tossed Steve the shield and said, “She's gonna keep walking...might as well go and get the job done.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Six: Stick with it **

It hadn't gone as badly as it could have gone.

Steve's nerves were shot, that was for sure.

They had stormed the warehouse after cutting the electricity to the facility. Once Steve had caught up with Darcy, he had forcefully ordered her to stay directly behind him at all times. Clint's sole purpose had been to keep any potential threat to her away from the perch he made himself on the roof.

“Hey short and stacked, I think I like having you in battle. It makes arrow retrieval easier,” Clint had told her on the flight back to the new Avengers Facility. Because Darcy had been industrious enough to pull arrows out of fallen enemies that littered the ground with minimal face pulling and no gagging.

Bucky and Sam had went slack jawed when she had explained it was because she lacked a gag reflex.

Natasha had petted Darcy's hair the entire flight back because she had been so proud that the girl had actually taken out one attacker who had dodged Clint's arrows. Natasha declared her teacher's pet and promised to reward her handsomely whenever Darcy got rid of that idiot attached to her.

Steve had been knocked away from her only once during the battle, and Rhodey had flown in and scooped her up, tossing her to within the acceptable ten foot radius immediately. Darcy's pain had been brief and Steve had found that if she didn't force herself away from him he felt no pain, only that ridiculous desire for her. It had been hard for him to concentrate after that brief separation as he couldn't get his hands on her to calm himself down afterward.

Bucky had helped Darcy rid herself of the bullet-proof vests as soon as they hit the quinjet, and then he and Sam spent the rest of the flight home leering at Natasha and Darcy, muttering to each other. Steve swore he heard Sam talking about how they should try and convince Darcy to come to _game night_ one more time.

Steve would rather smack his head into his shield repeatedly at full strength than see that happen. He felt a flare of possessiveness take over as he watched Darcy curl herself against Wanda while Natasha continued to pet her.

He was going to tell her. He had to tell her how he felt.

“Hold on!” Clint called out from the cockpit.

The plane hit a bump of air and everyone slid, Darcy more so than anyone, falling to the floor and sliding to the other end of the plane.

“Shit, ow, ow ow,” Darcy whimpered.

Steve was out of his seat at the first mad thumping of his heart and he rushed to her, scooping her off the ground and holding her close. He didn't know if he was pleased or dismayed to see that his pain was gone entirely and the arousal was back in full force. It was probably inconvenient that the entire team was currently on the quinjet with them.

At the moment he couldn't give one small iota of a damn as he walked back to his seat and sat down, Darcy cradled in his lap. He took deep, measured breaths through his open mouth as he placed his face in the crook of her neck, his arms tightening around her. He hummed an approval when Darcy ran a hand through the hair at the base of his neck in a soothing manner. He needed this. Every time he felt that arousal, the only way to make it feel better was to touch her. Intimately.

It was a win-win really. Darcy's pain disappeared when she was touched. His arousal was sated by touching.

Screw his nosy teammates.

“ Uhm....”Sam said quietly, as Steve's hands began massaging the back of Darcy's thigh. He couldn't blame the hands. That tactical suit was damned enticing and Darcy's thighs were second only to Natasha's in his opinion. But Captain America looked like he was seriously close to ripping the damned thing off of Darcy's body at that point. He honestly didn't know who he was jealous of, Steve or Darcy, really. He was definitely thinking that Steve's blatant refusal to be around Darcy wasn't because he  _ hated  _ her. Captain Repressed, indeed. “Barton? How much longer?”

“Fifteen minutes out,” Barton relayed.

“It is a clever condition,” Vision nodded, turning to Wanda, who must have been conversing with him telepathically. “Whoever is responsible for this trick is cruel....but very clever.”

“Care to fill us in, champ?” Bucky wondered, watching as Steve planted his cheek against Darcy's ample, barely contained bosom. He blew out an exaggerated breath and muttered, “Lucky _bastard_.”

“I believe that Miss Lewis' pain is caused by distance from the Captain,” Vision relayed, ignoring Darcy's giggles as Steve's nose pressed into her cleavage. “It is a physical manifestation of her feelings.”

“And the Captain does not feel pain at the distance,” Wanda continued. A well-timed groan of contented pleasure made Wanda smirk. “His torture is a different species altogether.”

“He felt pain earlier,” Rhodey disputed from the cockpit, keeping his eyes on the path ahead of them, since Clint, who was actually the pilot was avidly staring back at an inappropriately cuddling Captain America.

“That's because _she_ was putting the distance between them,” Natasha answered, reaching for her phone and taking multiple shots of the couple in question, who were completely zoned out to the team's conversation. Steve's face was a mask of bliss, and she doubted he was in complete control of his body at that moment. She smirked, Steve definitely needed to lose control more often.

“You are, as always, quite correct, Miss Romanoff,” Vision nodded. “Physical manifestations tied to feelings and forced to obey the strict rules of our physical world.”

“So...still science and mojo mashed together,” Sam nodded. Speaking of mashed together, Steve pulled Darcy even tighter, his neck craning and letting a kiss land on her jaw. He looked to Natasha curiously and whispered, “Are you sure sex-pollen isn't a real thing?”

“Shut it bird boy,” Natasha hissed back at him.

“Do you think you can figure it out?” Bucky wondered of Vision.

“I will devote my every effort in order to end their suffering,” Vision promised.

Darcy couldn't help the mixture of a squeal and whimper that escaped her mouth as Steve's mouth did positively sinful things to her ear.

“Hate to break it to you, champ, but they ain't suffering,” Bucky laughed.

* * *

“I'm really sorry about what happened on the plane.”

Darcy looked up at Steve as they stood in the empty locker room. His face was flushed and he looked embarrassed. She sighed and gave him a double thumbs up.

“Cuddling is always good, no matter the circumstances, even if it was the science mojo making you do it,” Darcy promised. “I once programmed Dum-E to cuddle. The Stark-inator had not been pleased.”

“I would imagine he wasn't,” Steve shook his head in bemusement.

“Do missions always make you hungry and in desperate need for a shower?” Darcy wiggled in her tactical suit uncomfortably.

Steve swallowed as his traitorous eyes lingered over the curves of her body as she wiggled. He rubbed the back of his head and nodded sheepishly.

“The canteen will have a few boxed meals waiting for us. They always have them after missions,” Steve admitted. “Uhm...we can shower here together.”

  
  


Darcy's eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

“Not—not in the same shower, I mean, they have shower stalls, and we can both shower at the same time,” Steve stammered.

“Peachy keen,” Darcy nodded. “Lead the way, Captain.”

She began fiddling with the front zipper of the tactical suit and realized that between the overall snugness of Natasha's suit and the fact that she was a sweaty mess underneath it, she was in for an uncomfortable undressing. Steve handed her a basket of toiletries and said, “You can use Natasha's stuff.”

“Sweet, you know she has the good stuff,” Darcy smiled. She walked to an empty stall and Steve followed. She unzipped the suit a little and did her best to rid herself of the leather and kevlar but found that she could only manage to get one shoulder out of it. It was getting increasingly uncomfortable. She squirmed and must have made a sound of discomfort.

“Miss Lewis?” Steve wondered. “Darcy? Are you okay?”

“ I'm  _ stuck _ ,” Darcy whined. “I can't get out of this damned thing!”

Steve felt his eyes roll into the back of his head in downright pleasure. He looked down at his own state of undress. He had a lot more practice getting the suit off, and was only wearing the pants slung low on his hips at that point. He heard Darcy whimpering again and stepped out of his shower stall, looking over the door to hers.

“Permission to help you, Miss Lewis?”

“Permission TOTALLY granted,” Darcy pouted. “I mean, you were fondling my ass on the plane, Captain Rogers, I think you've earned the right to peel me out of this thing.”

Steve stepped into her shower stall and put his hands at the top of her zipper, his fingertips brushing the swells of her breasts. He swallowed as the breasts in question heaved up and down with the force of Darcy's breathing. He gripped the material of the tactical suit as hard as he could and ripped a line in the fabric straight down until the waistband of Darcy's low rise panties appeared.

His hands went to her shoulders, rubbing bare skin as he pulled the suit from her tacky flushed skin. He could feel her shallow breaths hitting his neck as he crowded against her, his hands pushing and peeling the fabric off of her body. His eyes made contact with hers as he went to his knees, staring up at her as he gripped the fabric at the top of one leg.

One rip and her right leg was free. He moved to the second leg, still maintaining eye contact with her, his long fingers grazing her left inner thigh before he gripped the last vestiges of whole fabric, ripping it off of her with a huff of breath.

She stood before him in her underwear, staring down at him as she forced herself to breath. She wanted to grab his head by fistfuls of hair and force that parted mouth against her skin but she managed to stop that particular itching of her fingers. Instead she forced a smile and managed a soft,

“Thanks.”

Steve smiled as he slowly rose to stand in front of her once more, his hands full of ruined tactical suit. He meant to tell her it was no problem. His traitorous mouth had other ideas.

“Miss Lewis, it was my _genuine_ pleasure.”

* * *

He should say something. The had finished their late night snack and it was now approaching close to three in the morning. He knew they were five minutes from falling into bed together and he knew he would wake up with her clutched to his body again.

He should be able to get the words out of his mouth.

_ Darcy I don't hate you. I could never hate you. _

Darcy yawned and smiled at him as she cleaned up the mess from their post mission snack.

“Sleepy,” she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.

_ How could I let you ever think that I hated you? You're perfect. You're beautiful and kind and smart and every touch that I've stolen from you in the last two days is something I'll cherish  _ .

“Come on, Steve,” Darcy yawned again, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards his bedroom. “I will warn you that when I'm THIS tired, I usually wind up drooling. And snoring.”

_ You should run away from me before I can ruin all of this. Ruin you. You should run and save yourself. Save your heart. I lose everything I care about. It gets taken from me in the most brutal of ways. I won't be able to keep you so you should run before you wind up dead or hating me. _

Darcy pulled him down on the bed and made no attempt to fall asleep separately. She waited until his head hit the pillows before curling up against him, adjusting his arms around her, placing her head on his chest. She hummed in contentment and was asleep in seconds.

His arms gripped her tightly to him.

_ Please don't leave  _ .

He placed a kiss in her hair and blinked into a deep comfortable sleep.

_ I'll make it right, I swear  _ .

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Seven: Stick to the Status Quo **

Steve blinked his eyes open with a familiar hum of contentment and looked down at Darcy, who was still asleep. He carefully rolled her to the opposite side of the bed and lazily stretched. A quick check of the clock confirmed that it was 11:30 in the morning. He had slept a full eight hours.

It had been a while since he had found such peace in sleep. It had probably been before the war, maybe when his mother was still alive. He blinked wearily and realized that it was all Darcy. She was like a balm for his soul.

She was too damned good for him.

He blearily stumbled towards his bathroom, counting his steps carefully, managing to get to the toilet without hearing the telltale cries of pain. He washed his hands and began to brush his teeth when Darcy must have rolled to the other side of the bed in her sleep. He felt the jolt of arousal run through him and heard her whimper in her sleep.

Steve threw his toothbrush down and ran back into the room, diving for the bed and taking her back into his arms.

“wha?” Darcy mumbled.

“Sorry, I'm so sorry Darcy,” Steve whispered. His lips pressed against random spots on her face repeatedly. “Didn't mean to wander too far...you moved.”

“I usually am a pretty---acrobatic sleeper, you know when I'm not being clamped down in super soldier arms,” Darcy sighed as Steve rolled her onto her back as he kissed at her temple. “If I was a lesser woman, I might have tried to force this out of you on purpose.  Screw the pain.”

Steve chuckled as he continued to kiss along her jaw. His nose nudged at her chin, pushing it upwards so that his mouth could have more access to the porcelain skin of her neck. She whimpered beneath him, parting her thighs so that he could nestle himself between them.

“'m Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Don't...this is the most exquisite torture anyone has ever designed,” Darcy hissed in pleasure as Steve's hips snapped into her body. “I'm sorry---you don't _want---”_

“No, no, no,” Steve insisted, punctuating each denial with a kiss to her collarbone. His hands flexed on her hips as he ground down against her once more. “It's not that I---I do. I _want_.”

“Steve?” Darcy whispered, her knees bending, her feet resting on the back of his calves. She moaned as he pressed into her again, feeling his hard arousal through his sweatpants and her own.

“I'm sorry,” he shook his head, nudging her chin with his nose again, making her face tilt down.

His lips landed on hers for the first time and Darcy saw stars. She wondered if the girls in the chorus had taught Steve to french braid hair, fix nylons AND KISS because he was currently kissing her stupid. Firm lips sucked on her bottom lip, pulling her mouth open and then his tongue was grappling with hers in the most intricate, sensual dance. Darcy whimpered underneath him as his throat rumbled with a pleasured moan.

Her thighs squeezed in an erratic pattern, pressing herself against his length, working tirelessly to achieve a satisfying conclusion. Steve's hands still clenched on her hips, pulling her against him in harmony with her own thrusts.

“Oh god,” Steve broke the heady kiss, his mouth open, eyes shut tight as he pressed her down into the bed. “Mmmhmmmm.”

Darcy clenched her thighs against his hips and bucked against him once more falling over the edge right after him, feeling a sticky warm wetness staining the front of his pants.

“Jesus,” she managed to whisper with a dry throat when she had come down from her high. “That was amazing...”

“Yeah,” Steve rasped.

“ I've never gotten there with so---little touching,” Darcy admitted with a soft laugh. “ _ Amazing _ . Magic or Science, I wonder?”

Steve sighed and kissed her lips briefly before placing his head against her neck, his lips pressed against her clavicle.

“Neither. I'm pretty sure that was all you.”

* * *

Darcy and Steve eventually made their way down to the team offices, and were surprised to find the other Avengers assembled in a conference room. Pizza boxes and half-filled soda bottles littered the room that was filled with wheeled white boards, covered in illegible black scrawl. Tony had always mocked the white boards when he came to visit and threatened to replace them all with holographic panels, despite the fact that the only people who would use them would be Nat and Vision. Everyone else liked the white boards for tactical planning.

Bucky looked up from a pile of papers and smiled broadly at Darcy.

“Good afternoon, Sugar, you look well-rested,” he grinned.

“You look...not so well-rested,” Darcy answered back. Bucky pouted at her and she rolled her eyes. “Still super handsome though.”

“We've been up all night trying to figure out a way to separate the two of you,” Rhodey answered from across the table, his head buried in a book that was more than likely in a foreign language, as he had two large dictionaries in each hand. “I really miss the science crew...they're better suited for this sort of thing.”

Of course the team had spent all night researching. They were desperate to have their leader back without his annoying shadow. Darcy worked at her bottom lip with her teeth as she was hit with a wave of insecurity. She was a nuisance to Steve. She had been since day one.

“You guys didn't have to spend all night researching,” Steve furrowed his brow. “We can wait to make contact with Thor.”

“I'm pretty sure the lady doesn't want to be shackled to you anymore,” Sam raised a brow in Steve's direction. Pushing the issue, intent on getting Steve to prove him wrong. He, Bucky and Nat had a long talk before joining in on the research. They were all in agreement that Steve was hiding a pretty big detail from everyone and he needed to come clean. “And I'm pretty sure I don't want to see her in anymore pain either.”

Steve didn't want to see Darcy in pain. That was for sure.

But he also wasn't quite ready to let her go. He was so close to being able to say what he needed to say.

“I still think that them playing hide the star spangled salami will cure it,” Bucky smirked.

“BUCK!” Steve admonished.

“Like you haven't thought about it,” Bucky threw back at him. His left eyebrow ticked up accusingly as he glared at his best friend over Darcy's head. “We've all thought about it, Steve. Look at her! If you haven't thought about it, then you don't have eyes.  And you're dumber than I thought, you punk.”

Steve made huffing noises in argument. And Darcy's cheeks flamed red. He didn't want her. What had happened that morning was the science mojo taking control of his body. She felt a blanket of shame descending over her as she came to the realization that she had enjoyed it but he had just been a slave to this awful curse. He hadn't been able to help himself and wouldn't have touched her if he had the choice.

Darcy had had enough.

She was getting a little sick of this roller coaster. Steve was sweet and caring and gentle when they were alone. He had nearly admitted that very morning that he didn't hate her, but now she was wondering just how much of that was due to Steve and what was due to the magic/science. She had convinced herself that all the pleasant touching wasn't just an after effect of the science mojo they were trapped in. Now she was certain it was the opposite. He touched her with reverence, with adoration in the privacy of his room after straying more than 10 feet from her.

And yet here they were. In front of people again, the lingering effects of their earlier distance gone and Steve suddenly wanted to have little to nothing to do with her. He certainly didn't want his friends to think he wanted her.

Steve's sputtering anger and denial were like bullets through her already fragile psyche. She stomped nine feet in the opposite direction of Steve and Bucky and crossed her arms defensively in front of her. Her breathing was heavy and she was desperately trying to get control of her tears and wayward emotions. How much more of this could she take?

She didn't want to like Steve Rogers anymore. She didn't want to have these unresolved, unrequited feelings for him. Two years ago, Darcy Lewis would have given her life savings to be attached to Captain America's side. To have him kiss her, to touch her, to make her fall apart while still fully clothed.

And now, she was willing to put herself in a pain coma to get away from him.

She knew she was in love with him. She had met him in the flesh years ago in New York City at Stark Tower and what had started out as a crush on an idol turned into an all consuming flame. He was so good. He was so kind. He was smart and funny and loyal and caring. He was everything she ever thought a perfect person could be.

She had jumped at the chance to work with the new Avengers. And every second in his presence she fell deeper and it hurt more because he didn't give a damn.

“Darcy,” Steve warned, seeing her take a shuffling step around that invisible line, knowing that one or both of them was half a step away from unbearable pain or torment of another variety.

And she had thought months of working with him, making friends with everyone BUT him had been the worst. Every time she saw his face she had that moment of hope, that seedling of an idea that this time when he looked at her he wouldn't see straight through her.

And every damn time that hope, that stupid, foolish hope just disintegrated in front of her, making the hole in her heart bigger. It had hurt. More than the tingling pain that she was now flirting with as she leaned forward.

“Darce, Sugar,” Bucky whispered, glaring at Steve before walking over to her. His metal hand gripped her shoulder, stopping her from moving further away.

“ I want to be alone,” Darcy managed to say softly around the tears falling from her face. Thankfully the rest of the team took that as their cue to quickly leave, until only Bucky, Steve and Darcy remained. “Bucky,  _ please _ .”

Bucky squeezed her shoulder one more time before turning and walking away, sparing one more glare Steve's way. The glare spoke volumes.

_ Make it right _ .

“Darcy?” Steve whispered.

“I want to be alone,” Darcy repeated, her shoulders shaking as tears slipped out of her eyes and down her face.

Unrequited love was bad from afar. But to be tethered to the object of your affections and to have next to nothing change...even after the day before, after waking up in his arms, after the events of that morning...for all of that to mean nothing, for it to get even worse was more than Darcy was emotionally capable of dealing with. At least from afar she could make excuses for Steve's cold behavior. The rejection wasn't so sharp from far away.

10 feet of space meant the rejection was 10 feet away.

And it hurt like a mother fucker.

Steve nodded to himself, his jaw working as he tried to say something. Say anything to make it all right for her.

“Leave me alone!” Darcy yelled at him, taking a step away, her entire body shaking with the pain of it.

“Stop this, Darcy!” Steve yelled back, feeling a mixture of pleasure and pain before taking three long strides to stand behind her. He could hear the tiny little hitches in her throat as her tears threatened to steal her ability to breathe. He brought up a hand, letting it hover above her shoulder, almost letting it touch her, but pulling away. He needed to touch her, but he knew he couldn't. He had lost that right by not saying something. He should have just opened his stupid mouth before they had left the sanctuary of his quarters that morning, or the millions of other opportunities to set things right in the past.

“Leave me alone,” Darcy said again, her voice quiet and pained.

Her small begging plea could have brought him to his knees. If this all kept up, she'd hate him soon. It'd be no time at all.

“I'll stand outside the door, but you've got to come closer,” Captain America, not Steve ordered. “And if you try to hurt yourself or me again, I'll come in here and throw you over my damned shoulder.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Darcy whispered. She turned and walked towards the door, her head firmly facing downward, hiding her tears and emotions. She waited until Steve was through the solid steel doorway and it had zipped closed before crumpling to the floor, her back sliding against the cold nearly soundproof metal of the door.

Nearly soundproof for un-enhanced humans perhaps.

On the opposite side, Steve rested his head against the door, hearing the faint echoes of her pained, wretched sobs wracking her body.

“You're a complete ass, Rogers,” Natasha muttered from behind him.

“Natalia,” Bucky warned softly.

“No, you can hear her too,” Natasha accused with no small amount of venom. “I don't understand why he's doing this to her. Why are you doing this, Rogers? You _like_ her.  You're falling in love with her.”

“Leave, it Natalia,” Bucky hissed

“You're killing that girl,” Natasha accused, paying no mind to Bucky's advice. Steve turned around to glare at her, but she refused to back down. “There's no gun to her head. No shield to her throat. But her spirit is gone. She's a shell of what she used to be three short months ago. Why are you doing this to her?”

“She deserves better,” Steve answered back morosely, all of his anger, all of his fight sapped out of him.

“Stevie,” Bucky admonished, only a little surprised that this was Steve's reasoning. “Your heads not on straight, pal.”

“I'm not who I was before,” Steve shook his head. “I came out of that ice and I wasn't the same. It's war. It's one war after another war, fight after fight and its all I know anymore. And how could I ever be what she needed, much less what she deserved?”

“That girl has seen you at your most lost, straight outta the ice, and every damn day here,” Bucky shook his head in aggravated annoyance. “She knows who you are probably better than you know who you are and she never thought you weren't what she needed. And she sure as hell doesn't think she's worthy of you, not with the way you treat her. And dammit, punk, why do you treat her so bad? She's head over heels in love with you and---Natalia's right. You're _killing_ her, Stevie. And I want you to stop!”

“The last thing I want is to hurt her,” Steve insisted.   "I pushed her away because I didn't want to hurt her!"

“Then why are you hurting her?” Natasha asked.

“I'm broken,” Steve whispered. “What good am I to her if I'm broken?”

“We're all broken, you blockhead,” Bucky shook his head. “I was broken so many times in my life that its a damned miracle I'm standing here. And you know what? That girl didn't care. She took me in. She gave me her friendship freely. She gave me her love freely. I'm not saying I'm a hundred percent because no one could be, but I'm less broken. I call her Sugar for a reason. She's too damned sweet and too good and too damned fine for idiots like us. But, she don't care if you're broken, Steve. She loves you broken or whole.”

“He's right,” Natasha agreed. “Darcy is the only one on this damned base who doesn't deal in blood and death. She's delightfully human. And she helps every one of us more than she'll ever know or understand. You need to open yourself up to her.”

“I----I don't...I can't,” Steve stuttered. Natasha and Bucky wouldn't lead him astray.  They wouldn't exaggerate or placate him.  They were telling the truth.  Darcy loved him.  It wasn't just some school girl crush he could smother and toss aside for her own good.  She was a hell of a stubborn woman to not have run for the hills long ago.  He could relate to that fierce, stubborn nature.  Her heart wouldn't give up no matter how hard he tried to push her away.  

Steve looked up to his friends with lost blue eyes. “She loves me?”

“She's a great dame, not the smartest dame on the planet, but yeah, you dumb jerk. She loves you,” Bucky nodded. “You just have to let her. And for God's sake, figure out how to make it right. Make it up to her, you got time to do it until this spell is broken.”

* * *

Jane discovered the text messages after a portal jump from Vanaheim back to Asgard. She had received texts from the Black Widow before. Mostly they chatted about Darcy or idle Avengers gossip. Occasionally they set up the bi-annual Girl's Night Out.

She had received sixty-five texts from Natasha in the last two days.

She read through each one and felt her blood run cold.

“Thor?” she questioned.

“Yes my love,” Thor wondered.

“Do you think it was---was it really your father who offered to protect Darcy?” Jane whispered. She looked up at him and bit at her bottom lip. “Darcy's been in pain. So much pain....”

* * *

Twenty minutes after her breakdown, Darcy opened the door to the conference room with a painted on small smile and nodded at Steve, who was the only remaining person waiting outside for her.

“Sorry about that,” she whispered.

“Darcy, please, you did nothing wrong here,” Steve shook his head. “I have to explain.”

“No, its fine, lets continue with the research, let's find a way to separate,” Darcy insisted coolly, all of her walls up and reinforced as best as they could be.

“Please listen....I---I never hated you,” Steve reached out for her, forcing her to look up at him. “I did let people believe it though. I did ask that you be sent away. I didn't want you around, but Darcy, I swear to you, it wasn't because I hated you or disliked you even a little bit. It---it was...”

A blast of energy exploded between the two of them, sending Steve back into the hallway, and sending Darcy flying back into the conference room.

There was no pain. She was at least twenty feet away from him and she could feel no pain coursing through her. She looked at him and saw the moment of realization take over his face.

They were free.

Darcy heard a rumble of thunder in the distance and pulled herself to her feet. She walked to the door and stepped around Steve, who was still in a crumpled heap on the floor, looking up at her in curiosity.

And then, Darcy Lewis ran as if her life depended on it.

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Eight: Love Stuck **

"Steven, I am most distressed."

"Get in line, buddy," Steve nodded, rushing past the newly arrived Asgardian in his mad dash to find Darcy.  He understood now that Natasha's suspicions had been correct, as they usually always were, and the forced closeness between he and Darcy had been Loki's handiwork. 

Normally, he would want to smash Loki's skull in for putting Darcy in any kind of pain.  But he had no time for that now.   He had to go make it right because HE had caused her pain.

The spell may have been broken, but Steve felt lost.  Pained.  It hurt that she had run straight away.  It hurt not to have her within arm's reach.  It hurt that she was out there somewhere thinking that he didn't care for her. He felt hurt because he knew **she** was hurt.

  
  
  


The spell was broken, and he felt her absence keenly. It was a wake up call to how badly he needed her. How idiotic he had been. How he needed to let her know how he felt.

He ran to her quarters and furrowed his brow at the stack of boxes outside of her door, panicking at the thought that she had already packed up and was ready to leave.

_ No _ . He knew that she hadn't been sleeping in her quarters since they arrived.  She hadn't even set up her living space yet.

"She only received a room assignment four days ago," Wanda announced from the other end of the hall.  She stood in the doorway of her own room and gave Steve a wary smile.  "She has been staying with friends since her arrival.  She is quite a fun..." she puzzled over the term Darcy had used during her weekend long stay in Wanda's quarters.  "A fun sleepover partner."

"Yeah, she is," Steve nodded with a fond smile.  He highly doubted he would ever get a good night's sleep without her ever again. He cleared his throat and asked, "Can you grab Vision and do me a huge favor?"

* * *

Steve's next stop was Erik's lab, knowing she had spent a night there at least once in the past three months.  It was empty and he blew out an anxious breath.  She had to be somewhere on the base.  He had Maria Hill give the security team direction that Darcy was not to leave the premises without alerting him first. 

He was at his wits' end.  He didn't want to be apart from her anymore.  Loki may have had mischief on his mind when he tethered the two of them together, but the end result may yet prove to have a very sparkly silver lining.  He had to find her and keep her with him so he could tell her.  He was ready to tell her.

He found himself in the hallway of the office cluster that the Avengers and their support team occupied. 

A flash of his tactical brilliance took over for a brief second and he rushed to the weapons acquisition room down the hall. 

Two minutes of digging in a closet and he pulled out what he needed.  On his way out he grabbed a small packet of cookies off of a secretary's desk and made a run for it.

"Steve!"

He paused and looked at a curious Sharon at the door.

"Where's your shadow?" Sharon arched a suspicious brow at him.

"I'll have her back in a few. You know what...screw it. Darcy is very special to me and its important that everyone knows that," Steve answered back seriously.  He turned and glared at his former friendly neighborhood Shield agent and said in his best _Captain America is upset with you_ voice, "If you physically attack Miss Lewis again, there will be several levels of hell to pay, Agent.  If you insult her again, I will turn a blind eye and allow Miss Lewis to do her absolute worst. Do you understand?"

"Understood," Sharon nodded, trying to curb the need for petulance. She pursed her lips as Steve turned away and she called out after him, “Captain? You need to know that---if she had to be with anyone. I'm glad its you. I mean, I never expected her to look at me twice with you around. And I was kind of scared she'd take Barnes and Wilson and Romanoff up on that offer.”

  
  
  


Steve turned to stare at Sharon with wide eyes. He had arrogantly assumed that Sharon's bitterness from the night in the medbay was due to the fact that she was jealous of Darcy. But Agent 13 was jealous of  _ him _ .

  
  
  


“Treat her right, Cap, and make her happy,” Sharon said quietly. “Or there will be more than several levels of hell to pay.”

Steve nodded before he was off at a run again, his mind running through possible scenarios of where Darcy could be.  The lunch lady had been no help in the canteen, swearing at him in Mandarin and shooing him away by throwing single serve packets of saltine crackers at him. The med bay had been a bust, Dr. Cox had simply laughed hysterically at him until the tall doctor was  _ actually  _ on the floor with tears of laughter in his eyes. Steve circled back to the conference room she had bolted from and nodded at Thor.

  
  
  


“My brother shall feel my wrath, Captain. I assure you,” Thor promised. “He broke the magic that bound you before I could confront him, but he shall pay.”

  
  
  


“You seen Darcy?” Steve asked. “I'm looking to set things right with her. Tell her---tell her everything.”

  
  
  


“Excellent,” Thor grinned. He knew where his lightning sister's heart lay, and finally his shield brother had seen the light. “Loki shall be punished for causing my little lightning sister pain, but it will do my heart good to see her happy in your arms. And Jane will be most pleased.”

  
  
  


“Yeah...that's-uhm, that's the plan,” Steve nodded. “If I can find her.”

  
  
  


“Perhaps she is in the place you least expect her,” Thor smiled knowingly. “I must make haste back to Asgard before Jane takes her own vengeance on my brother. Good luck, Captain.”

  
  
  


Steve thought about Thor's words for a moment and almost slapped himself on the forehead when he remembered her bag.  Her ipod was in that bag along with every other item that she considered valuable.  She had said it was her Mary Poppins Bug Out Bag and she never went anywhere without it.

And it was locked in _his_ room.

He found her curled against his door, head against the frame, eyes closed in a tenuous sleep. There was a sad, angry crease between her brows, and her lips were curved downward.  He took a breath in relief before slowly and quietly approaching the door, kneeling down next to her.  His index finger drew a line down her arm, ending at her wrist, where he  slowly traced a soothing line back and forth, drawing her out of her nap slowly and gently. 

"Mmmhmm," he hummed in contentment, unable to stop himself as her eyes blinked open to meet his.  "No more hide and seek, okay?"

"I'm not exactly hiding.  I'm outside of your door," Darcy flippantly threw back. "I need my bag. And then I'm leaving. I'll be out of your hair forever, Captain Rogers."

"Okay," Steve nodded slowly, his stomach turning over unpleasantly at the very idea of her leaving him.  His resolve solidified and he was more sure of what he had to do than any one person could be. "One thing first?"

"Sure, whatever," Darcy rolled her eyes.

The light touch on her wrist became firm, and before Darcy could squeak out in indignation, Steve had clamped a high tech handcuff around her wrist.  He pulled with the other end of the handcuff which was firmly attached to his own wrist. 

"What the hell, Steve?!" Darcy yelled.  "We just got separated!!"

"You okay, Sugar?" Bucky started to rush down the hallway.  He stared in wonder as his best friend smiled up at him easily, waving his ensnared wrist at him.  "Uhm.  Okay. That'd probably work, punk."

"Heya Buck," Steve nodded.  He tossed Bucky a cookie and said, "Do me a favor and eat that?"

Bucky looked at the fig newton and shrugged, tossing the whole thing in his mouth and swallowing it whole.  "Got anymore?" he wondered.

"Darcy and I'll go out and grab you some," Steve nodded. 

"Oh, get candy too, it's game night, and I don't think you're going to give me any of that Sugar there," Bucky nodded, grinning down at Darcy as she spluttered in indignation.

“ Nah, she's rationed,” Steve chuckled, pinching at a livid Darcy's chin. Flushed cheeks, piercing blue gaze, those luscious lips pursed in a promise of violence. Her anger was  _ inspiring _ . He'd have to try to incite it under better circumstances in the future.

  
  
  


"UNLOCK THESE!" she finally yelled, yanking on the handcuff.

"No can do, Miss Lewis," Steve smirked at her, reaching out and gripping his hands under her arms, pulling her up to her feet.  He gripped their bound hands together and gave it a squeeze.  "Might as well make the most of it. Let's go out on a date."

"Where is the damned key?" Darcy demanded, dragging her feet as Steve pulled her with easy, confident steps.

"Bucky just ate it," Steve smiled.  "Lets go in to town.  I've got a few things to say to you and I could go for some cotton candy ice cream."

"Heathen," Darcy grumbled.

Bucky watched in bemusement as Steve pulled Darcy down the hall.  There was some hope for the little punk after all. He paused and yelled to a rapidly retreating Steve,

"Wait---what?  I _**ate**_ the key?"

* * *

"What if there's a call to assemble?"

"I could break them if I wanted to," Steve shook their entwined hands, allowing the reinforced steel to jangle in the quiet ice cream shop.  "But I definitely don't want to. Besides, you're not bad in action. You can definitely handle yourself...I just don't think we could get the suit on you with the handcuffs though."

"I barely got into the suit without handcuffs," Darcy huffed.  "The next time someone tries to stuff me in one of those suits I'm going kick them in the nuts and run."

"Shame," Steve jammed a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.  "It was such fun to get you out of it."

Darcy choked on her milkshake and spluttered at him incredulously.

"What has gotten into you?"

"A magical science spell from Loki, most recently," Steve sassed back.  He finished his ice cream and squeezed their tethered hands.  "But now that its over, I'm thinking more clearly than ever. You seem to be under the impression that I don't like you very much."

"The entire Avengers facility is under the impression that you can't stand me," Darcy countered.

"Well, the entire Avengers facility is full of idiots, then, me included," Steve nodded.  "Because its very much the opposite.  And I'm not ready to let you get out of my reach again.  I don't think I'll ever be ready for that.  So, Darcy Lewis, you're stuck with me."

"I---this is...what?" Darcy stuttered.  "Is this another blast of science mojo?  Because if it is, what did you do to piss off Loki so much to have him mess with you so bad?"

"It's not science and its not magic.  It's just me...getting my head out of my ass for once. When you took off running today, I was scared that I'd chased you off for good, and I—-that would have been very, very bad," Steve bent his head towards her and placed  a kiss at her temple, enjoying the tiny gasp of a breath she took as he lingered, his nose nuzzling against her skin.  "I'm so sorry that you ever felt for one second that I didn't appreciate you.  Or care for you.  Or like you.  I do appreciate you.  I do care for you.  And I do like you.  A lot.  I'm going to love you, Darcy. I promise, I will keep myself shackled to you until you believe me."

* * *

  
  
  


Loki rolled his eyes and couldn't help the sneer on his face as he watched Captain Perfect finally get his act together. If his brother's intended had not been so clever, and the Russian assassin on Midgard not been so intuitive Loki might have been able to play with his toys longer.  He enjoyed watching Thor's little lightning sister squirm.

  
  
  


He did understand why Thor kept his lightning sister so close to his heart. She was an entertaining little thing. He'd have to keep a closer eye on her in the future.

  
  
  


He strolled down the halls of the palace and hid shock when the tiny scientist that his idiot brother had claimed stood in front of him.

  
  
  


“If you mess with Darcy again, you won't have to worry about what Thor will do to you,” Jane Foster promised.

  
  
  


“You mean to say that I should worry about what _you_ would do to me,” Loki sneered down at her.

  
  
  


“Hmm,” Jane nodded. She tossed a small metal tube his way and grinned, “Catch.”

  
  
  


The tube hit his fingertips and a flash of portal light blinked through the hallways of the palace. When the light disappeared, Loki was gone.

  
  
  


“Enjoy Hel, asshole,” Jane smirked. No one messed with her best friend and got away with it. Not even the God of Mischief.

  
  
  


* * *

"Steve, honestly, this is getting silly," Darcy murmured as he led her down the hall to his quarters.  "I don't have to spend the night in your room anymore Just break the cuffs."

"We'll agree to disagree there," Steve chuckled.  "Besides, I don't think after the last few days that I'll be able to sleep without you."

"We should get you a teddy bear...or a body pillow," Darcy tossed back at him.

"Not the same," Steve laughed.  Now that they were on more even emotional ground, the banter was zipping back and forth between both of their smart ass mouths. Steve honestly thought it was almost as good as foreplay.

Three heads popped out of the door across the hall from Steve, shamelessly eavesdropping.  Steve tossed a bag full of cookies and candy their way, and Natasha caught it with ease.

"You okay, Sugar?" Bucky wondered, giving her that easy smirk that said he knew she would be more than fine soon enough.

"I can force some more fiber down Bucky's throat if you want out quicker," Sam promised.

"I can turn the bones in Steve's arm into mush until the cuff gives way," Natasha offered. “Then you can come to game night.”

"I---I'm okay," Darcy smiled gently back at them, a pink blush blooming on her cheeks.

"If he gets boring, you know where we are," Sam smirked.

"Lucky bastard," Bucky muttered, tossing a metal middle finger Steve's way.

"Oh, Rogers?" Natasha called out.  "Did you see if the weapons room had an extra pair or two of those cuffs?  I have an idea for game night."

Sam's eyes rolled into the back of his head in what could only be described as brain crushing arousal and Bucky bit his bottom lip before adding, "Let's just take my Sugar with us after you break Steve's bones and we can use her cuffs."

"If you guys are so interested in a fourth, you should really mention something to Hill," Steve advised, opening his door and dragging Darcy in.  "I've heard a few things in the rumor mill that were interesting.  And none of you are _ever_ getting your greedy hands on my girl."

Steve slammed his door and Darcy squeaked as he crowded her against it.  His lips were on her jaw, kissing every centimeter as thoroughly as he could. 

"Sorry," he mumbled between kisses.  "Couldn't resist."

"Spell or science?"  Darcy whispered.

"Still just you,” Steve promised her his free arm wrapping around her waist tightly, pulling her to him, his lips turning into a grin as her leg rose and wrapped against his hip.

"Steve?" Darcy practically purred as his lips continued to kiss and nip at her jaw.

"Mmhhmm?" Steve hummed picking her up with one arm, delighted when she wrapped her other leg around him. He walked them back towards the bedroom.

"Why are all my things in your quarters?"

  
  
  


Because yes, Darcy's books were mingling with Steve's on the bookshelves. Her collection of snow globes were scattered throughout the room artfully. Picture frames with photos of her and Jane and Thor and Erik were in the narrow hallway. Steve carried her into his bedroom and she peeked at his closet, seeing that her clothing was hanging in there.

"Oh, I asked Vision and Wanda to do me a favor while we were out. I've been wasting time and made myself miserable with pushing you away since I first set eyes on you in 2012,” Steve admitted, placing her on his bed and kissing her temple. He pulled back to smile at her ruefully and said, “I once told a friend that I was the world's leading authority on waiting too long.  I'm done with that though. I wasn't kidding when I told you that I was going to love you, Darcy. Every time you open that gorgeous mouth of yours I'm falling, and I'm never going to stop falling for you."

"You're---this is crazy," Darcy said softly, her free hand petting his cheek. 

"Yeah. I'm a little crazy,” Steve nodded, pressing a kiss to her cheek before moving to capture her bottom lip between his lips.  He pulled away with a grin and said, “And you're stuck with me."

  
  
  


 


	8. Big Babies (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary:  
> Nothing good happens in Stark Industries Labs on a Saturday after 6:00 P.M. Darcy, Bucky and Steve know that now.
> 
> alternative summary: Sam Wilson didn't know the baggage that the Black Widow would have when he asked her out for a date. Namely three small children under the age of six.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: Gen  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis,  
> James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy  
> Lewis/Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson, Pepper  
> Potts/Tony Stark, Jane Foster/Thor  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Pepper  
> Potts, Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Thor (Marvel), Jane Foster (Marvel),  
> Johnny Storm, Peter Parker  
> Additional Tags: sam wilson is a national treasure, black widow is the most bamf mom,  
> some people get turned into babies, Slice of Life, Pre-Avengers: Age  
> of Ultron (Movie), fluffiest fluff and crackiest crack that ever did do,  
> please send the author help she has lost her dang mind  
> Series: Part 1 of Two Super Soldiers and a Lab Assistant Walked into a Lab  
> And Three Big Babies Walked Out  
> Stats: Published: 2015-10-12 Completed: 2015-10-23 Chapters: 16/16  
> Words: 35411

** Big Babies **

** Chapter One: And Then Everything Went Blammo... **

It was no secret that Bruce Banner was not a fan of sharing his life with the  _ other guy. _

It  ** was  ** a secret to everyone that he was actively trying to reverse the process that had turned him into the monster he thought he was. Research, sure, everyone expected him to be doing research.

But actively experimenting processes that would leave him Hulk-less?

Yeah, if Pepper Potts had known that was going down in her building, she would have definitely taken out another insurance policy. Or a couple hundred insurance policies.

One cool fall evening, the inhabitants of Avengers Tower had no idea of the dangers lurking in Bruce Banner's lab.

If they had known, they would have definitely stayed away.

* * *

“Hold on one second, Stevie. I just have to run to the lab and grab my scarf, and then we can go see the movie. Don't let Bucky touch anything,” Darcy called out as she rushed through the doors to the lab that she was _sure_ would be empty on a Saturday night after 6pm. But there were lights on in the back and towards the right. Darcy furrowed her brow and called out, “Bruce? You still back there?”

“Tell your dame to hurry the hell up, punk. I don't want to miss the previews!” Bucky grumbled next to Steve at the door to the lab. “And Nat's waiting downstairs for us...I want to get down there and ruin Wilson's attempts at flirting with her.”

“ She's not  _ my  _ dame,” Steve huffed at his best friend a pink blush staining his cheeks. “And you promised to be nice tonight, Buck.”

Bucky huffed and jammed his hands into his pockets. Natasha had brought him in a few months back, shaky and battered, but for the most part healed and himself again. He was still having trouble adapting to life in Avenger's Tower though. The 21st century he could deal with. He was way better at smart phones and talking to Jarvis than Steve was. And he definitely dressed better than Steve.

It wasn't the clothes, the tech, or the language that bothered Bucky.

It was the company.

Mainly Steve's new friends. Bucky didn't have much use for anyone besides Steve and Natasha. Stark annoyed him, Wilson was a pest who would never stop trying to talk to him, Thor was loud and obnoxious and Darcy Lewis...

Well Darcy Lewis was a gigantic pain in his ass and he really couldn't stand her.

She monopolized both Steve's and Natasha's time, stealing them away from Bucky all the time. Sure she offered to include him too, but Bucky was sure that was just for spite. She didn't want him around just as much as he didn't want her around, he was sure of that. He was definitely cramping her style when it came to romancing Captain America.

Bucky had started to accept the invitations just to spite her, which is why he was standing next to Steve in the doorway, waiting for dum-dum Darcy to get her dumb scarf from her dumb lab.

“I'm always nice,” Bucky grumbled. “But your dame is gonna make us _late_ to the picture.”

“ She's not  _ my _ — -”

A loud roar from the back of the lab had both Bucky and Steve sprinting back towards Darcy.

  
  


They knew the sound of the Hulk when they heard it.

“Darcy!” Steve yelled, pushing ahead of Bucky and making it back to where Darcy was standing in the doorway to Bruce's lab, staring up at the big, green rage monster. Steve grabbed her hand and pulled, intent on throwing her over his shoulder and rushing for the door. Hell, at that point he was willing to throw her out of harms way. She looked scared, but she wasn't staring at the Hulk.

She was staring at the set of whirring machines and bubbling flasks and beakers on Bruce's lab bench. She hadn't requisitioned that equipment for him and Bruce was _not_ scheduled for active experiments at the moment.

“Bruce, what did you d---”

Even if the Hulk could have answered her, he didn't get a chance. A droplet of liquid from one beaker flew out violently and landed with a plop into another beaker.

And the whole damned thing exploded.

* * *

Natasha ran up the stairs, eager to get to the origin point of the alarms. Jarvis had told her there had been an explosion in Bruce's lab. Which was the lab that Darcy had left her scarf in according to her earlier text message.

Explosions were normal during work hours on the R&D floors of Avengers Towers. But Darcy ran a tight ship as the Stark lab manager and work after hours had to be strictly supervised and approved through her and Pepper. So an explosion meant one of two things: the tower and specifically Bruce's lab was being invaded by unfriendly faces and bombs; or, alternatively, Bruce was up to no good and Darcy was in the crossfire. Neither scenario was appealing to the Black Widow.

She pushed the stairwell door open and rushed to the lab, cringing at the sight of the destroyed work space behind the shatter proof glass walls. There was rubble and smoke everywhere, and not a sign of Darcy, much less Steve or Bucky. But the Hulk was there. Natasha could see the large green mass through the smoke and debris. He was passed out and rapidly shrinking back into Bruce Banner. Natasha knew that the blast had to have been considerable in order to knock out the Hulk.

“Jarvis, where is the cleanup crew? We're going to need some heavy machinery to get this rubble out of the way. And we're going to need medics,” Natasha reported. “Is Darcy in there? What are her vitals?”

“Agent Romanoff, I am sorry to report that I can not obtain Miss Lewis' vital signs at this time,” Jarvis answered, his normal, placid tone had turned decidedly dismayed.

“ Was she in the lab? What about Rogers? Barnes?” Natasha tried to pry the sliding doors open with her bare hands, knowing that it was futile, but needing to do  _ something _ . Panic was not a feeling that Natasha was used to.

“Miss Lewis' last known whereabouts were in Dr. Banner's lab. She was accompanied by Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes,” Jarvis answered. “I can not obtain their vital signs either. However, I am detecting unfamiliar vital signs in the lab.”

“Dammit!” Natasha hissed as the door wouldn't budge. Darcy was one of her closest friends.  Natasha was incredibly protective over her.  She would take out a hundred men in order to save Darcy if she had to, but that wasn't an option here.  She was growing increasingly desperate, and if there was one thing the Black Widow did not want to be it was desperate. “Get me that cleanup crew, now!”

* * *

Darcy's eyes blinked open to the sound of sniffling. She felt... _ hurt _ . All over.

“Darcy?” a soft, small voice questioned in the darkness. “Darcy, please wake up...”

“Steebe?”

Darcy blinked some more to clear her eyes of the dust, squinting to try and make out Steve's face. He was wiping at tears that had fallen out of his eyes, streaking down the dirt and dust on his face. Seeing her eyes open brought fresh tears to his eyes and he looked to Bucky and whispered happily,

“She's okay!”

“'Bout time,” Bucky huffed, kicking at a piece of rubble with his foot.

“Don't cry, Steebe,” Darcy pouted as Steve pulled her up to her feet. She fell into him, wrapping her arms around his middle and putting her head on his chest. “I'm okay.”

“Bucky saved you,” Steve announced. “He covered you up before everything went blammo.”

“Shut up, punk!” Bucky wrinkled his nose, he lifted a metal fist to punch Steve in his arm, but was stopped when Darcy threw herself at him, her arms tightening around his middle. “Get her off me!”

Darcy squeezed him anyway, ignoring his petulant protests. She let out a surprised squeak when he pushed her away forcefully, causing her to fall down on her rear end. Her big blue eyes welled up with instantaneous tears and she turned a pouting face to the ground, her bottom lip trembling wildly.

“Don't hurt Darcy, you jerk!” Steve yelled, jumping on his friend, fists pummeling without any of Steve's usual finesse.

Darcy cried pitifully as Steve and Bucky rolled around in the rubble, punching and kicking and biting at each other. She was so scared, she didn't understand what was going on, or what had happened to them. She didn't know why Bucky was so mean to her when all she wanted to do was make him and Steve happy. She wanted to go home and take a bath and eat ice cream and watch that cartoon movie with NatNat.

“Oh my god.”

Darcy hiccuped a sob and looked up at a newly arrived Natasha, who was staring down at her and the wrestling Steve and Bucky in complete and total shock. The unusual look on Natasha's face only made Darcy's unease and panic grow and she sobbed anew, holding up her arms for Natasha in desperation.

“NatNat!” she sobbed pitifully.

The Black Widow schooled her face into a mask of calm acceptance and reached down to lift Darcy up.

Little, tiny, Darcy. She couldn't be much more than three years old. She clung to Natasha like a burr and hiccuped words.

“Steebe 'n Buck are fighting...make 'em stop!”

“Okay, myshka [littlemouse], I will,” Nat soothed her. She cuddled Darcy close, her hand running through the little girl's long dark hair. She turned to the wrestling boys...no older than five years old in appearance and said sharply, “Rogers! Barnes! Stop that right now! You're scaring Darcy!”

Steve stopped immediately after giving Bucky one last shove. He looked up with big blue apologetic eyes and whispered sincerely, “Sorry Darcy.”

“I'm not sorry, Dumdum Darcy,” Bucky petulantly sneered.

“Don't call her that!” Steve roared, launching his small body at Bucky's again.

Natasha kicked out at the boys as Darcy cried even more.

“A little help here would be nice!” she called out to the front door.

“Cavalry's coming...Calvary's here---wait, whaaaaaaaaaat?”

Sam Wilson skidded to a halt as he looked at a crying baby in Natasha's arms, then to a rough housing pair of little boys. He bent over and pulled them apart, finding it incredibly difficult.

“NOT NOW, WILSON!” the small blonde boy shouted at him, aiming a kick towards his shins.

Sam fell to his knees with a howl of pain.

“Huh, apparently tiny Steve still has super stength,” Natasha nodded as Bucky and Steve continued their grappling. “That's going to be fun to deal with.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Two: And Then Pigeon Face was Pigeon Face **

When Steve could no longer ignore the sound of Darcy's crying, he finally stopped fighting with his friend and dutifully followed Sam and Natasha away from the wreckage of Bruce's lab. They were ushered to the Avenger's common room a few floors up and looked over for injuries, and now the three of them sat on one of the cushy couches. Steve hugged Darcy to him to comfort her and was mumbling soft apologies to her for scaring her with the fighting. Bucky was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Darcy angrily.

“ We need clothes and baths and stuff!” Bucky yelled at the  _ adults  _ gathered on the other side of the common room, discussing important adult things. “And I'm hungry!”

“Clint's working on it,” Sam yelled back tersely. He wasn't overly fond of Barnes' pissy attitude when the dude was an adult. As a five year old little asshole, the former Winter Soldier was even more unbearable. He looked back to Natasha and said, “Banner is going to be okay. Jarvis said he transformed when he realized things were going to explode. He just shrunk back to normal sized Bruce, not a teenaged Bruce, thank God. But Blonde Doctor said he was going to be out of it for a while. It was a hell of a blast to knock the Hulk out.”

“I hope not too long, we need answers and we need a way to reverse whatever happened to the three of them,” Natasha shook her head. “Darcy and Steve have reverted fully to being children physically and mentally, but I can't tell if Barnes is still his normal little asshole self or if he's the same asshole at five that he is at 29---or 98.”

Sam couldn't help but laugh and shook his head, “Thor and Jane are in Asgard. Stark is in Malibu. We don't really have a lot of other options around to get their science on.”

“I'll call Coulson, see if he'll let us borrow some of his nerds,” Barton breezed into the common room, his arms full of bags from a local children's store. He looked towards the couch and let out a breath of amused astonishment, “I didn't believe you when you called, Tash---but that's, that's really them?”

“Yeah,” Sam nodded. “Try to stay away from tiny Steve's super muscles and baby Barnes' metal claw. They may be kids now, but they still pack a punch.”

Steve cuddled Darcy to him with his left arm and put his right hand on top of Bucky's as the adults continued to talk. He knew Darcy was scared, but he kind of thought Bucky might be too, and that was why his friend was being extra mean. Bucky was always like that when he was scared.

Steve really wanted to take a bath. He also really wanted pants that fit. His stomach growled, and Darcy's and Bucky's stomachs seemed to answer with their own growls.

“Steebe, I wanna snack, please?” Darcy whispered to him. She looked around Steve to Bucky and said, “Bucky you wanna snack too?”

“Yeah,” Bucky grumbled.

Steve nodded and carefully climbed off of the high couch. He helped Darcy down and held onto her hand and then grabbed Bucky's left hand, leading them away from the adults towards the kitchen. He pulled the fridge door open and let Darcy and Bucky take a look.

“We can't use the stove, punk,” Bucky reminded him when Steve went for a container of soup.

“I don't want any beggies,” Darcy shook her head as Steve then reached for a container of baby carrots. She clapped her hands together in sudden delight and turned to Bucky with a smile. “Ice cream! Ice cream please?”

Bucky sighed and rolled his eyes at her, but took a step towards the fridge, looking at Steve and asking, “Gimme a boost, wouldja?”

Steve complied and got down on his hands and knees, allowing Bucky to step up on his back. He knew that they should have been snacking on the carrots or something healthy, but he didn't want to disappoint Darcy by denying her ice cream. She had had a rough day, after all. Bucky managed to open the top door of the freezer, but couldn't reach into it. He held out a hand for Darcy and pulled her up until she was sitting on his small metal shoulder.

Steve laughed as Darcy begin pulling frozen treats out of the freezer with tiny, excited giggles, tossing klondike bars, popsicles and other assorted ice cream novelties that adult Darcy always had stocked in the kitchens for a sweet toothed Thor and Steve.

“All gone!” Darcy chirped happily.

Bucky placed her carefully back on the ground, before hopping off of Steve's back. The trio sat on the kitchen floor, Steve and Bucky opening the packages that Darcy's tiny little hands couldn't. They treated the bounty as a smorgasbord, taking a bite or lick of one sugary treat before trading with each other.

“Ahem,” Nat cleared her throat.

“Wanna lick?” Darcy grinned up at her impishly, holding the red, white and blue popsicle that Tony demanded be stocked in the kitchen as a joking nod towards his other favorite Capsicle.

“You three are ruining your dinner,” Clint scolded.

“Pigeon face,” Darcy grumbled.

“ _ Hawk eye,”  _ Clint crossed his arms and gave her a mock stern look. Darcy at three years old and Darcy at twenty-six years old didn't seem much different to him at the moment.

“Pigeon face, pigeon face, pigeon face!” Darcy singsonged until Bucky and Steve joined her.

“I hate kids,” Clint grumbled.

Sam grinned and gave the kid versions of his friends a thumbs up behind Barton's back and mumbled, “Pretty sure they hate you too.”

* * *

“I really hate kids,” Clint grumbled again as he watched Bucky and Steve playing around in the bubble bath that Sam had prepared for them.

Every 90 seconds, Steve looked to him and demanded a report on Darcy, his tiny chubby cheeked face looking ridiculous as he switched into Captain America mode when he asked. Natasha had refused to let Darcy bathe with the boys and had whisked her away with promises of cotton candy scented bubbles and fluffy purple towels. Steve and Bucky had both been reluctant to let Darcy be separated from them, although Bucky had mumbled it was because Dum Dum Darcy might get herself into trouble without them.

“Report on Darcy,” Steve pointed the toy boat that Clint had picked up at the store at the archer with a stern face.

Clint held out his phone to Steve as Natasha sent a picture message. Tiny baby Darcy covered in bubbles with a happy grin on her face.

Steve was appeased and nodded before going back to playing with his boat.

“What's for dinner?” Bucky demanded, flicking water at Clint obnoxiously.

“Wilson is working on it,” Clint shrugged. “I was in charge of cool clothes for you rugrats. Not feeding you.”

Bucky splashed more water at Clint with a vicious grin.

“Barnes, I swear to god, I will drown you in the tub if you splash me again!”

“HEY! Don't talk to him like that!” Steve warned. “Report on Darcy.”

Clint rolled his eyes and held out his phone anyway.

He  _ really  _ hated kids.

* * *

Sam was quickly rising in the ranks of favorite adults in the tiny trio's opinions.

** #1. Natasha.  ** _** Of course ** _ **. **

She was the favorite of Darcy's, and since Darcy loved her, then Steve trusted her and since Steve trusted her then Bucky respected her. She smelled nice and spoke gently and made funny faces. And according to Darcy she gave the best cuddles.

** #2. Sam. **

He brought back pizza, and happy meals with chicken nuggets and french fries (and to Bucky and Steve's delight real cool little toys) and juice in fancy bottles with Steve's grownup Captain America face on them and  _ candy _ . So much candy. He was teaching the boys complicated fist bumps and handshakes as Natasha braided Darcy's hair into pigtails.

** #100000000000. Clint. **

Pigeon face was pigeon face.

Baby Darcy couldn't remember the ongoing prank war that grown-up Darcy was engaged in with Clint. But she did remember the playful animosity and apparently, Bucky and Steve did too.

** #9999999999999999999999. Bruce. **

Bruce was to blame for them being scared and dirty and hurt earlier. He was still sleeping, and Sam said that he'd probably be sleeping for a long time. Which meant that Darcy, Steve and Bucky were going to stay tiny and scared. Well, Darcy was scared. So that meant Steve was mad and sad that she was scared. And Bucky was  _ annoyed  _ that she was scared.

So yeah, they didn't like Bruce at all.

* * *

The sleeping arrangement was decided on pretty quickly. Steve refused to be separated from Darcy overnight. And Bucky refused to be separated from Steve and he may have mumbled an addition of Darcy at the end of his statement. They were all changed into the cool Avengers themed pajamas Clint had purchased for them (maybe he was # 9999998 now). He had even managed to get the awesome ones that had the whole team, including Natasha. Stores were always leaving Natasha off of the merchandise and Clint could never understand why. Tiny Steve and Bucky had no problem with the kick-ass woman on their pj's.

Teeth were brushed, candy was confiscated (mostly. Bucky was a sneaky little bastard and really liked those tootsie rolls Sam had gotten them), and the three children were cuddled together in Natasha's guest room bed.

“Story time?” Darcy looked at Natasha hopefully as she cuddled down between Steve and Bucky. Steve had insisted she go in the middle lest she roll off the bed in the middle of the night.

“Yes, myshka, tonight we will tell the story of Budapest,” Natasha nodded.

“Jesus Christ, Tash!” Clint called from the hallway. “They're babies!”

“I'm gonna be four ebentually, pigeon face!” Darcy yelled at him.

“Yeah, so cram it, pigeon face!” Bucky yelled with a delighted grin.

“I hate you little fuckers,” Clint muttered.

“WILSON! Pigeon face swore! Make him put money in the jar!” Steve ordered in his best little boy Captain voice. He grinned at Bucky and Darcy and said, “We'll take the money and go buy toys tomorrow!”

* * *

Natasha quickly realized that in addition to child-sized bodies with supersoldier strength, Bucky and Steve also retained their supersoldier stomachs. When she heard the noise in her kitchen at 4:15 am, she stalked out with two guns ready, and barely stopped herself from pointing them at the two boys who were eating whatever looked slightly edible in her fridge.

“Boys, don't sneak around like that,” Natasha chided gently. “You can come and wake me up if you need something.”

“We need to get you better food,” Bucky looked grimly at the container of purple soup.

“We'll go shopping later today,” Natasha smirked at him.

“STEEEEBE N BUCKY!”

Darcy screamed from the bedroom in terror and the boys eyes went wide as they immediately began scrambling back to her. Natasha was hot on their little heels and she couldn't help but smile as Bucky did a complicated series of jumps to get back on top of the bed where Darcy was sitting up with a tear stained face. She must have had a nightmare (understandable after her very eventful day and night), and her fear was compounded by waking up alone in a strange place.

Bucky wrapped his arms around her and soothed her quietly, his small metal hand petting one of her braided pigtails. Steve climbed up next to them and wrapped his arms around both of them.

“Sorry, Darce,” Bucky mumbled. “We were hungry.”

“okay,” Darcy nodded, quickly succumbing to sleep again.

Natasha sighed as she watched both boys slump back to the bed with Darcy cuddled between them. She tucked in the children again and whispered. “Jarvis?”

“I have been documenting every moment diligently, Agent Romanoff,” Jarvis answered without having to be asked. “For science of course.”

“Of course,” Natasha smiled. “Not at all for me blackmailing Barnes into an honest confession about his feelings for Darcy when they're all back to normal.”

“Of course, Agent Romanoff.”

* * *

Sam returned to Natasha's apartment early on Sunday morning, promising that he'd whip up a big batch of fluffy pancakes if they let nice Dr. Reid look over them. Once they had been promised there would be no shots or pain, the children allowed the pretty blonde doctor to look them over before picking out clothing for their day.

“So, congrats are in order, the good news is you are now the proud parents of three very healthy kids,” Dr. Reid announced with a smirk. “Even Captain Rogers is still perfectly healthy. No heart murmur, hearing loss, or asthma. Darcy will need glasses that fit her though, because she's still near sighted. Bad news is, Banner totally turned them into kids. Like, Darcy is now three and a half and the boys are five. Mentally and physically. Their memories are strange too, they recognized me but didn't remember anything specifically. Banner totally wins the Medical bay award for Biggest Screwup this year. I mean, really? What the hell?”

“Banner has a lot to answer for,” Natasha nodded at the doctor.

“ Cox texted me half an hour ago. He said and I quote  _ big green is a vegetable and will be till his giant stupid dome can shrink back from the explosion induced swelling,”  _ Dr. Reid did her best Dr. Cox impersonation. “Look, there's nothing that can be done until we know what he did and until he's out of the medically induced coma, we won't know.  But your best bet would be to just continue what you've been doing. Make them happy and comfortable. And make sure you give the boys plenty of sugar. They still have super metabolisms and need the calories. Lucky little bastards.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Sam waving at her as she walked out of Natasha's apartment. He looked to Natasha and smirked, “When I said I wanted to date you, I didn't think we'd be moving so fast. I mean, three kids to raise? You're coming into this relationship with a lot of baggage. That's heavy duty, Romanoff.”

“You're handling it okay,” Natasha smirked back at him. “Bucky said you were his favorite this morning.”

“That's because I promised the little man his body weight in bacon,” Sam grinned back at her. He flipped the last pancake onto a plate before leaning in to Natasha's personal space, his pillowy lips puckering.

“That's the grossest thing I've ever seen.”

Bucky's declaration from the door had both adults turning to the kids, where Bucky was staring at them in horror, Steve was holding his hands over Darcy's eyes to shield her while he stared at his adult friends in confused surprise.

“Keep it up with your smart mouth, little man, and I'm not taking you to the candy store today,” Sam warned. He brought the plate of pancakes to Natasha's small dining table and asked, “Now, who wants a hilarious pancake face for breakfast?”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Three: And Then There Were Bad Guys... **

Making babyDarcy, kidSteve, and littlepunkassBucky happy and comfortable apparently meant nearly maxing out the Stark card at Dylan's candy bar and FAO Schwarz. Not to mention the hourly snack breaks the boys demanded whenever they were hungry.

They had just finished the after lunch trip to the Frozen Yoghurt store when Darcy started sniffling with tears out of nowhere. One second she was shoving frozen yoghurt covered gummy bears into her mouth and the next second her face was scrunched with tears, she yanked off the new glasses she had received earlier that morning and rubbed at her eyes with her balled up fists. Bucky looked to the adults in panic, but Sam was too busy flirting with Natasha to notice.

“What's wrong, Darce?” Bucky demanded quietly, pushing Steve's shoulder to alert him of Darcy's distress.

“dunno,” Darcy shrugged, sniffling tears.

Steve did the only thing he knew that might comfort Darcy and climbed up on her stool, picking her up and holding her in his lap. He hugged her to him and said softly, “It's okay, Darcy. Everything is okay.”

“Do you feel sick?” Bucky wondered.

“No, Bucky,” Darcy whimpered pitifully.

“Are you sad cause we're not grownups?” Steve asked.

“No, Steebe,” she shook her head, tears leaking from her eyes.

“Do you wanna go back to the store and get that other doll?” Bucky offered, climbing up on the stool where Steve held Darcy.

“No, I like my doll,” Darcy shrugged, sniffling as Steve scooted to make room for Bucky. She looked to Bucky and whispered, “Wanna hug?”

“Sure, Darce,” Bucky wrapped his arms around the pair of them.

“ 'M tired,” Darcy sighed, calming between the two boys. She was out like a light in less than thirty seconds, her body going loose and pliant with deep sleep.

“Looks like someone needed a nap,” Sam chuckled, jutting his chin at the three children. “You boys feeling tired too?”

“I don't need no stinking nap, Wilson!” Bucky glared at the man. “I'm not a baby like her!”

Steve yawned in response.

“Let's go back to the tower and when nap time is over, we'll go to the grocery store and get loads of fun snacks for my kitchen,” Natasha offered.

“Candy?” Bucky questioned.

“If you take a nap, I'll get you a three pound bag of those tootsie rolls,” Sam promised.

“Alright then.”

Natasha took a sleeping Darcy from two reluctant little boys and cuddled her close. She smirked at Sam and said, “Your parenting skills need help, Wilson. You can't bribe them with candy when you want them to do something.”

“I'm working on it.”

* * *

As promised, after nap time, the trio of children went back out with the trio of adults. Sam and Natasha corralled the three kids through the streets of New York City while Clint provided security. He secretly wanted to spend more time playfully harassing the kid versions of his friends, but he would be loathe to admit it.

“Special cart...special cart...special cart...” Darcy danced ahead of the three adults, clinging to the hands of Bucky and Steve.

“Whats a special cart?” Bucky wondered to which Steve shrugged.

“At the store sometimes they habe them,” Darcy told them knowledgeably. “Like a race car...or police car or a red car...”

“And we get to drive in it around the store?” Steve wondered, his blue eyes wide with wonder.

“Yup!” Darcy giggled.

When they entered the grocery store, Sam saw the last coveted special shopping cart, which was a regular cart with a big plastic red car on the front of it. He also saw a nanny with a one year old speed walking for it. He looked down at the pint-sized Avengers and nodded at them before going into battle.

The boys executed complicated evasive maneuvers as they rushed to the cart, Sam hot on their heels. Steve did a fancy roll through the legs of another shopper who wouldn't move and Bucky leapt through the air with cat (kitten?) like grace. Both boys jumped into the cart just as Sam reached for it, pulling it away and back to the rest of their party, leaving the nanny and the one year old with a regular cart.

“My hero,” Natasha cooed at Sam sarcastically.

Darcy launched herself at Sam's legs and said, “My da---Uncle Sam is so cool!”

“Hey, what about us?” Bucky demanded, hopping out of the cart, followed by Steve. “Didja see me do that jumpy thing?”

“Bucky is cool too!” Darcy grinned, rushing to give Bucky a hug around his midsection.

“I did a rolly thing,” Steve pouted.

“Steebe is so cool,” Darcy nodded, turning and giving Steve an equally tight squeeze. She rushed to the front of the cart and climbed into the little car and said, “I'm dribing!”

“Woah boy, that should be fun,” Clint muttered, having first hand knowledge of Darcy's adult driving habits.

Although she had no control over the cart, she pretended she did, and mimicked honking horns at other patrons, screaming at the shoppers who wouldn't get out of their way, and slamming her foot down on the mock gas pedal with all of her might. Her antics amused Steve and Bucky to no end, and the boys went back and forth between laughing raucously in the car and directing Sam on what things they needed from the shelves.

“We'll get honey nut cheerios,” Clint said firmly. “You little superpowered rugrats don't need anymore sugar.”

“I want Cap'n 'Merica Crunch and Abengers cereal!” Darcy demanded.

“Honey nut cheerios!” Clint shook the box at her with playful anger.

“CAP'N 'MERICA CRUNCH AND ABENGERS!” Darcy screeched willfully.

Clint threw three boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios into the cart despite Darcy's angry glare and walked away whistling in victory.

“Pigeon face,” Steve muttered, nodding at Bucky, who reached out of the toy car and grabbed the boxes of cereal that Darcy wanted, tossing them back into the cart.

Steve crawled out of his side of the car and carefully climbed to where the offensive Honey Nut Cheerios lay and tossed them from the cart back onto the shelf Sam gave him a wink and Natasha smirked at him before Steve went back to the toy car. Both boys got kisses on their cheeks from a placated Darcy and both boys blushed with a strange mixture of embarrassment and pride.

“Tell me you got that on camera,” Sam muttered to Natasha.

“I'm sending video to you now,” Natasha laughed.

The shopping trip continued that way, with Clint trying to pick out old people food and the boys replacing everything he chose with things that Darcy chose instead. Sam had gotten away with putting fruits and vegetables in the cart with the promise to make them Ants on a Log and provide dipping sauces for any unsavory items.

“I think this went well,” Natasha announced as Sam swiped the Stark Amex card and Clint loaded the cart up with bagged groceries. “I think that if the kids aren't too tired, we'll have the driver pick up the groceries and maybe we can take them someplace fun for dinner.”

“DAVE AND BUSTERS PLEASE?” Steve nearly shouted, his usually calm, cool collected demeanor (even as a child) disappeared. Adult Steve loved Dave and Busters, loved the food, loved the music, loved the games. It seemed that kidSteve remembered and was eager for it.

“Do you think you can keep up?” Sam smirked at Barton.

“Fine, Dave and Busters,” Clint rolled his eyes, although he was secretly pleased. He loved going to Dave and Busters with Cap. Between the two of them, they always walked away with the most tickets.

They loaded the groceries in the sleek black limo's trunk when it arrived, before piling in themselves. Darcy was running up and down the length of the stretched out car in excitement. She had never been to the Dave and Busters, but Steve had explained it to her excitedly and now she wanted to win toys and play games and eat french fries.

They were dropped off at the restaurant/giant arcade and Natasha immediately felt a tingle down her spine. She whipped around in a complete circle, her eyes tracking everywhere on the busy streets for threats. Sam and Clint tensed next to her, Clint going for a gun, although his fingers itched for his bow.

Sam dropped to eye level of Bucky and Steve, who held hands with Darcy between them. Steve tensed at the look on Sam's face and Bucky noticed, his eyes zipping around for what was making the adults so scared.

“ Boys, I know you're super strong. And you have plenty of moves, but if what I think is about to happen  _ happens _ , and if I get separated from you, I need to you to take Darcy, and I need you to get back to the tower. Don't try to fight any bad guys, just run as fast as you can. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes sir,” Steve nodded, gripping Darcy's hand tighter. As Sam pulled out a gun and his phone, calling for Jarvis to send backup.

Natasha pulled out two guns and aimed for a window across the busy Manhattan street. She took a shot and looked back at the children and nodded with as much reassurance as she could muster.

“Go, now,” Natasha ordered.

Sam reached down and lifted Darcy, taking off at full speed towards Stark Towers, the boys keeping pace with him easily. Sam flinched when one of Darcy's tears hit his neck and he realized that the tiny baby girl was trying to be as brave as she could, even though he could feel her trembling as gun fire erupted behind them.

“Its okay, Darce,” Bucky huffed as they ran down the streets away from the fighting.

“We'll protect you,” Steve promised.

Sam almost smiled at their words, but he was seriously worried. They had no idea what they were up against, and if the people who wanted to attack them realized that he had pint-sized Captain America and Bucky Barnes with him, he had no doubt that said bad guys would do anything in their power to stop their retreat and take the kids from him. He looked down at Steve's Captain America sweatshirt that Clint had thought was hilarious when he bought it. He kind of wished the kid had dressed in a different outfit.

Sam skidded to a halt as a huge black SUV crashed through the intersection ahead, sending smaller cars flying into other cars. The doors opened and men in black tactical gear and armed to the teeth with guns spilled out of the SUV, heading his way. Sam placed Darcy down and watched as both boys grabbed on to her.

“Hide!” Sam ordered.

The three children went back towards the alleyway and Sam pushed a dumpster away from the wall to provide himself with some semblance of cover. His phone buzzed with a message and he looked down, seeing it was from Jarvis.

_ Look up, Wilson. _

“Stark you beautiful son of a bitch,” Sam chuckled, making mental note to put money in the swear jar when he heard Steve's gasp from behind him.

Iron Man zoomed down to the street, tossing Sam's wing pack to him. He sent a blast of energy towards the men who had exited the SUV and nodded at Wilson.

“I swear, I leave you kids for one week and look what happens,” Tony chided Sam. He looked back into the alleyway and said, “Jarvis told me---”

“ UNCLE TONY!” Darcy wailed, running away from Steve and Bucky and throwing herself at the man she usually called  _ Boss _ . “Bad guys are bad and I don't like 'em!”

“Okay kiddo, Uncle Tony'll take care of the bad guys for you. Wilson's gonna fly you back to the tower, okay?” Tony asked. He looked back in astonishment as Steve and Bucky walked towards them. They were stinking adorable. Tony immediately thought of a million fun things to do with the kids that would provide excellent blackmail material if they could ever be turned back into their normal selves. He heard the gun fire from where Natasha and Barton were trapped and said, “I've got to go help Nat and Barton, okay? You guys have fun flying...”

Sam reached for Darcy after his wing pack was secure and then looked down at Bucky and Steve in serious contemplation.

“Hows about you guys hold on to my legs as tight as you can?” Sam suggested. Bucky complied immediately, gripping onto Sam's leg with unnatural strength. Steve hesitated and Sam smiled at him, “I'd never drop you, Stevie. I've flown with you when you were a lot bigger.”

“I don't like flying,” Steve admitted.

“Steebe,” Darcy sniffled, making grabby hands at him.

“Alright,” he nodded, holding onto Sam's leg as tight as he could.

  
  


“Woah, a little less tight there, Cap,” Sam winced. Kid had super strength for days. He activated the wings and floated off the ground for a second. Allowing the boys to adjust. “Ready?”

Darcy managed an excited giggle, her arms wrapped tightly around Sam's neck, “UP up and away superSam!”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Four: And Then There Was Family... **

Steve definitely didn't like flying. But Darcy and Bucky thought it was loads of fun. Buck was whooping and hollering even as Sam landed at the top of Stark Towers. Darcy kissed Sam's cheek before he placed her on the ground just inside the penthouse. Bucky immediately untangled his limbs from around Sam's legs and turned around for a complicated high five handshake combo.

“Steebe?” Darcy questioned, as Steve still clung to Sam's leg, hiding his face and shaking. She launched herself at him and hugged him as tight as she could. “Is okay, Steebe, is okay.”

“Don't like flying,” Steve whispered, his voice edged with tears.

“Stevie, pal, it's okay,” Bucky pulled Steve off of Sam's legs, with Darcy still clinging to him.

“No more flying, Cap,” Sam promised. He smiled at Pepper as she strode into the room with a tray full of beverages and snacks. “Why don't you guys hang out with Aunt Pepper while I go and help bring Nat and Pigeon face home?”

“And Uncle Tony!” Darcy insisted with a wag of her finger.

“Yup, we'll bring him back too, Darcebug,” Sam smiled. He looked back up to Pepper and said, “Do I need to make introductions?”

“I think I can manage,” Pepper laughed, as Darcy launched herself at the tall woman in the same way she had launched herself at Tony earlier. Pepper placed the tray of drinks and snacks down, smiling as the boys attacked them. She pulled Darcy up and ran a hand through her curly dark locks. “Hello baby Darcy.”

“Hi Aunt Pepper. I missed you!” Darcy cooed at her and cuddled against her indiscriminately. “Bruce was bery bery bad.”

“I know, he's going to be very sorry when he wakes up,” Pepper nodded. “I'm sorry you didn't get to go to your dinner, boys, but I can have something delivered...”

“Dave and Busters?” Steve wondered with big eyes. Even if he couldn't play the games and win prizes he wouldn't mind the french fries and chicken tenders.

“Jarvis?” Pepper smiled.

“I will see what I can do,” Jarvis acknowledged. “My security protocols are being overriden at this time.

“Pepper?”

Pepper and the three kids looked to the elevator with a breath of relief (Pepper's), two small curious glances (the boys) and one angry wrinkling of a tiny nose (Darcy). Pepper had been immediately terrified that the attackers had made it into the tower. Darcy looked as if she'd prefer the bad guys at that point.

“Phil! It's good to see you,” Pepper nodded. She looked down at the three children and saw Darcy's scowl. “You know Darcy, and Steve of course. And this is Bucky Barnes. I don't think you've met.”

“Thief,” Darcy muttered and crossed her arms in front of her, a scowl on her little face.

Bucky looked to Steve curiously as they each drank their second glass of hot cocoa. Steve leaned in and whispered an explanation in Bucky's ear.

“I have a few of my best people down in Bruce's lab, trying to gain any insight into what may have happened to—ah, to the children,” Phil explained, smiling down at Darcy, Steve and Bucky in amusement. “I'm sure they'll find answers if there are any to be had.”

“Sounds great. I've called in for a consult with a former colleague of Bruces'. She should be here in the morning. Jarvis? Can you increase the dinner order for our guests and have rooms prepared?” Pepper asked.

“Certainly.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Bucky Barnes,” Coulson knelt in front of Steve and Bucky. “I'm happy to see that you've found your friend Steven again.”

“Shaddup you thief!” Bucky yelled at him. He pointed an angry metal finger at him, “You stay away from Darcy's new toys, cause if you take her stuff, you're gonna answer to me and Steve! Nobody messes with our girl!”

Pepper stifled laughter at Coulson's shock. Steve, who had recovered from his earlier bout of fright with flying smiled proudly at his friend and nodded before going back for a third cup of cocoa and handing it to a pleased Darcy.

“Nobody messes with their girl, apparently,” Pepper laughed. “Thank God for Jarvis' surveillance protocols. Nat would have been so sad to miss that.”

* * *

“Look at them. They're so stinking cute. Pepp? Why don't we have kids?”

Pepper looked away from the children dozing on the couch and instead looked at Tony as if he had grown another head. “You had a vasectomy at 15, Tony.”

“Oh right. My own kids wouldn't be fun,” Tony nodded. He looked to Sam and Natasha, who looked no worse for the wear from their earlier victorious battle. Maria Hill was currently running interrogations of any conscious enemies with the help of Coulson and a few of his colleagues. “Why don't the two of you have some kids for me to spoil? I make a great Uncle Tony.”

“Let me see if I can raise these three proper and I'll get back to you,” Natasha rolled her eyes.

“Why don't you just---get a puppy or something?” Sam asked Tony.  "You could spoil a puppy."

“Puppy?” Darcy mumbled in her sleep. She pushed at Steve's face and said, “Steebe. Want a puppy...”

“Okay, Darcy,” Steve patted her head fondly. “Tony'll get us a puppy.”

“Now look what you've done,” Natasha glared at Sam. “I'm not cleaning up puddles off of the floor, Wilson.”

* * *

Coulson's science nerds were coming up empty handed when Bruce's old colleague showed up the next morning. Dr. Betty Ross visited a still unconscious Bruce first, whispering a few words to him and squeezing his hand before walking out.

“He would have kept all paper files, and according to the details of the blast that Jarvis sent me, the files must have been obliterated,” Betty explained to Fitz and Simmons. “Jarvis is going to download what I have from our work together to Tony's lab. It'd be best if we just tried to rebuild what he did and hope we can reverse it.”

The three scientists made their way to Tony's lab and watched in shock as Tony knelt next to a three year old little girl, teaching her to do things with a miniature taser he must have just finished building. A few feet away, two five year old boys were climbing on small robots while play fighting... _viciously_ with one another. The small blonde one wielded Captain America's shield.

“Gotta figure out the balance, Stevie,” Sam shouted encouragement from his place at former Darcy's cushy desk in the lab. “You can lift it fine with your tiny little man muscles, but your center of gravity is way different now, Cap.”

“What is going on?” Jemma asked Coulson.

“The Captain demanded that they be better able to defend themselves in the event of another attack,” Coulson explained. “Try to keep your distance from the fiesty three year old with a taser. She isn't overly fond of me or any of my friends.”

* * *

“NatNat?”

“Yes, myshka?” Natasha murmured as she cuddled a nearly napping Darcy on the couch as the boys watched Tangled for the third time that day. It was day five of their adventures in childhood and Natasha and Sam were still the primary care takers of the three little ones.

“Are you gonna be my mommy?” Darcy wondered. “Can I---can I call you mommy?”

“You can call me whatever you want, myshka,” Natasha promised her.

“And can Sammy be my daddy?” Darcy asked. “I neber had a Daddy. And my mommy went away to libe with the angels when I was a real little baby.”

“I know, she did,” Natasha nodded. She pulled out her phone and said, “Let's take a cute picture and send it to Sam and ask what he thinks.”

They posed cutely, Darcy's chubby cheek smashed into Natasha's, an eye crinkling grin on her face.

_ Darcy wants to ask you a question _ .

_ Okay, tell her to fire away. Unless its about where babies come from. Tell her to ask Barton that one. _

skldXDjfkwncewp03 : ) :D :{ :DD

_ I have no idea what any of that was, Nat. _

_ She wants you to be her daddy and me to be her mommy. _

_Sold._ _Lets hit Vegas this weekend and get married._

_ Charmer _

* * *

Bruce woke up on the sixth day, but he was of little use. He didn't remember anything that happened. When he was faced with surveillance footage of the three children his experiment had created he had to be immediately sedated to avoid a Hulk out tantrum.

“That could have gone better,” Tony smirked at a concerned Betty Ross.

“You're an idiot, Stark,” Betty shot back at him.

“I have my moments,” Tony shrugged. “OH, time to take the kids to the animal shelter!”

* * *

Two hours later, the limousine pulled back into Stark Towers and three eager children spilled out (Steve with a shield shaped sized bag on his back. He now refused to leave the Tower without it), followed by Sam and Nat loaded down with bags of stuff from the pet store, Clint with huge bags of dog food, and Tony with his arms full of a fat ten year old bull dog named Rocky that was white and brown and had one black mark over his eyes. He was old and slow and gentle and incredibly wrinkly, and the kids had fallen in love with his big slobbering face immediately.

“His face looks like Fury's when Fury is mad,” Tony proclaimed proudly as they all piled into the elevator and headed towards the Avengers' common room.

“Tweeting that,” Clint reached for his phone, snapping a picture of Tony holding the dog.

“Rocky is not like Fury,” Steve insisted. “Rocky's nice!”

“Fury isn't so bad, Steve, and you know it,” Natasha smiled.

“But Rocky's nicer,” Darcy disputed, reaching out to pet the dog.

“And he smells better,” Bucky added.

“ Tweeting  ** THAT ** ,” Clint laughed.

* * *

Rocky the Bull Dog was tired. 

He had an eventful few days. And he was sort of on the old side.  He had watched so many of the younger pups at the animal shelter find loving homes and he had contented himself to living out the end of his days at the shelter.  No one wanted a fat, wrinkly old lump of a dog who couldn't run and jump and play.

That was until Funny Face Hair man poked his head into his little kennel and made a delighted chuckling noise.  He had called for the _kids_ saying that finally FINALLY he had found the perfect little guy to take back to the Tower. 

Rocky had huffed a sigh at the time.  Kids never wanted him.  They always wanted the dogs that could play fetch.  Rocky didn't do fetch.

So it was surprising when the little girl threw herself at him, her arms wrapping around his neck and squeezing.   _ Huh.  That felt nice _ .

A small metal hand scratching behind his ear set his right hind leg twitching and a few firm pats on his head from another boy seemed to signal that yes.  Rocky would be their dog.

Rocky had been petted and hugged and squeezed more in the last thirty-six hours than he had ever been petted, hugged or squeezed in his life.  His new cushy dog bed was up one floor at the foot of the bed of Funny Face Hair man and the nicest, prettiest lady on the planet.  But right now, he was in what they called the common room, where the little girl was combing his fur and the little boys were feeding him pizza rolls. 

Rocky watched as funny face hair man came breezing into the room, settling on the couch beside him, holding a bag of all sorts of fun things.  The man managed to get a tag on Rocky's collar and he told the little girl that it said Rocky the Avenger Dog.  The boys loved the toys the man had brought with him and immediately began to run around the room playing with them.  Laser--tugs?  Laser tags?  Whatever it was called they were being tired out properly and Rocky shuffled a few feet on the couch, putting his head in Funny face hair man's lap, dragging the little girl with him. 

Eventually the noise of the playing and laughter in the room stopped, and Rocky blinked one eye open at the sound a clicking camera.  His head was still in Funny Face Hair Man's lap, but he was now asleep, his head dangling off the back of the couch.  The little girl was half on top of Rocky and half on top of the man, and even the two little boys had managed to get a hand on Rocky as they napped haphazardly on the man. 

Rocky looked to the nicest, prettiest lady in the planet.  Paper.  That was her name.  He huffed out a contented breath as Paper stroked his ear.

"You're the best dog in the world, Rocky the Avenger Dog ."

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Five: And Then There Was Science!... **

“Bucky's birthday is in less than a month,” Natasha revealed to Sam as they sat on her couch after putting the kids to sleep.

“Woah. Six years old...or 30? Or 99?” Sam wondered. “I have no idea how many candles to buy.”

  
  
  
  


“Smart ass,” Natasha rolled her eyes.

“I”m _your_ smart ass,” Sam grinned at her before puckering his lips and descending for a kiss.

“STEEBE NO!”

Darcy's shout from the room where the children had been sleeping five minutes ago was followed by a crash and Bucky's hysterical laughing.

“Some day they're going to grow up and we will have a moment alone,” Sam sighed heavily, placing what was meant to be a quick kiss against Natasha's lips, lingering until he heard another crash. “Damn kids.”

“Go get 'em, Daddio.”

* * *

Dr. Cox cleared Bruce for release from the medical wing two weeks after the incident. He went immediately to work with Coulson's team, Stark and Betty to try to re-engineer what he had worked on, even though his memory of the work and that night was still missing.

He still had not spoken to or been in the presence of Steve, Bucky or Darcy. He feared that seeing them in their altered states wouldn't be that great for the other guy. He was having a hard enough time being around Betty, even though she was keeping things as professional as possible, bless her heart.

“WE GOT SNACKS!”

Bruce's eyes darted up from his notes and figures at the sound of the tiny shout. Bucky pulled a little red wagon with Steve and Darcy walking along beside it, with Rocky the Bull Dog in the wagon, guarding colorful bags full of candy. Darcy ran between the cart and the workers in the lab, both construction workers and actual Stark employees, distributing little bags that the kids had put together.

It was something Darcy had done as an adult. Taken care of people that were working hard in the labs. She would bust through on any ordinary day with freshly baked cookies, or carefully bagged up treats. Grown-up Steve and more recently Bucky had been pulled in to help many times too, especially when the treats were unwieldy and needed super strength and agility to be carried around in mass quantities.

“Brucie?” Darcy looked up at him with wide blue eyes. She held out a bag full of candy and said, “You okay now?”

“I'm okay, Darcy, I'm okay,” Bruce nodded,taking off his glassed and wiping at them needlessly. He took the candy from her and smiled. “Thank you for the treat.”

“Yup!” Darcy smiled, before hugging the man's knee.

“We're not mad at you anymore, Doc,” Steve told him.

“I'm still mad. You coulda hurt Darcy,” Bucky admitted. “But I'm not mad about not being grown up. Its funner now.”

“Yeah, funner,” Bruce chuckled. “I'm still going to work as hard as I can to get you guys back to normal.”

“I habe a mommy and daddy now,” Darcy declared. “I neber had one afore so its nice. I like being little.”

“That's really great, Darcy,” Bruce smiled down at her.

“You comin' to my birthday party?” Bucky demanded. “Its gonna be laser tag in the training room. Nat and Sam think its a secret but we listened to 'em planning it. They forget that Stevie and I can hear lots.”

“I wish I couldn't,” Steve muttered, his face turning red from the memory of the kissing sounds they had heard the other night.

“The party sounds like a lot of fun,” Bruce nodded. “I'll be sure to bring a really nice present.”

“I like robots,” Bucky admitted.

“I know a guy. I can definitely get you robots.”

* * *

“DARCY!!!!”

Steve and Bucky looked to a nonplussed Darcy in curiosity. The shout of her name through the vents had sounded plenty angry. They thought she would be more scared.

“Is just Pigeon Face,” Darcy shrugged, continuing to carefully color her Avengers coloring book.

“Whatcha do to him that he sounds so mad?” Bucky wondered.

“Squirted ketchup in the air bents,” Darcy supplied happily.

“How'd you do it?” Steve furrowed his brow. “You're too little to use a ladder, Darcy. You could have hurt yourself.”

“Don't worry Steebe, I got lab monkey Derek to do it for me! He said I was cute as a button when I'm a grown up AND when I'm a kid.”

Bucky's face went carefully blank while Steve frowned. They put down the crayons they had been using to color and hopped off the chairs in unison. Bucky stalked towards the door and Steve nodded to Darcy reassuringly,

“Stay there, we'll be right back.”

* * *

The first call to assemble was a nightmare.

Darcy had burst into a sobbing mess as soon as Natasha had changed into her tactical suit and gear, wailing for her mommy when Natasha left for the roof. Bucky did his best to console her as they stood in Pepper and Tony's penthouse as the team gathered to head out to a nearby harbor where the Fantastic Four were failing to contain a robot attack. Apparently they were impervious to fire.

“Stupid Johnny Storm, he's just NOT GOOD,” Steve muttered, standing in front of Darcy and Bucky with clenched fists. “I could go help.”

“Stevie, no,” Bucky shook his head as Darcy wailed louder, alternating between MOMMY, DADDIO and STEEBE. “You're making Darcy upset.”

“Don't worry, Darcy, I'll stay...Aunt Pepper, can we watch the feed?” Steve wondered, using Darcy's terms of endearment for Pepper. He refused to call Tony _Uncle_ though.  He hopped up on the couch and wrapped his arms around Darcy and Bucky, squeezing with just a little of his considerable might.

“Why don't we watch _Lilo and Stitch_ again, instead?” Pepper offered.

“I want to watch smashed robots,” Bucky mumbled.

“Mommy and Daddio are smashing them,” Darcy nodded, her crying easing. “If we watch, I'll draw a picture for them of them smashing!”

Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Jarvis, please bring up the incredibly violent feed of the action for the tiny children that crave violence.”

The robots may have been impervious to fire and anything else Johnny Storm and the rest of the Fantastic Four could throw at them (Ben did manage to knock one or two over), but they weren't impervious to all of the Avengers' charms. They had managed to incapacitate over half of the robots when a roll of thunder echoed throughout the harbor.

The robots were _definitely_ not impervious to lightning.

“THOR! It's my brother!” Darcy jumped up and down on the couch, and consequently Bucky and Steve.  She punched her tiny fists in the air and chanted loudly and enthusiastically, “THOR THOR THOR THOR THOR!”

“Darce?” a voice at the elevator squeaked out. Jane Foster's eyes bugged out of her head at the sight of a hyper active three year old Darcy, jumping and squealing on top of two five year old boys who looked vaguely familiar. “Holy shit!”

“HEY! Language, lady!” Steve pointed at her angrily. “Put a dollar in the jar!”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Six: And Then There Was Thor... **

Jane threw herself whole-heartedly into Team Science!'s attempts at reversing the effects of Bruce's exploding experiment. She was terrifically bad with dealing with children and was understandably distraught that her best friend was now a three-year-old. She shut herself in Stark's lab devoting every minute of every day into the research.

“Where's Janie?” Darcy asked Thor from her perch on the Asgardian's shoulders where she was petting his long golden locks. “I miss her.”

“Ah, tiny lightning sister, she is hard at work, as she usually is,” Thor answered. He grinned at the boys who were planning and plotting from across the gym floor and bellowed, “Small Shield Brethren, no amount of planning will fell me by your hands. Please approach and do your worst!”

“Put Darcy down!” Steve ordered. “She could get hurt!”

“Steebe, Thor won't hurt me!” Darcy wrinkled her nose in laughter at the boys who made huffing noises in disagreement.

Steve and Bucky liked Thor. They enjoyed _playing_ with him, wherein the playing consisted of full out sparring. Thor encouraged them to use their full strength and seemed to trust the five-year-olds (nearly six, Bucky would be quick to point out) to not hurt themselves in the slightest.

Bucky sneered at Darcy, not liking how much the girl gravitated towards the God. Sure Thor and Darcy called each other brother and sister, but it was Steve and Bucky's job to protect Darcy and make sure she was happy. Not _Thor_ 's. They had thought the most they would have to deal with in their _protection_ of Darcy was occasionally stapling a lab monkey to his work bench or hog tying Pigeon Face to a flagpole. Both boys admitted they were outmatched by the God of Thunder and Lightning and Pretty Blond Hair.

“Okay dum dum Darcy, but when you're crying on the floor, remember I warned ya!” Bucky hollered out before going on the attack. Steve quick to follow him armed with his shield.

Their attack would have incapacitated a normal human. Hell, they might have even incapacitated an enhanced human. But Thor was a God. So the impressive attacks were easily fended off and the scene looked very much like a giant with two tiny munchkins climbing on him while Darcy giggled on his shoulder. Steve climbed Mount Thor the quickest and maneuvered the shield to smack the Asgardian in the face, surprising him and knocking him off of his balance.

Darcy slipped from her perch with a squeak of laughter and Bucky and Steve watched in horror as she fell towards the ground.

“Wheeeeeee!' she shrieked as Thor grabbed her ankle and tossed her into the air, before catching her easily and placing her back on his shoulder. When she was finished giggling she looked down to a still horrified Bucky who was clinging to Thor's cape and said, “See? My brother's the best!”

“ Dum dum Darcy,” Bucky muttered. He jumped off of Thor and Steve followed him. “I'm hungry, punk. Let's leave Dum dum Darcy with her  _ Thor. _ ”

“Are Steebe and Bucky mad?” Darcy wondered after the boys sulked their way out of the gym.

“I believe that they are jealous, tiny Lady Darcy,” Thor smiled. “They want to be your sole protectors and want no other to claim you in love or friendship.”

“But I lobe them the most!” Darcy claimed.

“I know that you do,” Thor nodded. “In any form you take.”

“We can make 'em some snacks...can you make a stobe work?” Darcy wondered. “I'll make 'em a treat that shows how much I lobe them!”

* * *

“It is delicious, little Lightning Sister!” Thor boomed. “Your tiny gentlemen will be most pleased!”

Sam warily stepped into the kitchen area of the Avengers common room to the sound of Darcy's hyperactive cackling and Thor's shouts of approval. He knew how this ended up. Messily.

“Hey guys, whatcha working on?” Sam wondered.

  
  


“Daddio, I made snacks for Steebe and Bucky!” Darcy announced happily. She held out a plate to Sam and said, “Thor doesn't know how to stobe, so we just put a bunch of stuff on a plate! You can habe this one!”

Sam inspected the plate that Darcy offered him carefully and took the fork from an eager Thor. One small layer of cheesecake, coated in peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, then layered with what he assumed was all the salami and pepperoni from the fridge, then jelly, maple syrup and topped off with one last layer of chocolate cake to make a truly terrifying diabetes inducing sandwich.

“I made it with all the lobe in my heart!” Darcy smiled winningly. “Eat it, Daddio! It's all my lobe smashed into cake. EAT IT!”

Sam carefully chose a forkful and brought it to his mouth, chewing and swallowing thoughtfully as Darcy and Thor looked at him with baited breath.

“It's....amazing!” Sam smiled at them. “I think I want to share this with...everyone else I care about. And definitely your mother. So that they all know about all the love in my little Darcebug's heart.”

“Excellent idea, Son of Wil!” Thor agreed. “I shall make a special plate for my Lady Jane.”

* * *

By the one month mark of the trio's second childhood, the inhabitants of Avenger's Tower quickly realized that Jarvis was invaluable as a babysitter. They behaved when they were under the direct care of Natasha or Sam, but when given other adults to watch them, the need for mischief grew.

Natasha had once been pulled into an interrogation, and Rhodey had proven to be a less than stellar caretaker of the children, who had gotten bored waiting for Natasha to finish beating up bad guys. Rhodey claimed that he had turned his back for just _one minute_ before the three children disappeared from sight.

Jarvis had saved the day, rerouting their elevator that had been heading to the bottom floor exit (they had wanted to go get pizza) back to the Avenger's common room floor. He distracted the children by setting up their favorite dancing game on the Wii and pizzas were delivered quickly afterwards.

Maria had lost track of them when Sam and Natasha were on a brief intel gathering mission in the Bronx, but Jarvis thwarted the children's plans to go to the roof top jacuzzi, instead rerouting them back to the common room for a rewatching of _The Princess and the Frog_ and the imbibing of recently delivered donuts and cocoa from a nearby bakery.

Steve, Bucky and Darcy often went into Tony's workshop, and after one amazing incident with a bunsen-burner turned flamethrower and one lab monkey Derek losing his eyebrows, Jarvis monitored the trio aggressively whenever they were there.

And no one could forget the multiple times the three children managed to outwit and incapacitate Barton. Jarvis was always there though, with a medic from the medbay and a clever way to distract the children.

So now it was common to allow the children to wander at will when Natasha and Sam weren't around to corral them. Tony had been the voice of reason there, stating that his AI Butler was way more competent than any of the other bumbling idiots of Avenger's Tower. Natasha and Sam agreed wholeheartedly.

So the sight of three-year-old Darcy walking the halls of Avenger's Tower alone was not uncommon. Her hands were laden down with plates covered in her culinary masterpiece and Jarvis guided her to the boys, who were in Tony's lab, which was more accurately titled  _ Project Growup Central. _

“I want you to make me big again, Doc! Right now!” Steve demanded of Bruce. “I need to be as big as Thor.”

“Me too!” Bucky piped up. “And I want a cape!”

“NO CAPES BUCK!” Steve shook his head. “We watched a whole movie about it!”

“Uhm...boys, when we get you back to your grown-up selves, you won't be as big as Thor,” Bruce warned them. He sheepishly smiled and reminded them, “You weren't as big as Thor before you—ah, shrank.”

“You guys are the geniuses, figure it out!” Bucky ordered peevishly. Steve nodded his agreement.

“That way Darcy'll come to us instead,” Steve explained helpfully. “Make us big enough so that she forgets stupid Thor.”

“Hey, that's my boyfriend, you little twerp!” Jane called out from a lab bench in the back.

“JANIE! Steebe is not a twerp!” Darcy yelled back. “EAT YOUR CAKE SAMMICH OR I'LL MAKE YOU LEABE THE LAB!”

Steve turned sheepishly towards Darcy and shuffled his feet. Bucky openly glared at her instead, his little face defiant and angry.

“What do you want Dum Dum Darcy?” Bucky demanded. “Where's your _Thor?”_

“ _Behind you,”_ Darcy snapped right back, looking at Bucky as if he were an idiot. Because Thor **was** behind the boys, having delivered Jane's cake moments before Darcy came into the lab. She thrust out the plates of cake at the boys and said, “Here's a snack I made with all the lobe in my heart for your yucky butts!”

Once they took the plates, she turned and ran out of the lab muttering about _stupid faces_ and _yucky butts._

“Uhm, should anyone follow the angry three-year-old?” Bruce wondered.

“We will,” Steve and Bucky chorused together, following Darcy quickly.

“Okay...who is going to follow the five-year-olds?” Bruce called out.

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Seven: And Then Mommy and Daddio Signed Some Stuff... **

Darcy at 26 and Darcy at 3 knew how to make excellent use of Jarvis' privacy protocols. She managed to stay hidden in Sam's coat closet for hours as the boys tried to find her. Sam and Natasha found her when they returned from their brief teleconference with Charles Xavier. They were actively trying to find any mutant with the correct skill set to reverse the effects of Bruce's experiment. They had been largely unsuccessful so far.

“I'm going to go use your mouthwash, that cake sandwich gave me cavities,” Natasha told him. “Thanks for sharing, Super Sam.”

“Sure. Let me just pack up another box of my stuff. Tony won't be able to open his fat mouth about it if he doesn't know the big move is happening right under his nose,” Sam called out as he opened the closet door. He looked down to see a teary eyed Darcy and he felt a familiar lurch of his heart for the girl. Sure, it was weird that Darcy Lewis was usually a good drinking buddy of his and now she was his de-facto daughter. But he really did love the little girl and really did think of himself as her dad at that point, just as much as Natasha was her mom. And Darcy just LIT UP whenever she got to call them Mommy and Daddio. She really loved having parents.

“Kiddo, what's with the tears? Are the boys okay?”

“The boys are dumb yucky butts!” Darcy cried. She held out her arms to be lifted up. When Sam complied she cuddled close and said, “They didn't like the sammich.”

“Oh Darcebug, I'm sure that's not true,” Sam shook his head. He had seen the boys demolish less desirable food in their grown up state. Steve had once barbequed a squirrel when they were on a mission. Bucky frequently talked about food involving intestines.

“Why d-doesn't Bucky like me? He always says I'm dumb!”

“Oh myshka,” Natasha came into the room and approached Sam and Darcy with a look of concern. As soon as those boys were grown up, she was going to smack them upside their idiot heads. She made a mental note to start keeping track of how many she owed them.

“He _hates_ me,” Darcy sniffled.

  
  


“No Darcebug, that's definitely not true,” Sam insisted, moving them to the couch, snuggling Darcy to his chest.

“He loves you very _very_ much,” Natasha assured her, soothingly running her hand up and down Darcy's back.

“You're jusaying that cause you're my mom and dad,” Darcy disputed. “You habe to lie.”

“I have never ever lied to you, Darcy Marie Lewis, and I will never, ever lie to you,” Natasha insisted, her own eyes widening as she definitely felt like she had just used a _mom_ voice. It kind of felt _good_. “Bucky and Steve love you.”

“Steebe lobes me,” Darcy sniffled. “But Bucky'll tell him not to and then I'll be all alone!”

“Steve never does anything he doesn't want to do,” Sam assured her. “He'll never stop loving you.”

“I'm not a dum-dum,” Darcy pouted. “I'm smart. I know my abc's and numbers.  And I don't got a moustache like their old friend.”

“You are the smartest,” Natasha smiled at her, her laughing eyes looking up into Sam's.

“If anything, Darcebug, Bucky is the dummy here,” Sam revealed. “See, there are times when someone loves you, but they don't know how to tell you. And so maybe they get upset that they can't tell you the right way and it comes out silly. Like, calling a girl a dum-dum. I'll work on it with him to help him choose better words, okay?”

“But if he ever pulls your hair or is mean to you, you tell me and he and I will have a heart to heart about the right way to treat another human being,” Natasha advised her. “Bucky needs to relearn that showing affection shouldn't be done with weapons of any kind.”

“Agent Romanoff, the boys have left the building,” Jarvis announced. “I had attempted to reroute their path to the common room, but they took the stairs instead and Bucky disabled the locks on the exit. Current surveillance shows that they are in the toy store three blocks south. Thor and Rhodey are en route, their estimated time of arrival is 45 seconds.”

“Jesus,” Sam sighed heavily. He wrapped an arm around a suddenly tense Natasha. He gave her his best reassuring smile and said, “This parenting thing is hard work.”

* * *

“You're grounded,” Natasha said sternly, the boys had been deposited back into her apartment and were sullenly sitting on the couch.

“You ain't MY ma, NatNat,” Bucky countered. “You can't ground me.”

“Do you realize what could have happened if a friendly police officer had noticed the FIVE YEAR OLDS walking the streets of New York City alone?” Natasha countered. “Tony has a lot of connections, but I doubt he could get the two of you released into his custody without proof of parentage. If we had to explain this whole situation to the authorities, then it would be a matter of moments before the world realized that two of the Avengers were actually toddlers!”

“I'm sorry, NatNat,” Steve said softly. “But we had to go.”

“What could you have possibly needed at a toy store today?” Nat wondered. “You could have asked any of the adults to take you. I know Coulson has been extra keen to spend time with the both of you.”

“That thief!” Bucky barked with laughter. “He'd have stolen Darcy's stuff before we could give it to her!”

“You went to the store for Darcy?” Natasha questioned.

“She's upset with us,” Steve explained. “We used the money from the swear jar.”

“We got her a Thor doll,” Bucky shrugged. “And a Bucky bear and a Cap bear.”

Natasha used every latent skill in her arsenal to hide the smile on her face. She knelt in front of the boys and said, “I know that Darcy is important to the both of you, and you like her very much.”

“We love her,” Steve corrected Natasha fiercely, his chubby cheeks blushing.

“You don't need to get her toys or gifts to show her that,” Natasha advised. “You just need to tell her that you love her and STOP calling her a dum-dum.”

* * *

“Hey, sign these?” Tony put two pieces of paper in front of Natasha and Sam as they worked at setting up Bucky's birthday party in the large training room.

It was set up as a giant laser tag arena. Tony and Rhodey had outdone themselves making it look more like a fantastic obstacle course from a Japanese game show with plenty of areas to hide and snipe from. Towards the side there was a lounge area and a mocked up food court consisting of all kinds of little food carts, most involving sugary treats. Pepper had spared no expense and had hopefully stated that this would be the one and only child's birthday party she would be able to plan until real babies started popping up.

“Uhhhhhhh, no?” Sam looked at Tony warily.

“It's just some legal mumbo jumbo about the safety regarding the fake rock terrain we made in here,” Tony waved his hand dismissively at Sam and Natasha's wariness. “The sooner you sign this crap, the sooner I can go back to wiring the laser tag packs.”

“Fine,” Natasha rolled her eyes. Tony was a teammate and a friend after all. She did trust him...against her better judgment.

“Cool beans,” Tony grinned, taking the papers back from them. “Congratulations. The two of you just became official parents.”

“Uhhhhhhh, what?” Sam demanded.

“Well I thought about the insanity that could have rained down on all of our heads if the boys had been caught out of the tower by any good samaritan,” Tony shrugged. He reached around Natasha and grabbed a bag of cotton candy, shoving half of the bag in his mouth at once. He spoke through a full mouth, “So now, the two of you have adopted three orphans. My legal team has tied everything up in a pretty red bow. We won't have to worry anymore about that sort of stuff. Now we just have to worry about, you know, getting our fearless leader out of the pull up training pants and back into his grown up spangly suit.”

Natasha and Sam watched as Tony skedaddled away from them with a pleased smirk on his face. They turned to each other slowly and blinked for a long minute.

“ I'm going to take great pleasure in rubbing Bucky's face in this the next time he tells me I'm not his  _ ma _ .”

Thor entered the party room with Jane, carrying enough helium filled balloons to lift a house. Clint made a suspicious _caw caw_ noise and Thor immediately released the balloons into the air, letting them drift to the very high ceiling. He ignored Jane's huff of protest and instead approached Sam and Natasha, his arms spread wide.

“This is JOYOUS NEWS new parents!” he boomed, wrapping a gigantic arm around each of them and pulling them in a painfully tight hug. “Darcy is my sister so now you are also my revered mother and father! We must celebrate!'

Jane rolled her eyes at a hysterically laughing Clint and looked back at a bemused Natasha and Sam, “I'm never calling either of you my parents in-law.”

* * *

The party was a huge success. When it came down to it, all of the Avengers were kids at heart, and they fought valiantly against one another in laser tag. During each round, Steve, Bucky and Darcy made sure they took out Barton first, the angry and petulant archer moved off the playing field each time and stuffed his face with the various foods that the party offered, hollering advice to the others about taking those _evil rugrats_ out.

Darcy was shot by an unrepentant Natasha during one of the rounds, suspiciously around the time that Darcy usually napped, so the little girl shuffled to stand next to Clint, smiling up at him wickedly.

“I beat Pigeon face,” she announced.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Clint rolled his eyes, reaching down and lifting the girl up in his arms. “You only beat me because mini-Cap and mini-Barnes took me out first.”

“It was my idea!” Darcy insisted.

“You're the evil mastermind,” Clint nodded. “Not much different at 26, Shorty.”

“ 'm tired,” Darcy sighed before putting her head against Clint's shoulder and passing out.

He laughed and sighed. “Yup, not much different at 26.”

* * *

Natasha put the certificates of adoption on the fridge with colorfully cute magnets that Darcy had picked out at the store. Steve was the first to ask.

  
  


“What's that say?” he squinted his eyes and sounded out the words. “That's my name. And it says..adopt—adoption.”

“Oh that? Me and Nat Nat officially adopted the three of you,” Sam said nonchalantly. He watched the boys carefully though. Darcy had been an orphan since a very young age, but Bucky and Steve lost their parents later in life. He was slightly anxious that they would kick up a fuss.

“Should I call you---Daddio?” Steve tried it out and shook his head. It didn't feel right.

“Uncle Sam?” Bucky shrugged.

“You can call my daddio...Super Sammy!” Darcy suggested, bouncing into the room in her pajamas, fresh from a bath. She bounced in front of Sam and held her hands up until he picked her up and hugged her close.

“And you can still call me NatNat,” Natasha smiled down at the boys. “This just means that Sam and I are the ones that are responsible for you. We'll keep you all safe.”

“Cool,” Bucky shrugged, giving Sam an exploding fist bump before going back to his presents.

Steve smiled softly.   _ Safe.   _ That sounded really foreign.  And really god.  He grinned up at Natasha before wrapping his arms around her legs and giving her fierce hug. He let go and did the same for Sam and said sincerely,

“Thanks guys. That's the nicest thing I've heard in a long time.”

* * *

Sam Wilson was one of those people that you just _knew_ would make a great dad some day.

Sure, having Captain America, the Winter Soldier and the world's Best Lab Manager turned into babies was a problem. But Sam Wilson made the absolute best of a bad situation. He let his inner Dad out. And he let it shine.

“Hey, Steve-o, what's the difference between a piano, a tuna and a pot of glue?”

“Uh---I don't know?” Steve shrugged.

“You can tune a piano but you can't piano a tuna,” Sam grinned and Steve chuckled softly.

“What about the glue?” Buck demanded.

“I KNEW you'd get stuck there, Barnes.”

* * *

Darcy developed a rash after eating coconut one day and Natasha was silently freaking out. She began to think of all the scenarios where this mild allergy could be more detrimental to Darcy and her eyes narrowed as she thought through thorough solutions. She looked to Sam and said, “We should take her to the med bay. We need to get one of those epi pens in case she ever gets near it again. Come on, Super Sammy, up and at them, let's go to the med bay.”

“Now now now, let's not make any _rash_ decisions.”

“Wilson, you little shit.”

Steve yelled from the bedroom where he and Bucky were playing nurse to a scratchy Darcy, “Jar!”

“Dang super hearing.”

* * *

“Daddio, I'm hungry.”

“Hello hungry, I'm Daddio.”

* * *

“Barnes, don't use your sleeve, use a tissue for god's sake,” Natasha ordered curtly as she and Darcy worked on writing out Darcy's name at the kitchen table.

Sam held up a tissue helpfully. “Hey Bucky, how do you make a tissue dance?”

“How?" Bucky asked warily.

“You put a little boogie in it.”

Darcy fell off of her chair in laughter.

* * *

And then of course, there were the farting noises. Anytime any of the kids bent over, Sam would make a farting noise.

Darcy and Bucky found it hilarious, but Steve would turn bright red in embarrassment.

Sam did it when Steve dropped a napkin at an Avengers' Family Dinner and while everyone else laughed and Steve looked embarrassed, Natasha leveled Sam with a coolly arched eyebrow.

“I can't believe I let those lips touch me,” she shuddered.

Sam leaned in, placed said lips against the crook of her neck and blew a raspberry against her skin.

  
  


“GROSS!” Chorused Darcy, Steve, Bucky _and_ Tony.

* * *

“So, Darcebug. Thor is your bro, right?”

“YUP! So then you're his dad too. He said we should honor our father.”

“Huh...that's nice. But...so how does Thor get up into the sky?”

“Uhhhhh...mew mew?”

“NOPE, the ELEVATHOR.”

* * *

* * *

**Chapter Eight: And Then** **There Was A Growth Spurt**

Three months in, and life at Avengers Tower had settled around the three children. They had a routine and were quite comfortable and happy. The science geniuses that inhabited the tower had come no closer to figuring things out and it was becoming increasingly clear that Steve, Bucky and Darcy would have to return to grown up land at about the same speed that other 3, 5 and 6 year olds did. It was _terrifying_ but had somehow become the new normal.

“Boys? Darcy? Time for breakfast!” Nat called out while she and Sam worked seamlessly in the kitchen as they prepared their normal Monday morning smorgasboard of a breakfast. “Sam and I have meetings this morning so you guys are going to go up to Tony's workshop and play around with the robots.”

Sam furrowed his brow at the silence coming from the guest room that had been transformed into the kids' room. Usually all three of them were up and awake and actively stealing food as soon as it was finished. Hell, usually Darcy had woken he and Natasha up by now. Grown up Darcy was not a morning person, but baby Darcy preferred to crack her eyes open and be at 1000% energy level well before dawn.

And the idea of playing with the robots usually had Steve and Bucky bounding about the room in enthusiasm.

“Do you think they caught something?” Sam wondered. “I mean, I did let them play on the roof yesterday when it was kind of windy...”

  
  


“You're adorable,” Natasha laughed, reaching out a hand and smacking his rear-end playfully. She truly thought this worry-wart side of Sam was precious. “The boys can't get sick and you had Darcy bundled up in three coats. She could barely move. Steve picked her up and carried her everywhere.”

“Still, its not like them to sleep in,” Sam shook his head, putting down the plate of french toast on the dining room table before walking back towards their room. He opened the door and took a peek, his mouth dropping open. “Uhm...Nat?”

“If Steve sleep climbed to the top of that bookshelf again, I swear I am going to start duct taping him in bed at night!” Nat rushed to the door and her own mouth went slack.

Gone were the babies of last night.

Steve, Bucky and Darcy looked to have aged at least five years in their sleep.

* * *

“So, science has failed us yet again,” Clint announced breezily as he walked into the penthouse with bags of clothing, eerily reminiscent of his actions three months ago. “We're just going to have to wait it out the next nine months until they get back to normal?”

“We're still working on it,” Bruce insisted. “This is a big break through. We'll take some samples and figure out what the catalyst behind the jump in age was and see if we can reproduce it.”

“I don't know, Banner,” Clint shook his head. “I don't think I trust the science to get them to the right age since the science was the thing to baby-fy them in the first place. I don't want you to overshoot the goal and make Darcy fifty-seven. Maybe its just better to let nature take its course here.”

“Is that our clothes, Pigeon face?” Bucky demanded from the couch he, Steve and Darcy were piled on, Rocky the bull dog stretched lazily across their laps. “Cause the baby clothes aren't going to hold up much longer. Stevie's are about to pop at the seams.”

“I think he's taller now than he was right before the serum,” Bruce admitted. “It's a fascinating bit of science, really. He's not Steve Rogers at 10. He's Captain America at 10. Amazing.”

“Stop talking about Steebe like he's not even here,” Darcy ordered, having lost most of her childish baby talk. She retained the _Steebe_ though, and Steve honestly didn't mind at all. “And you're not poking him for your science, Brucie.”

“You'll have to get through both of us,” Bucky added, squeezing Steve's shoulder protectively.

  
  


“Guys, I'm okay,” Steve smiled sheepishly. “Bruce wouldn't hurt me.”

“You ain't got no common sense, punk,” Bucky rolled his eyes, looking at Steve as if he had grown another head.  “Bruce is the reason we're all pint-sized, remember?”

* * *

Nothing changed about the routine, really. The food deliveries increased, as Bucky and Steve were now pre-teens and if what they had put away in their gaping maws was impressive at the age of five, the amount of food at ten was terrifying.

“Shit,” Sam cursed as Natasha curled against him on their comfy couch.

“Jar,” Natasha rolled her eyes, leaning against his shoulder and taking a moment of relaxation from the gentle way Sam's hand traced patterns up and down her arm.

“I just realized that if they jump five years next time, we're going to be dealing with teenage sized super soldier appetites,” Sam revealed, mindlessly putting a dollar in the swear jar that Steve policed fanatically. “And we're definitely going to have to get them separate beds. I'm not having our Darcebug sleeping with those boys when they're teenagers.”

“If they touch her, they'll die by my hands,” Natasha said solemnly. A thought occurred to her and she shook her head in very Russian dismay, “Double shit.”

“Jar,” Sam ordered.

“This is going to get incredibly awkward when they finally get back to normal and they keep on down the path they've started before this whole fiasco,” Natasha admitted, putting a dollar in the jar with a grimace.

“I don't want either of them putting their paws on my Darcebug, especially as a dynamic duo. Jesus, Nat, why do they BOTH have to love her? And each other? We're so fucked...JAR,” Sam sighed, putting another dollar in the jar. Steve was going to have enough money to put himself through college when the time came. “Okay...we have a few months...let's, let's try to either acclimatize or---”

“Or find three really reliable chastity belts.”

* * *

Tony Stark was in a panic.

Christmas was in two days, and all of the toys he had procured or made were perfectly suited for a three year old, a five year old and a six year old.

"PEPP! How do you do what you do everyday and how can I do it half as good as you do it?" Tony demanded, breezing into Pepper's office. "Or maybe just a quarter of as good as you do that voodoo that you do.  So well."

"You really do know how to flatter a girl," Pepper chuckled.

"Love of my life, sun in my sky, platinum on my hubcap, I need help," Tony threw himself into the chair opposite Pepper's desk.  "My reputation hangs in the balance."

"Is this about Christmas presents and your reputation with the kids as Cool Uncle Tony?" Pepper smiled knowingly.  Tony reveled in being the coolest Uncle on the planet.

"No one person in this universe knows me better than you," Tony admitted honestly.  "I don't think ten year old Steve will like the tricycle I got him.  And I don't think the tricycle will hold up to the kid.  I mean, Blonde Doctor measured him up yesterday and he's at the 250th percentile of height, weight and dome size for other 10 year olds. It should be physically impossible for a 10 year old to achieve."

"Nat and Sam are doing a great job of raising those kids," Pepper winked at Tony.

"Right, but I'm doing a great job of spoiling them," Tony asserted.  "With the toys and the tech and the unlimited food to build strong muscles.  But now all the toys are wrong and I don't know what to do."

"Tony, love of my life, pain in my ass, gray hair in my ponytail," Pepper cooed, pinching at his cheek.  "I already put in a detailed order with the Stark Industries acquisition department.  Actually I did it two hours after Nat texted me that the kids had hit a growth spurt."

"I don't know what I would do with out you, Pepp."

"Probably die.  Yeah.  You'd die."

* * *

Darcy Lewis was confused.  

A week ago, when she was three, she knew that Santa was real and Jarvis had assured her that he had forwarded the schematics of the building to Santa so that he could access their apartment without needing a chimney.

But Darcy was no longer a baby.  She was EIGHT and therefore, all the mysteries of the universe were solved due to her older, wiser and more mature brain.  

But she wasn't quite sure if Santa was real or not.

Logistically it didn't seem possible.  How did one fat dude make it across the globe in one night?  And why did he ignore some of the kids and give too much to the others?  And if Santa was real, wouldn't he realize that all those toys would be better put to use as money so kids and doggies that were hungry could eat and stuff?

Darcy looked down at the list she was compiling of all the reasons why she thought Santa wasn't real anymore.  She heaved a heavy sigh.  There were A LOT of reasons.

"Hey squirt," Bucky announced as he and Steve walked into the Avengers' common room, straight from the gym where Thor had put them through their paces.  

He and Steve plopped down on the couch on either side of her.  Bucky ruffled Darcy's hair obnoxiously while Steve just wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to his side in a firm cuddle.  

"What's the matter, Darcy?" Steve wondered, seeing her sad contemplation plain as day on her face.

"Is Santa real?" she whispered.  

"Uhm....uh..." Steve squinted his bright blue eyes as he tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't upset her.  Steve HATED when Darcy was upset.

"WILSON!" Bucky shouted as Sam walked into the room.  Thank GOD.  Steve hated when Darcy was upset.  And Bucky hated when Steve was upset because Darcy was upset.  It wasn't that he really cared when Darcy was upset.   Or something.  "Darce has got a question for you."

"Uhoh," Sam looked at the kids warily.  "Okay---what do you want to know, Darcebug?"

"Daddio, is Santa real?" Darcy asked.  She held up her sheet of paper full of loopy, rounded print and said, "I went through the facts and I don't think he is anymore."

"Oh, Darcebug.  You're old enough now, so I'll tell you the truth.  Santa is not a big fat man in a sleigh on the North Pole.  Everyone has a different Santa in their lives.  You guys are lucky, because your Santa is Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, and to a much lesser extent all of your other friends in the Tower,"  Sam explained.  He smiled at Darcy's acceptance of that and blew out a relieved breath.  "I thought you were going to ask a hard one.  Like where babies come from."

Sam realized his mistake when three pairs of round blue eyes in different shades and hues looked at him with sudden, burning curiosity.  

"Where DO babies come from?" Bucky demanded owlishly.

"I'm going to go get -uhm...someone from Science! to explain that. Because...I don't know?"

* * *

Sam had retrieved Bruce (who was ultimately blamed for the kids being kids to ask the question in the first place), who had nervously explained that babies came from science experiments gone awry.

The kids didn't quite believe him but left that answer be for now

* * *

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Nine: And Then Johnny Storm Was Super Hot... **

Stark Industries hosted a large New Year's Eve Gala every year, and depending on individual superhero/villain schedules, it was more or less a large, raucous party of superheroes and their entourages.  The trio of kids had negotiated with Natasha and Sam thoroughly in order to secure their invitation to the event.  

The rules were outlined as follows:

1.   Tell no one that is not Avenger related who you really are. (Yes that includes Logan, Steve and Bucky.  I don't care if you guys played together in World War Two, you are not allowed to ask Wolverine to whip out his claws).

2.   Absolutely no stealing champagne . (No Darcy, I do not care that you have an ID that says you are technically 26 and therefore legally permitted to imbibe alcohol.  How did you not grow up to become a lawyer?).

3.  You must nap for at least an hour during the day of the party so that you can at least keep your eyes open until midnight (Bucky, I swear to God,  you little shit (JAR!), I know that Barton is giving you the illegal energy drinks and I will find a way to get him to stop or he will die with me trying to get him to stop)

4.  You must wear fancy attire to look like you belong a little (No Steve.  We do not have a military dress uniform for you to wear)

5.   Absolutely no getting into fights or arguments with any one else, and absolutely no displays of super hero strength or latent assassin skills. (And no Darcy, you can not bring your new taser that Santa Stark made you)

All in all, when the tally was counted at the end of the party, they managed to follow one of the rules.  Sam considered it a win.

* * *

"I'm too excited to nap!" Darcy whined from the princess day bed on the opposite side of the room from Steve and Bucky's bunk beds.   

"We're not babies anymore, it seems wrong to force us to nap," Steve sighed from the bottom bunk.  

"I couldn't nap if I tried!" Bucky laughed from the top bunk.  "Pigeon face gave me a can of something that tasted like camel piss, but it definitely is gonna keep me awake for at least two weeks."

"That'll stunt your growth," Steve smirked.

"Then maybe you should have some," Bucky fired back playfully.

"I CAN'T SLEEP I'M SO EXCITED!" Darcy squealed.

Steve looked to her with a happy smile.  Darcy was adorable when she was excited and happy and energetic, he wished that they hadn't gotten new beds for Christmas.  He wanted to hug her and pinch at her chubby, flushed cheeks.

"What're you excited for most?" Bucky wondered, teasing.  " _KISSING_ at midnight?"

"Yup," Darcy nodded, bouncing to her knees on the bed and grinning at the beet red boys on the other side of the room.

"uhm---well---uhhh," Steve mumbled, his eyes wide with astonishment.

"I ain't kissing ya'!" Bucky guffawed, his face still a tomato red. "I'll get the dum-dum cooties."

"I don't want to kiss you, gross!" Darcy fired right back.  She sighed and clutched her Thor doll to her chest.  "I'm gonna kiss Johnny Storm..."

"WHAT?" both boys chorused in dismay as Bucky tumbled from the top bunk to the floor and Steve sprung up to sitting in his, smacking his head against the slats of wood at the top of his bunk.

"He's **SUPER** hot."

* * *

"Hey...pst.  Barton.  Pssst. Here birdie birdie birdie."

"Fire crotch, toss another crouton at me and I swear I will tweet that video of Darcy tasing you in the balls!"  Barton growled at the most flammable member of the Fantastic Four.

"Where is good ole Double D Darcy tonight, anyway?" Johnny Storm pondered, looking around the party for the world's most fantastic set of boobs.  Sure, she hated his guts usually, but he never backed down from a challenge.  Especially a challenge as stacked and pretty and fiesty as Darcy.  "I need a kiss at midnight."

"Oh, I don't think so,  _ pal _ ," a pint sized voice had both Barton and Johnny turning around, to where Steve and Bucky, in the fanciest bespoke suits that Stark could have bought, were glaring at Johnny fiercely.  Steve had been the one to speak, Bucky was too red in the face and livid to try opening his mouth. 

"Huh...whose kids are these?" Johnny wondered. Stark didn't usually invite kids to the New Year's Gala. Things got a bit  _ rowdy _ .

"The Widow and the Falcon's," Barton answered easily with a smile.

"Someone let the Black Widow have kids?" Johnny asked in fear.  "Who is making sure that she doesn't turn them into tiny dangerous assassins?"

"Huh, I knew we forgot something important," Barton drolly deadpanned.

"Uhm...that kid's got a knife and it's not of the butter variety," Johnny whispered to Barton as he watched a tiny Bucky Barnes expertly twirl a dangerous switchblade between his fingers.  

"You're gonna stay away from our Darcy,  _ pal _ ," Steve ordered Johnny as sternly as any ten year old could.  His hand was on the back of a fancy wooden dinner chair and he levered a dangerous eyebrow up slightly as he squeezed, turning the wood into splinters without even flinching.  "You stay away from our girl and we won't have any problems with you."

"Seriously?  Who gave the Widow kids?" Johnny demanded loudly of the party, backing away from the kids and turning around to demand of anyone listening.  "MUTANT kids who have super strength and ridiculous dexterity and stinking dangerous weapons?  I mean, this seems like a really bad ide---"

Johnny's ranting was cut off as the blade Bucky had been toying with whizzed by the side of his head, buzzing a line through his close cropped hair.

"Things might go better for you if you just promise not to get near Darcy," Barton calmly put out the suggestion as Johnny turned terrified eyes towards the two boys.  

"I'll leave Double D Darce alone, promise," Johnny held up his hands in surrender, a smirk still playing at his lips, his right index finger and middle finger crossed. He was going to find Darcy and he was going to manage to steal a kiss in front of these little shits or he was going to die trying.

"Oh, Storm.  You're such a little fudgeface," Barton laughed as the boys started walking towards him again.

"Her name is DARCY," Bucky grumbled, another blade appearing from literally nowhere.

"Shit, okay,  _ Darcy _ .  I'll never look at her or talk to her again, shit!"  Johnny took off at full speed, leaving a hysterically laughing Barton behind with the kids.

"Pigeon face," Steve looked to Clint with his 10-year-old Captain America has a mission for you face.  "I'd like for you to go and get money from Storm for the swear jar.  Guy should watch his foul mouth around kids."

* * *

"Here ya go, squirt," Bucky gave Darcy a champagne flute with an easy grin as he and Steve sat down on either side of her.

"What's this?" Darcy brought her nose to the glass and giggled when the bubbles tickled her skin.

"Ginger ale," Steve supplied, taking a long pull from the glass he had taken.  "It's really good too! Best darned ginger ale I ever had."

Darcy sipped at it and found that it was actually really delicious and soon she had drained the whole flute back.  She looked around sadly and said,

"Have any of you boys seen Johnny tonight?"

"NOPE," Bucky lied, glaring at Steve to keep his trap shut over the top of Darcy's head.  

Darcy heaved a sad sigh and looked at her empty glass. 

"I'd like more of this ginger ale, please."

* * *

"All I'm saying is that Captain America and Bucky Barnes have always been a little bit too close to just be pals.  I mean, they probably ran off together..."

"That's not like them at all."

"They haven't been seen in action in MONTHS.  Best bet is that they're shacked up together in some cabin in the woods with that tarty little secretary of Tony's. The one with the huge rack. She's missing tonight too. And you KNOW she wants to be the filling in that super soldier sandwich."

"She's a lab manager!" Bucky shouted angrily, knocking his shoulder into the gossip hound's torso before storming off.

* * *

"Sue, you should have seen these little demons.  The one was better with a switchblade than any of the guys in West Side Story, and the other one was probably stronger than Ben!"

Sue smiled at her brother indulgently and said, "Johnny, how much have you had to drink tonight?"

"You know I don't get drunk where Stark has access to me.  Not after the last time he sharpied in a goatee on my face," Johnny scoffed.  He gestured to his face obnoxiously and said, “This face needs to stay smooth and unharmed for the ladies. I put their enjoyment above all else.”

"I think the little blonde one looks like you," Sue looked across the room where Steve and Bucky were openly glaring at Johnny.  "I mean, you were blonde as a kid.  He's a dead ringer for you, actually.  OH MY GOD.  Johnny!  Is that your kid?"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?"

"You idiot!  You told me you were careful with your wild whoring!" Sue scolded him, slapping at his biceps angrily.  "Oh my god, you're the kid's father! No wonder the kid has super strength, your DNA was changed, Johnny, you can't just---"

"Johnny is NOT Steebe's Daddy," a tiny voice announced from behind the Storm siblings.  

They twirled around to see a tiny Darcy in a fancy blue party dress, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glassy.  Her hand was clenched around an empty champagne flute.  

"Did you say Steve?" Sue furrowed her brow at the little girl.  She looked so familiar.  She looked just like the Stark Lab Manager that Johnny had a (secret) crush on.  Darcy was a good friend to Sue and they always shared a laugh over Johnny's ineptitude with girls that mattered whenever she and Stark visited.  "Darcy?"

"Uhoh," Darcy's blue eyes went wide.  She had just broken another rule. She was in  _ so much  _ trouble.

"DARCY?" Johnny looked down at the eight-year old little girl.  He looked back to see that the two child-sized tyrants who had terrorized him earlier had disappeared.  Which probably meant they were coming to attack him again for talking to---huh, tiny little Darcy was adorable and she was looking up at him in apparent adoration.  He knelt in front of her and gave her his most charming smile.  "Well hey there tiny little Darcy.  You're such a cutie! How'd you get so---little?"

"Brucie did a bad thing," Darcy smiled at him shyly.  "Steebe and Bucky and I are little now."

"You're adorable!" Johnny grinned reaching out and patting her head.  "I want to squish your face."

"Will-you-kiss-me-at-midnight?" Darcy blurted, her blush turning into a brighter stop sign shade.

"Oh, I can't wait until midnight, tiny little Darcy," Johnny grinned, smacking a kiss on her forehead.  He looked up and smiled at Sue and said, "She's so cute!  I want one!"

"You'll have to talk to Darcy about making your own when she's a LOT older," Sue's rolling eyes were tempered by a soft smile.  She adored Darcy.  And she knew Darcy was  _perfect_ for her idiot brother.   She saw Darcy pitch forward suddenly and she bubbled up with a forcefield, not quite reaching Johnny in time.

Darcy vomited all over the front of Johnny's suit and then immediately burst into tears.  To his credit, Johnny only spared a hapless glance down at the ruined Armani before actively trying to comfort her, reaching out and pulling her into a side hug to avoid the spots of sick all over him.

"It's okay, cutie...you always told me that I was going to make you throw up in my face."

"GET OFF HER!" Bucky howled before launching himself at Johnny, tackling him to the floor.

"Darcy, are you okay?" Steve asked as Darcy began to howl with loud sobs at the indignation of it all.  Steve's eyes went wide as Darcy made louder crying noises before covering a gag with her hands.  He turned wild eyes on a wrestling Johnny and Bucky before throwing himself into the fray.

"OW SON OF A BITCH!" Johnny howled.  "SOMEONE GET THE WIDOW AND GET THESE MONSTERS OFF OF ME!"

* * *

Natasha and Sam stood in front of the three kids, who were arranged on the couch in their apartment.  Bucky looked petulant and a piece of his hair was shorter and singed, having caught a random flame off of a thoroughly pummeled Johnny Storm.  Steve had his arms crossed in front of him defensively and stole concerned looks at Darcy, who was curled up into a ball, having been changed out of her vomit splattered party dress into an oversized sweatshirt of Sam's that fell to her ankles.  Every once in a while a tiny little sob tore out of her.

"Who gave Darcy, champagne?" Sam demanded.

"It was ginger ale," Steve disputed with authentic innocence.

Natasha raised a brow at Bucky who sheepishly looked to Steve and admitted, "It was champagne.  You couldn't feel it cause you know---super solider stuff."

"Why would you let Darcy have two glasses?" Steve asked with a hint of anger.  He reached for her and pouted when she pushed him away.  He only wanted to comfort her, but she was having none of it.

"Thought it would be funny?" Bucky shrugged.

"Who spilled the pint-sized superhero beans to the Fantastic Four?" Sam asked.

"Me," Darcy whimpered pitifully.  "They thought Johnny was Steebe's dad.  I tried to stay quiet but the words came out without me meaning to."

"That would be the champagne," Natasha returned her glare to a sheepish Bucky.

"Kid, as your punishment, you will be in the lab when Reed Richards comes in on Monday to help out," Sam advised.  

"That's it?  I ain't getting a whoopin?" Bucky furrowed his brow.

"This is way more punishment than a spanking," Natasha promised.

 


	9. Big Babies (2/2)

** Chapter Ten: And Then There Was School... **

Bucky was thrown out of the lab ten minutes after Reed Richards' arrival. He had somehow managed to tie the man's limbs into a pretzel shape. Tony had muttered to him on the way out that he'd buy him a pony for the job well done.

Still, the ten minutes of face time with Reed Richards had been punishment enough. That guy was  _ awful _ .

So Bucky was certainly relieved to be let loose even though Jarvis had rerouted the elevator that he had wanted to go to lobby back to a floor full of conference rooms.

“Bucky, your legal guardians have expressed their desire for you to attend a few hours of school today with Darcy and Steven,” Jarvis informed him.

“Awww, Jarvis, do I hafta?” Bucky whined.

“Indeed, please follow the blue lights to the appropriate classroom. Also be warned that Natasha and Wilson will not be pleased if you attempt any mischief making. You have been grounded.”

“Fine!” Bucky heaved a heavy, disgruntled sigh. He was _definitely_ on the naughty list after New Year's Eve. Not just with Nat and Sam, but with Steve and Darcy as well. Darcy refused to talk to either boy in the last three days claiming that they had embarrassed her and made her sick. She had spent the entire first day of the year with a wicked hangover and it had only compounded her angry feelings towards the boys.

Steve was _distraught_ with Darcy's silent treatment. And he blamed Bucky for the whole fiasco entirely.

_ You better start thinking straight when it comes to our girl, you jerk. Stop being so mean to her! And definitely don't give her champagne ever again! _

Bucky sulked his way into the conference room that Jarvis directed him towards, perking up slightly when he realized that  _ Uncle  _ Tony had spared no expense in setting up a sizeable one room school house for them. Holographic boards with fun infographics flashing on them. Comfortable furniture and plenty of fancy workspaces and desks. Starkpads everywhere. One corner of the room was set up as a little art studio, where Steve was currently setting up his trays of paints.

Darcy was in the corner with the tiny library, her nose in a book as she sat cross legged in a squashy chair.

“You must be Bucky!” a young man in his early twenties smiled at him from the art studio. He came ambling up to Bucky and held out a hand, “My name is Peter Parker. I'm usually an intern upstairs in the labs, but Miss Potts asked me to be your teacher for the next couple of weeks.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Parker,” Bucky nodded politely, shaking the affable young man's hand.

“You can call me Pete, or Peter, or whichever,” Peter grinned. “So, Miss Potts said that you liked robots?”

“Yeah, Tony said he'd let me build one soon, with a personality and everything,” Bucky nodded.

“Well in the meantime, we can go through some circuitry and physics and you can practice before you build a whole robot,” Peter grinned. “You got a name for him? I know Stark likes naming his bots.”

“I'm thinking something with a curse word,” Bucky grinned at Steve, who managed a begrudging smile back. “That way whenever someone says his name, we'll get money in the jar.”

“That's really clever. I'm kind of sort of terrified of the three of you now. Is it true you put Johnny Storm in the hospital?”

Darcy made an indignant squeak from her side of the classroom and buried her face in the book more fully. Steve sighed and Bucky scowled before they shared a look. They were going to have to set things right in order to make Darcy their girl again.

* * *

“Is this a trap?” Johnny asked as he followed Sue into the elevator in Stark Towers. “Are mini Cap and mini Winter Soldier going to ambush me?”

“Johnny, calm down,” Sue rolled her eyes. “You'll be fine. And if you're not, Jarvis will call an ambulance.”

“I would not call an ambulance, Mr. Storm,” Jarvis replied with only a small amount of cheek. “We have a highly competent medical staff on site.”

Johnny poked his head into the conference room turned classroom and raised a suspicious brow.

“Tiny deadly superhero dudes? You here?”

“Johnny,” Steve said flatly from a small worktable that he and Bucky stood behind. “Thanks for coming in.”

“Sure, its...cool?” Johnny cautiously walked in. It was seriously strange to see Captain America's mannerisms and facial expressions and words in a much smaller version. Apparently they had been even younger a few weeks ago, according to the intel Reed had gathered. He was sure the two boys were just as terrifying at five as they were at ten. Johnny was sad that he missed out on seeing Darcy as a three-year-old though. “Where's Darcy?”

“She'll be here soon enough, don't be so keen, you butt---”

“Buck!” Steve warned.

“Ugh, we made you something to say we're sorry,” Bucky sighed, pushing a large, sloppily made cake Johnny's way.

_Sorry we made you bleed your own blood_ .

Was written neatly across the top of it.

“Sure, apology accepted,” Johnny chuckled.

“It's mostly not poisoned,” Bucky smirked.

“Awesome!” Johnny nodded. “So, is Darcy feeling better now?”

“Darcy is EIGHT, you can't DATE her!” Steve grumbled angrily.

“I don't want to date Darcy at eight,” Johnny held up his hands in innocence. “I'm just worried about my friend who used to be twenty-six.”

“She's _our_ friend,” Bucky mumbled.

“Where's your teacher?” Johnny looked around. “I'm pretty sure you guys should have gotten the lesson on sharing by now.”

“He had to go to the med bay,” Steve shrugged.

“Did you guys beat him up too?” Johnny asked in fearful astonishment.

“NO,” Bucky peevishly denied. “He came in limping from some sort of stuff he did the night before. Darcy took him to the med bay.”

“Well that's sweet of her,” Johnny smiled. “Look, boys...tiny super strong boys...I know you both like Darcy a lot. I have tiny fist shaped bruises at the small of my back that say you like Darcy a lot. But I know Darcy pretty well after five years of trying to get her to date me. She doesn't want you making decisions about her friends for her. She doesn't want you making ANY decisions for her. She's modern. And cool. And smart. And when you grow up to your normal selves? You won't have anything to worry about, because she's TOTALLY not into me. She actually acts like she kind of hates my guts.”

Bucky's eyes went wide and he looked to Steve in horror.

Bucky _acted_ like he hated Darcy's guts all the time.

“Shit,” Bucky grumbled.

“ Ha!” Johnny let out a bark of laughter. “You little guys should  _ totally  _ have a swear jar!”

* * *

Darcy loved watching Tony work. Even at 26, Darcy would always do most of her busy work in Tony's workshop, watching him tinker and build while she mindlessly inputted requisition forms. At the age of three, she would come in with the boys while they played with the bots, but her eyes were on Tony, fascinated by all that he managed to do.

So eight-year-old Darcy often found herself gravitating towards the workshop, even without the boys. Especially now, since she was just so darned mad at them. She was sure she was about to drop dead any minute from the huge amounts of embarrassment that she had endured three days ago at the New Year's Eve party. She had puked all over the hottest guy in the universe. And then those two idiots that she called friends beat him up. No one had ever survived such embarrassment before. She put her chin in her hands and heaved a heavy sigh.

“What's wrong Little Lewis?” Tony asked as he flipped up his welding mask. “Trouble in tiny-tot Paradise?”

“I'm just sad,” Darcy shrugged. “Bucky and Steve were so mean to make Johnny have to get stitches. I'm never going to be able to look at him in the face again!”

Tony smirked and shook his head. He knew that the only reason Johnny ever accompanied his asshole brother-in-law to Stark Tower once a month was to be able to flirt with Darcy. Grown-up Darcy had wanted absolutely no part of that, as grown-up Darcy was a very jaded and intelligent young woman. It was hard to see her pining over someone that Tony KNEW wasn't worth a second of Darcy's time.

And it was hard to see Darcy boycotting her boys. Bucky had been so upset about it that he couldn't even get his tinkering lesson done for the day. Steve looked sadder than when he had first come out of the ice.

“Hey, do you think you guys could do me a favor?” Tony wondered, squinting out of the glass of his workshop into his lab where Bruce was poring over his hand-written notes. “Well-not me, exactly. But I have a top secret mission that I think only the three of you could get done for me.”

“Sure, Uncle Tony,” Darcy managed a grin for him. “We owe you lots.”

“Knowing I'm the best Uncle in the world is good enough. In fact, get me a coffee mug with that on it. World's---no, UNIVERSE'S GREATEST UNCLE,” Tony nodded. He saw Betty come into the lab, looking over Bruce's shoulders at his notes, a fond smile on her face. “But really...this needs finesse and skill sets that I think only you three rug rats possess.”

* * *

“When were you going to tell me?”

Natasha arched an eyebrow as she observed Steve and Bucky sparring in the training room with Thor. Their growth spurt had been a joyous occasion for all, especially Thor, who found that the boys now posed a slight challenge to him. Very slight, but still, they were deemed worthy for combat.

“I was hoping to take it to my grave,” Natasha finally answered. “I made sure Hill and Coulson were willing to do the same.”

Nick Fury turned to level a heavy one eyed glare on his former best employee.

“ We have the worlds best minds working on it,” Natasha shrugged. Her face was steel and her tone level and fierce. “I'm not letting you take any of them to poke and prod at them on the helicarrier. They are  _ children _ . They deserve safety and happiness and love.”

“Love **is** for children,” Nick murmured. This was not Agent Natasha Romanoff talking to him. Nick reveled in a moment of shocked speechlessness as he realized the deadly Russian assassin had been replaced with something even more terrifying. A protective _mother. “_ I should have known something was off months ago when my surveillance started feeding me way too much of Barton singing the 80's Greatest Hair band compilation.”

“The fewer people who knew they were this way, the better,” Natasha asserted. “You still wouldn't know if you hadn't dropped by for an impromptu visit. Let me give you a warning former Director Fury. Watch your mouth around Rogers.”

“What's he going to do? Wash my shit eating mouth out with soap?”

“HEY! FURY! PUT A DOLLAR IN THE JAR!”

* * *

Darcy had tried her best to do Tony's bidding on her own. She hadn't wanted to involve the boys OR their yucky butts.

But she was having trouble without them. Specifically reaching the fancy plates at the top of the cupboard. (Grown-up Darcy had always had trouble reaching those as well).

“Darcy?! Jarvis said you needed us?” Steve ran into the Avenger's common room kitchen at full speed, actually short of breath. He had run up twenty flights of stairs and Bucky was ten seconds behind him, crashing into Steve and looking around wildly.

“You okay, Darce?” Bucky demanded.

“I can't reach that,” Darcy said simply, pointing at the plates in the high cupboard.

Both boys breathed a sigh of relief. Bucky smiled at Steve and nudged him with his shoulder.

“Give me a boost, woudlja?”

Steve grinned and got down on the ground, letting Bucky step on his back and reach for the plates. Darcy took them with a soft  _ thanks  _ .

“What do you need fancy plates for?” Steve wondered, watching as she assembled food on it. “Is that---did you make cake sandwiches?”

“What? Cake sandwiches?” Bucky demanded, standing on his tip toes to see around Steve. “I really loved those. Are they for us?”

“No, they are for Brucie and Betty,” Darcy said primly.

“Did you smash all the love in your heart into them?” Steve wondered softly.

“No, I smashed all my happy thoughts into them,” Darcy shrugged. “I only smash love into the sandwiches when I really really mean it.”

“And you don't love us,” Bucky mumbled, kicking his right foot at nothing. “Look, Darce, it's okay if you don't love me, but Stevie didn't do nothing wrong. You shouldn't be mad at him.”

“He split Johnny's lip!” Darcy disputed. “That's not nothing!”

“We told him sorry and stuff,” Steve insisted.

“I'm still mad,” Darcy insisted resolutely. “And I'm allowed to be mad. Daddio said I can be mad for as long as I want. Cause its healthy and okay!”

The boys looked down at their feet, desolate again.

“But---I...I'll stop being mad someday,” Darcy said quietly. “And I still ---you guys are still my best friends in the whole world.”

Two pairs of blue eyes looked up from the floor to her, suddenly full of light and happiness.

“But I'm allowed to stay mad for now! And you guys should be sorry for some more!” Darcy wrinkled her nose at them. She handed a plate to each of them and said, “Now, take those to the roof. Brucie and Betty think there's a family dinner up there and we're going to lock them on the roof until they kiss and fall in love again.”

* * *

Bruce and Betty were trapped on the roof for an hour and a half. In January's bone chilling temperatures. They hugged for warmth. When the hugging led to kissing and adult conversations about feelings, Jarvis dutifully allowed them re-entrance back into the tower. 

Mission accomplished.

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Eleven: And Then A Fire Breathing Thing Breathed Some Fire... **

"Mr. Parker?" Darcy raised her hand, despite the fact that their makeshift classroom setting was never that formal. And she was currently the only student in the room.

"Yes, Darcy," Peter smiled at her.  

"Can you help us with building a soundproof door?" Darcy wondered.

"Uhm...why do you need one?"

"Mommy and Daddio are getting loud every once in a while, with their smoochies," Darcy explained bluntly.  "I can't hear them, but Steebe and Bucky get all embarrassed sometimes and I hate it when that happens, cause Steebe won't talk and Bucky gets all mad.  I'm still mad at them for making me puke on Johnny Storm, but I still want to be a good friend.  Mommy says friends are the most important things in the world and that I should mend fences and have a forgiving heart."

"Woah. Uhm, yeah, when the boys get here, let's go on a field trip," Peter nodded.  He looked to the ceiling skeptically and said, "Jarvis?  Can you pass Steve the message to bring his shield?  We're going outside."

* * *

Steve and Bucky sullenly followed Peter and Darcy as they walked down the streets of New York City towards a hardware store.  Darcy clung to Peter's hand, refusing to hold hands with either Steve or Bucky as part of an ongoing punishment for ruining her chances with Johnny Storm and embarrassing her at the grown up party.  

She had given them the silent treatment for five days running now, even after they had apologized to Johnny for the stitches.  The boys felt lost without their girl, Steve was quietly sad, while Bucky channeled all his emotions into angry mischief around the tower.  Pigeon face was SICK of the boy booby trapping his shower.

"Where are we going?" Bucky demanded angrily.  "I didn't sign up for no field trips."

"Darcy has a project she wanted to work on for you guys," Peter explained with a smile back towards the boys.  He shook his head at the sight of 10-year-old Steve with a large shield shaped bag strapped to his back.  He gave a glance Bucky's way and knew the kid had at least five weapons hidden on his little body.

"For us?" Steve said hopefully, his blue eyes lighting up as he stared at Darcy as if she had hung the moon for him.

"Something about soundproofing your door?  Because of the--uhm, what your parents---I mean, because of your super hearing," Peter stuttered through the explanation.  He could feel their pain.  Heightened senses were the worst.

Case in point, Darcy threw a small smile back at the boys and was met with Steve and Bucky AND Peter tensing, their bodies rigid with the sudden, practiced anticipation of seasoned warriors.  Darcy heaved a heavy sigh and said,

"There are bad guys again, aren't there?"

Steve had his shield out in seconds, as Bucky pushed Darcy and Peter into a corner for cover.  Peter knelt by Darcy and gave her a small reassuring smile.

"Everything is going to be okay," Peter handed her his phone.  "I hit the panic button, and help is on the way.  Just---just give me one second."

Darcy, Steve and Bucky watched curiously as their teacher ran behind a dumpster and hid.  His hand popped up and placed the clothing he had been wearing into semi-neat piles on top of the dumpster.  When he reappeared he was in a very different, much tighter outfit.

"Holy crud, our teacher is Spiderman!" Darcy's eyes went wide with shock.

"Hey guys, lets keep this all between us, okay?" Spiderman gave them the thumbs up before zipping away to go on the offensive at the lumbering robot that was trudging down the street, definitely breathing fire.

Steve and Bucky stood protectively in front of Darcy who was busy inputting numbers into Peter's phone.

"Mommy? Daddio?" she asked, putting the phone on speaker.  

"Hey Darcebug!" Sam's reassuring voice rang out over the phone.  "Mommy and I are on our way with backup.  Give us just one minute.  You and the boys find someplace to hide, okay?"

"Okay," Darcy nodded.  

Spiderman was blasted back into the alley, his body crumpling against the dumpster he had used for a privacy curtain moments before.  Steve and Bucky rushed towards the robot that was now heading straight towards their safe spot in the alley.  Darcy shrieked when a very heavy metal tentacle zipped out, knocking Steve and Bucky back towards Peter violently.  Steve's shield fell with a clatter five feet in front of Darcy.

A column of fire erupted from the ugly robot's face and Darcy was hit with a memory from her grown up self. It looked like a cheap knock off destroyer with a big tail. She felt panic all over as she whispered,

“Steebe? Bucky?”

The boys were unresponsive and Darcy could feel herself trembling from head to toe in fear. But the fire kept coming and Darcy just knew it was going to hit Peter and the boys.

She darted out from her safe space in the alley and dragged Steve's shield with a tremendous amount of effort, closer to her prone friends and teacher.  She curled into a tiny ball behind the shield, squeezing her eyes shut and hoping it was enough to protect them all.

The shiny shield provided a distraction to the dumb robot, and the fire turned towards the shield instead of the less shiny, much more destructible humans.  

"OW!" Darcy screamed as the shield started to feel hot against her hands.  Tears fell from her eyes at the intense pain of it, but she kept the shield upright, determined to keep them safe.

" _** Darcy! ** _ " Natasha's voice echoed through the phone at the side of the alley and from above as Sam dropped her onto the back of the 15 foot high robot.  She had been incredibly worried behind her businesslike facade when Jarvis told them that Peter had hit the panic button. Her nerves had only increased when she had felt Sam's shaking as they flew at high speeds to the coordinates Jarvis had given them.

She channeled all the fierce, protective panic. One powerfully placed kick turned the robot's fire breathing head to the side, letting the lasso of fire hit the concrete of the adjacent building instead.  

Sam swooped down and pulled at the metal tentacle and grabbed it, pulling it away with all of his strength and a bellowed yell as it tried to attack Natasha.  

The Black Widow jumped off the robot, and rolled down the alley towards Darcy, who was swaying and about ready to pass out, Natasha kicked the hot shield away from her and lifted her up in her arms. Darcy's hands were covered in vicious looking burns. Natasha looked to the dumpster and saw that Spiderman was coming back to the land of the living, the boys quickly following.  

"Can you get them back to the tower? This place is going to become a lot more green and a lot less friendly in about thirty seconds," the Black Widow advised her Spider brother from another mother. She felt much calmer now that all three of the children were relatively safe.

Bucky and Steve made a dazed but panicked rush for a passed out Darcy, but were soon wrapped up in webbing and being forcefully dragged away for a quick swing back to the Tower.  Nat kicked Steve's shield again, expertly aiming it for Sam, who grabbed it and swung at the metal tentacle that was still giving him some trouble.

The sound of repulsors, the roar of the Hulk and the sound of crashing concrete gave Natasha a peace of mind she hadn't known she needed until that moment and Sam soon had both her and Darcy in his arms, protected by the shield as they flew away, letting Iron Man and the Hulk do their absolute worst.  And by worst, they meant the best.

* * *

"Darcy! Darcy!" Steve shouted as he ran to the med bay, Bucky hot on his heels.  Peter had dropped the boys off in the lobby of the tower, Jarvis was quick to tell them that Darcy was being looked at by the medical staff.  Peter had zipped away as quickly as he could while the boys ran for the elevator Jarvis had reserved for them.

"HEEEEEEEY Tiny superheroes!" Dr. Dorian waved at them as they charged into the med bay.

"Outta the way!" Bucky yelled, pushing the silly doctor aside as they charged back to the room where they could see Sam and Natasha standing.

"Darcy!" Steve cried as he maneuvered around Sam and Nat to throw himself on Darcy's bed.  

Bucky hung back for a few moments, his eyes filling up with tears at the sight of her.  So small and fragile and hurt on top of the big hospital bed, in a soft pink hospital gown, her hands bandaged up to her wrists.  He watched as Darcy managed a sleepy smile Steve's way, before waving at Bucky with her bandaged hands.  

"You're so dumb, Darcy," Bucky whispered with a strained voice.  "You should have let that robot fry us, you shouldn't of---"

"Buck," Steve admonished gently.  "She saved us."

"Course, I did," Darcy mumbled.  "I love you guys and your yucky butts."

Bucky's tears fell down freely as he followed Steve quickly, both boys clamoring up to bracket Darcy on the bed, crying as their arms clumsily tangled around her and each other, tiny little _I love you's_ being exchanged repeatedly.

"So many chastity belts," Sam muttered to Natasha.  "Lord please, give me strength."

* * *

Darcy had to stay in medical overnight so they could figure out the correct pain medication for the burns she had suffered.  After a sniffly hour, the kids eventually bounced back to their normal exuberant selves, with the added bonus that Darcy had figured saving their lives was the best way to mend fences, so she wasn't mad at them anymore.

Her little room was quickly filling up with get well soon presents.  Tony had sent her a six foot tall hulk stuffed animal.  Pepper had sent a giant basket full of candy that the kids had already half-demolished.  Bruce and Betty sent a little box full of decks of cards and other little fun games to fill up the time. Peter had sent a bouquet of flowers and a promise that he and a friend would soundproof their door before Darcy was released.  Peter also sent a bouquet to Natasha and Sam with a card "Sorry about today.  Can you at least not tell Fury?"

Clint came into the room with a measuring tape and took down numbers from Bucky, Steve and Darcy's arms, then nodded at them and said, "Pigeon face is flying to the fabric store.  I'll have you rugrats sorted out proper with gloves and gauntlets and whatnot."

The trio lay side by side on Darcy's bed, eating all the icing off of the cupcakes that Thor and Jane had dropped off for them, using their little hands to pretend pinch Dr. Dorian's head through the glass of Darcy's room. Darcy's bandaged hands couldn't finger pinch, so she used both hands to squish his head.

"Oh heeeeeyyy," Darcy did her best impression of the energetic doctor.  "SQUISH Dr. D.  SQUISH!"

"I'm hungry," Steve announced thoughtfully, shoving another cupcake in his face.

“Hey hungry, I'm Bucky,” Bucky did his best Sam impersonation, snorting with laughter.

"Mommy and Daddio are bringing us pizza and stuff," Darcy reminded him, picking through her candy basket and picking up a bag of reese's pieces, Steve's favorite.  She put a few in the little paper cup that her pain medication had come in and held it out to him.  "This'll make you feel better."

"Thanks, Doctor Darcy," Steve grinned.  "I thought YOU were the one that needed doctoring."

Bucky's face grew red at Steve and Darcy's innocent conversation, remembering Pigeon Face telling him a couple of days ago.  ' _ Don't let me catch you three playing doctor and smooching each other, I'll tell your parents and TWEET it _ .'

"Bucky?  You want some medicine?" Darcy smiled shyly at him, holding out the cup full of candy.  Her eyes went wide when he leaned in and placed his lips firmly on her cheek for a brief second before he pulled away with a tomato red face, staring down at his hands.  Darcy blinked and said, "But---but you hate me."

"He doesn't hate you, Darcy," Steve countered.  He swallowed and copied Bucky's action, kissing Darcy's other cheek.  "Tell her, Buck."

"I don't hate you.  I love you, Darce," Bucky whispered.  "I'm sorry I'm mean all the time."

"You're not mean," Darcy shook her head.  She bent her head and kissed his cheek before turning to Steve and doing the same.  "You guys are my guys.  And I love you both."

"Pizza time!" Sam announced as he walked through the door, followed by Natasha.  The adults looked between three flushed faces suspiciously, wondering what in the hell they had just walked in on.

Their silence was calculating and deafening and Bucky found himself squirming under the weight of their squinted gaze.  

"WE WEREN'T PLAYING DOCTOR I SWEAR!"  Bucky hollered at them. "And if Pigeon face tells you different he's a no good lying liar!"

* * *

_Project Growup Faster_ was put on hold as Team Science! worked on testing a new burn ointment for Darcy's hands. The assorted team of engineers, physicists, biologists and other pricey degrees were a lot more successful there than with reversing the baby-fication. Darcy's hands were good as new in less than three days.

Bucky and Steve knew that for sure because they spent an awful lot of time holding her hands.

Things were going great again with the terrible trio having free reign over the Tower, school with Spiderman and hijinks with their extended 'family'.

So it was surprising when Bucky jerked to wakefulness from a pretty terrifying nightmare.

He was cold.

Steve was out of his bottom bunk in a flash and climbed to the top bunk, laying beside Bucky, his face full of concern. It felt more like muscle memory than anything, because Bucky's second childhood had been blissfully nightmare free.

“You okay, Buck?” Steve whispered.

“Cold,” Bucky shivered.

Steve wrapped an arm Bucky's torso, offering whatever warmth he could. He was quiet as could be as Bucky shivered, and the metal plates on his arm shifted needlessly in the dark. Steve looked over as Darcy moved around, pulling her blankets off the bed as she hopped down and walked softly to the bunk beds. She climbed up, and layered her blankets over the boys before climbing under herself and cuddled close to Bucky.

“is okay, Bucky, we're all safe now,” she murmured before falling asleep again.

Steve smiled and squeezed Bucky with as much conviction as he could. “We're all safe now.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Twelve: And Then Everything Got Hit With A Puberty Stick... **

They woke up to a rush of wind and the sound of wood breaking.

Crashing sounds coming from the kid's room wasn't a surprise to Natasha or Sam. But since Peter Parker had made the soundproof modifications, most crashes were more muffled.

  
  


This crash was not. It sounded like an entire bed had smashed into pieces.

Sam and Natasha were out of bed in a flash, throwing on robes for modesty before rushing towards the kid's room.

It turned out that when it sounds like an entire bed was smashed to pieces, it was probably because a bed had smashed into pieces.

Child-sized bunk beds were apparently not meant to withstand the weight of three teenagers, two of whom were serum enhanced.

“Oh shit shit shit shit,” Sam muttered as the three teens pulled themselves to sitting positions amongst the ruined bed. Sam looked to Natasha in horror. “We were supposed to have more time before they got hit with the puberty stick. It hasn't even been a month! I'm not ready for this, Nat. I'm not.”

"Jarvis, enact Protocol PG," Natasha said firmly.

"Protocol PG activated," Jarvis replied dutifully.

“What?” Steve asked, his voice cracking in the middle of the word. His eyes widened and he looked down at himself. Much like the last growth spurt, he was about to pop the seams on his clothing. He was nearly back to his full height at fifteen and was well on his way to filling out to proper Captain America muscles. He turned his face to Bucky and his eyes got even bigger.

If Steve almost looked like his old self, then Bucky WAS his old self. He still had the babyish face of youthfulness, but he was just as tall and carved out of lean muscle as old Bucky was. Steve swallowed deeply as the full force of hormones that their growth spurt brought on gave him a definite appreciation of the way Bucky's pants were hung so low that his hip bones were on full display. A deep crimson blush bloomed on Steve's face as he tried to catch Bucky's gaze but failed. His friend was staring openly at something else entirely, his jaw hanging loose and a bit of drool accumulating at the side of his mouth.

  
  


Steve turned to see what Bucky was staring at.

_Oh_ . That was definitely worth staring at.

Darcy looked down at herself in horror as her body had gone from small and skinny to small and _completely_ rounded out. Her children's size small pajama top didn't stand a chance against the boob fairy's amazing work. Darcy turned red and crossed her arms in front of the chest that threatened to rip the fabric of her shirt and squeaked.

She looked up to Natasha and begged, “MOM! Please help!”

* * *

Rocky the Avenger Dog was confused.

He remembered being picked out of the pound by Funny Face Hair Man and three very little kids.  He had been cuddled and petted and loved by those three kids.  The little girl would brush his coat every day.  The small metal hand knew exactly the best places to scratch.  And the strong little boy always gave him food straight from the dinner table.

And then there was a big hub bub that he couldn't be bothered with because he had JUST found the most comfortable corner of Nice Pretty Paper's shoe closet.  But when he finally ambled down the steps and into the common room where all the food happened, he found that his three very little kids had become distinctly less little.  

In a very short amount of time.

But it didn't matter.  The little girl would still brush his coat, but now she had the ability to put bow ties around his neck.  He was glad the other guys at the animal shelter couldn't see him now, but he would admit to liking the bow tie that was red and gold in color.

The metal hand was bigger, but still sought out those spots behind his ears that made his rear leg twitch in enjoyment.  

And the strong boy was decidedly less little, but still shared any food he did not immediately inhale.  

Rocky woke that morning to the sound of hysterical laughing from Funny Face Hair Man, while Nice Pretty Paper was on the phone with someone who was bringing all sorts of new clothes upstairs as soon as they could.  Rocky dutifully followed a still giggling Funny Face hair Man and Pretty Paper down the steps, where assembled on the couch in ill-fitting clothes covered by what Rocky sort of thought were borrowed bath robes from Smiley Face Hair Man and Redheaded Nutella lady who does not clean up his messes where three teenagers who looked like his little kids.

"Hey Rocky!  How you doing buddy?'

Huh.  That sort of sounded like the strong boy.  But the voice was different, sliding up and down between octaves and giving the odd squeak.   Rocky gave a wary look and the face looked kind of the same.  Next to this bigger, stronger new strong boy was definitely metal hand.  Rocky trotted forward and turned his head to the left in the closest expression he had to curiosity.  Sure enough, the metal hand came forward and scratched at just the right spot.  

Strong boy lifted Rocky up and spread him across his and metal hand's lap, petting absently at him.

Rocky looked to the far end of the large comfy couch and there in a giant bathrobe that surely belonged to Smiley Face Hair man was little girl.  

But she wasn't little all over anymore.  Even Rocky, with his colorblind dogsight could see she was hiding something behind the bathrobe, her face in her hands, her ears tinged with bright red.  He scooted forward and tried to cross the distance little girl had put between herself and strong boy and metal hand.  

Little girl sighed and looked to Rocky with a pretty smile and he abandoned the boys to go to her, plopping down in her lap and putting his face right on top of the chest that little girl had been trying to hide behind the big bathrobe.  He huffed out a contented breath and promptly fell back asleep.

They made comfy pillows.

"THATTA BOY, ROCKY!" Bucky laughed hysterically.

Steve blushed and tried his best not to laugh and failed miserably.

Tony fell to the floor in hysterics.

"Oh, Darcy," Pepper sighed as the boys continued to laugh.  She gave Tony a piercing look that ceased all laughter in the room.  She knew the tale grown-up Darcy had told on a girl's night out about her boobs coming in practically overnight at the age of 12 and her whole life being upended by them in the worst of ways.  Pepper was bound and determined to get Darcy's second puberty right.  "We're going to have a girl's day out today, I've cleared my schedule and texted Jane and Betty.  Your mom is arranging security as we speak.  Sound good?"

"Yeah," Darcy whispered, sparing a glare at Bucky and Steve, who were still staring at Rocky's resting place with curiosity.  "This being a girl thing STINKS, Aunt Pepp.  It really does."

* * *

"What is Protocol PG?"  Sam asked Natasha as they prepared security measures for the girl's day out.

"Jarvis will monitor them for any physical interaction that is above the movie rating of PG," Natasha explained.  "When they cross that line or _flirt_ with that line, Jarvis will send the closest person to them and provide adult supervision."

"You're brilliant," Sam signed in relief.  He reached for her and hugged her to him.  "Seriously, you're the most amazing woman on the face of the planet."

"Keep up all the accolades, we'll get our own rating up a little higher."

* * *

The residents of Avenger's Tower realized something very quickly about 15 year old Bucky Barnes.

He. Was. A. _Cuddler_.

Steve was the only person alive to remember, and he currently didn't quite remember the details, but from the time Bucky hit his first puberty in the 30's until the time he went away to war, he was a cuddler.  It was probably a combination of having a much younger sister, who needed constant cuddling, and the fact that Bucky before the war was an individual who had a lot of love to give and wanted to distribute it far, wide and free.  

So it made sense that this inherent attributes resurfaced during Bucky's second puberty.

Steve had expected Bucky to cuddle with Darcy.  And he did whenever he had the opportunity.  But Darcy was currently not accepting very many cuddles due to her newly blossomed... _ stuff. _ Bucky would still plop down next to her, crowding on to small chairs with an arm wrapped around her and a head leaned in against her own.  Darcy usually would push him off the chair with exaggerated force.

She thought he was teasing.

Which of course he wasn't but he couldn't find the right words to tell her that he wasn't teasing.  He hoped the words would find themselves when they jumped in age again.

Steve did not expect Bucky to shrug and approach him every time Darcy pushed him away.  And he definitely didn't expect him to curl up against him like a dang cat, his head on Steve's shoulder as they made small talk about what they wanted for second breakfast or when they were going to the gym to play with Thor.  Then, usually an adult would come running into a room, making obviously fake excuses as the reason why they had run in on them.  Pigeon Face was at least truthful with his excuses.   _ Just making sure no unseemly nookie was happening. _

Nookie was definitely NOT happening.  Steve didn't quite believe that Bucky was cuddling out of that kind of interest. 

Steve tried not to read too much into Bucky's cuddling tendencies.  In the past five days he'd found Bucky cuddled up in the following scenario's and combinations.

  * Around Rocky, who was resting on top of Betty and Pepper's feet in the Avenger's common room.  So Bucky was effectively curled around Rocky and also Betty and Pepper's feet.




  * In between Natasha and Sam during their "parents" movie date night in their apartment.  Sam looked slightly annoyed at the teenager who had a metal arm around his torso, but Natasha just petted at Bucky's heavy brown locks absently as she watched the blissfully non-cartoon movie (Natasha was SICK of cartoons)




  * Hugging a now shorter Tony, Bucky's chin nearly atop the man's head as Tony reviewed Bucky's latest physics homework in his lab.  Tony looked nonplussed by the cuddling, but Steve knew that Jarvis was taking plenty of pictures and videos, just in case, in Tony's words "Barnes grew up pissy and murdery instead of cuddly."




  * His head in the lap of a horrified Clint Barton, who had been playing mario kart with him on the couch before Bucky made himself more comfortable.  Clint shrugged eventually, snapped a pic and stated "Tweeted it."




  * Piggy backed on Thor, rubbing his face against the velvety red cape.  Thor had been nonplussed and actually took Bucky out for a quick flight around New York.




So yes, Steve tried not to be surprised or react when Bucky would pull him in for a tender cuddle.  He really did.

* * *

Steve was having trouble though.

With the reacting.

Steve was developing a little bit of a bathroom problem.  

Steve's first puberty was plagued by sickness and fragility and being bone tired all of the time.  

Steve's second puberty was plagued with so many serum enhanced hormones that it was actually ridiculous.  Really.  Betty Ross had run the tests and said there weren't actual terms to discuss how much testosterone was swimming in Steve's body.  

Steve had lived through a very uncomfortable talk with Dr. Dorian about how it was totally okay to just...run with the testosterone.  Be one with the testosterone and all the things the testosterone wanted to do for fun.  ' _ Don't be ashamed of the urges Slightly smaller Captain Rogers.  It's only natural _ .'

Sam had slapped Dr. Dorian upside his head and ordered Steve to keep it in his pants around Bucky and his innocent baby Darcebug.

But it was really becoming har---no, it was really becoming difficult.  

Bucky's cuddling didn't help.  His old friend was a looker too, that was for sure.  Steve was an artist at heart and even the straightest of men could appreciate Bucky's looks.  And Steve was becoming increasingly aware that he probably wasn't the straightest of men.  So Bucky didn't even have to cuddle him for Steve to take notice.  He just had to stand there and continue to look pretty.  Which he did.  All the time.

And poor Darcy.  She didn't mean to have the effect on him, he was sure.  But she'd walk in a room, smelling the way she did and smiling at him and her hair was so soft and pretty and she looked at him with her big blue eyes full of adoration and affection and she'd stand next to Bucky and they would exchange pleasant teasing with each other and with him and they were just so beautiful and right in front of him and they were HIS.  He remembered that from his past...or future---his grown up self.  He had wanted them both to be HIS. He just didn't know how to make that happen. Then or now.

So Steve spent an inordinate amount of time in his second puberty slinking off to the bathroom.  

There was the time when Bucky had helpfully done a load of laundry, purposefully shrinking all of the oversized sweaters that Darcy had purchased so that they were tiny and form fitting.  If seeing her stomp out of the bathroom in a tight v-neck red number wasn't bad enough, she had immediately launched herself on a gleeful Bucky, tackling him to the ground and pummeling.

In response, Steve had excused himself to the apartment's second half-bathroom.

There was the time when Natasha and Sam went out for a date, and Darcy had nostalgically insisted on eating ice cream for dinner in their absence, without having to form a three person totem pole to procure said ice cream.  She and Bucky had been trading popsicles back and forth.  One red popsicle and one of the capsicles.  Their lips and tongues brightly colored as they licked away with joyful abandon.

In response, Steve had excused himself to the common room bathroom.

And then there the many times he woke up and Darcy and Bucky had the audacity to exist within a ten foot radius of him.

He had always sleepily excused himself to the bathroom.

It was a big problem.

* * *

The adults of the Tower were not having an easy time with dealing with Darcy's second puberty.

The girl had been a baby to them a few months ago, and every single person, including Pigeon Face, could say that they loved her and still thought of her as the little three year old who couldn't pronounce a "V" to save her life.  It didn't matter that she had now reverted back to her grown up shape.  She was still just a kid, mentally.  Tony may have laughed that first day, but he quickly realized just how horrible it was for the kid to have inherited such a bounty at such an early age.

It had only taken the first whistle of a security guard on the main floor when Tony was taking the kids out to look at prospective LEARNING cars.  Sixteen was just around the corner, and Tony wanted them to have something shiny to drive around.

Tony and Jarvis calculated the inappropriate glances to Darcy's person that afternoon and soon Pepper had fired or transferred every last one of the douchebags.  

Clint was now banned from the local shopping mall.  He had provided security for that first girl's day out, where a newly teenaged Darcy was distraught to have to buy adult sizes and ginourmous and complicated bras.  

"Wowza, look at the cans on that one!"

Clint turned to glare at the dudebro who had said it and had him incapacitated in less than ten seconds.

"She's THIRTEEN!" Clint hissed at the unconscious dudebro.

Natasha and Sam made quick work of the lab monkeys in Starks R&D department.  Being the good parents they were, they made a pre-emptive strike.  Sam stood with his arms crossed impressively across his chest while Natasha calmly explained to the assorted Stark Industries employees that their daughter had reached a certain level of maturity.  And if anyone looked at her at any time in an inappropriate manner, they would be handled immediately.  Jarvis of course, immediately conveyed that he would be watching closely.

But it was Johnny Storm who was the biggest surprise.  He would come by with Dr. Richards, who was still working on Project Growup with the rest of the nerds when they could spare the time.  

"Oh look, Jugs is back!" a snarky assistant said in the elevator as they made their way onto the floor with Tony's lab and workshop.  "Maybe there's trouble in super soldier paradise."

"HEY!" Johnny pointed a finger at the mean girl assistant.  "Her name is DARCY.  And she's thirteen.  Stop being a bitch!"

Steve and Bucky sent him a fruit basket as a thank you.

* * *

And then, Reed Richards made a break through.

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Thirteen: And Then Science Fails Them Yet Again... **

Natasha and Sam were acing this parenting thing. They had made very few mistakes when all was said and done and all three of their _kids_ had made it to their teenaged years. Granted it had all happened in less than six months, but there was still a sense of accomplishment to getting them there healthy, whole and maybe even more emotionally stable than they had been fully grown.

Sure, they were terrified that the trio still shared a room, though thankfully they had three separate SMALL twin beds.

Yes, Natasha and Sam blatantly used Jarvis to make sure that no bed swapping was happening. No swapping of spit too. No swapping at all. And they would continue to have Jarvis be the chastity police until all three of them were back to their normal age.

If there was one mistake that they had made, it was trusting something the Science! Crew (namely Reed Richards) had come up with to get Steve, Bucky and Darcy back to their normal ages.

Because honestly. FUCK Reed Richards. (JAR).

* * *

“So we did a deep dive into the structure of the hormones that were present the morning after the last jump in age, and we found some fascinating ---”

“Oh my god, how long is he going to talk about how awesome he is?” Sam muttered to Tony.

“At least fifteen minutes,” Tony nodded. “Look, he thinks he figured it out. I've looked at the formula and it _seems_ sound. But still---”

“Are there any adverse side effects?” Natasha demanded.

“Absolutely not, at worst, the injections will do nothing,” Dr. Richards promised. “But I guarantee you, this will push their bodies that last little stretch to their normal ages. Immediately.”

“We'll ask the kids, see if they're willing,” Sam said.

* * *

The kids were more than willing. Steve was still having his bathroom problem. Bucky was having his pushing the correct words out of your mouth about the people you love problem. And Darcy's problem was Johnny Storm shaped.

Johnny rescued the rest of Team Science! from his brother-in-law every day at 2 pm. He drug the overly zealous scientist away telling him that Sue desperately needed him (She never did).

He always stopped to chat with the boys and Darcy. Smiling in that perfect way of his. Breathing in that perfect way of his. And his biceps doing that being thing that was just. So right.

She didn't remember him being this nice before. But he was now. SO NICE. He joked and laughed with her as he waited for Dr. Richards to pack up his things.

Darcy needed to grow up.

  
  


And fast.

Because she needed to date the crap out of Johnny Storm.

Steve needed to grow up.

And fast.

Because he needed to get control of the awful hormones that were wreaking havoc with his body so that he could speak two sentences in a row to Bucky and Darcy without running to the bathroom.

And Bucky needed to grow up.

And fast.

Because he needed to figure out a way to tell Steve and Darcy that they were two of the most important people in the world to him. Especially before Johnny Storm got a chance to ask Darcy out again.

So when Natasha and Sam presented them with the option of short-cutting to the finish line, they all agreed instantaneously.

Boy. Were they stupid.

* * *

“Okay, we'll be injecting the series of hormones over the span of the next five minutes. Then, to recreate the original blast, we'll put you in the safe chamber and you'll see a blast of light.”

“Sounds familiar,” Steve mumbled. He shrugged and said, “Let's do this.”

Darcy waved at Johnny, who was sitting at her old desk, smiling at her reassuringly. Bucky rolled his eyes and put an elbow in Steve's side. They had made their peace with Johnny for the most part, but they definitely didn't want him any where near their Darcy when they got back to normal.

Dr. Reid was on hand to administer the shots and gave them all a cheerful thumbs up as they went into the safe chamber that Tony had built based off of Dr. Richards' specifications.

Darcy stood between the boys, and reached out for their hands, clutching them tightly.

“You okay, Darce?” Bucky murmured.

“Just a little scared,” Darcy admitted. “When we go back to normal...I'm gonna be lonely.”

“I'm never going to let you be lonely,” Steve insisted. He gave a meaningful look to Bucky and said, “I'm never going to let either of you be lonely. I promise.”

“10 seconds,” Dr. Richards called out and counted down.

“I love you guys,” Darcy whispered.

“Yeah. Feelings' mutual,” Bucky managed to whisper back before a flash of light ripped through the small closet like space.

* * *

The sound of crying was like a knife in the Black Widow's gut. Sam tightened his grip around her hand and they both rushed towards the chamber the three teenagers had gone into moments earlier. Natasha pushed Richards aside and Sam nearly ripped the door off of its hinges.

Three adults were not on the other side.

Three babies were sitting in puddles of clothing. Darcy couldn't have been more than one. The boys looked to be about two years old. Darcy was crying as the scared boys held her hands. She turned big blue watery eyes on Natasha and wailed,

“Mamma!”

* * *

When the rest of team science discovered quickly that Reed Richards had flipped one number in his final calculations, Natasha handed Darcy off to the closest person and pulled a blade from literally no where and advanced on the suddenly terrified man. It took Sam, Tony and Bruce to attempt (and fail) to hold her back, but it was Steve and Bucky's scared whimpering that stopped her from spilling blood.

She knelt in front of the boys and smiled at them.

“Hi Steve and Bucky,” she said as gently as possible. “I'm very sorry that you're scared right now. The science didn't work the way it was supposed to.”

“Natnat, wanna hug?' Steve wondered, seeing the distress that Natasha was trying to hide. He wrapped his arms around her neck and squeezed, and yes, the super strength was still there.

“ Darce a baby now,” Bucky pointed with an adorable little metal finger.  “My Darce. get her from  _ him _ .”

Nat smiled and looked to who she had given the baby Darcy too. Johnny Storm looked down at Darcy with clear astonishment on his face as he bounced her up and down. She had not started crying again under his care and was actually babbling quite happily, her hands reaching out and grabbing at Johnny's nose.

“Shoot, now I really want one of these,” Johnny muttered as Sam held out his hands for Darcy. He sighed and said, “These science dudes have to change her back to normal so I can ask her properly.”

“I don't think so, Storm,” Sam leveled a very fatherly eyebrow at Johnny. “Girl is already spoken for.”

“I like a challenge,” Johnny laughed, handing Darcy to Sam. He smooshed her chubby cheeks together and made baby sounds at her, causing her to giggle and squeal.

“If I could just rework the calculation properly,” Dr. Richards began to speak.

Natasha's blade whizzed by the side of his head, slicing off a few of the man's hairs. Johnny laughed and muttered,

“Like mother like son.”

  
  


“No more science!” Natasha insisted. “If you put their ages back any further, they will be less than _fetuses_ .”

“Jarvis? Can you let Pigeon face know that we won't be needing those adult clothes. He's going to have to go shopping again,” Sam sighed. “Much smaller sizes this time.”

* * *

Pepper had cribs delivered and assembled by the time they made it back to Natasha's apartment. Jarvis said the delivery of formula and appropriate baby foods was en route. Darcy was sleeping in Sam's arms and Bucky and Steve were dutifully following Natasha, although even their limitless energy was flagging.

“Well, nap time is going to be a thing again now,” Sam smiled at Natasha.

“ You really just roll with the punches, don't you?” Natasha smiled for a brief moment. She found her true emotions leaking out as they were prone to do around Sam and Sam alone, panic etched on her face. “I mean....babies. LITERALLY babies this time. They could be like this for  _ months _ . Or God, what if Richards has them like this for good?”

“Hey now, it's gonna be okay,” Sam promised. “When I asked you out all those months ago, I knew it was going to be a really big adventure. I just thought...you know it would involve more _espionage_ and less _raising of children together_. But still. It's a really big adventure. And we're doing it together. So I can't complain.”

“I love you,” Natasha said softly.

Sam's eyebrows hiked upwards and a soft smile spread across his face. He juggled a sleeping Darcy and kissed her with a quick, bruising force. He pulled away and said softly, “Good, Because I love you, too.”

“GROSS!” Bucky made a retching sound.

Steve just smiled up at them.

“You're gross,” Sam countered childishly. “Are you potty trained? Cause I am not changing your diapers, little man. We'll have Uncle Tony build a bot!”

* * *

When the kids woke up from their naps, Uncle Pigeon Face was grinning down at them, holding up bags of baby clothing.

“Caw caw!” Darcy clapped happily.

“Pigeon face! Pigeon face! Pigeon face!” the boys chorused with glee.

“I love you little fuckers,” Clint laughed.

“Ooyyyyyyy! Bad!” Steve admonished.

“ I know, I know.  _ Jar _ .”

* * *

Rocky was confused.

_ Again _ .

His three favorite children in the world had grown up overnight. And now they were back to being babies. Even younger than before.

He was a very calm, cool, _chill_ dog though and decided to just roll with it. Little girl was surprisingly gentle for a baby and used him as a four legged walker, as she couldn't quite take the steps on her own. Metal hand still gave the best scratches, and strong boy dropped even more food now, due to lack of coordination.

“Woof woof!” Darcy grinned at the dog before wrapping her arms around his neck.

“That's right. The doggie goes woof. What's the llama do?” Tony asked her from his place on the couch with Bucky and Steve, the two tiny supersoldiers were crawling all over him with glee.

“baaa?” Darcy furrowed her tiny brow in amused confusion.

“Hell if I know,” Tony shrugged. He heard Steve's gasp and rolled his eyes, pulling out his wallet and handing a few bills without taking heed of what they actually were.

Darcy brought herself to standing and tried to take a few steps before falling on her diapered bottom. She took it in stride and tried again. Steve and Bucky eventually climbed down off of the couch and reached out hands to her, helping her to take steps around the room.

“True love,” Tony sighed. “Jarvis?”

“Documented sir,” the AI Butler replied.

“They are going to have the most comprehensive polyamorous commitment ceremony multi media presentation EVER.”

* * *

The first call to assemble with the babies made the OTHER first call to assemble look like a walk in the park. The boys clung to Sam's legs, crying while Natasha had her hands full with a sobbing Darcy.

But what made it worse was Sam and Natasha. They didn't WANT to leave them. Clint cleared the room when he saw tears in Nat's eyes and Sam's bottom lip trembling.

“Darcy, sweetie, Mommy will be right back, okay?” Natasha whispered.

“NOOOOOOOO!” Darcy wailed.

“Don't go, don't go, don't go,” Bucky chanted as he clung to Sam's right leg.

“Stay safe and wif us 'n safe,” Steve whimpered. “No aventures.”

“ Oh God, they're killing me, Nat,” Sam looked to Natasha when his tears started to fall. “Boys, we  _ have  _ to go. What if someone else's Mom and Dad are out there and they need help? We have to keep them safe too.”

  
  


“Darcy, I promise, I will come back,” Natasha pet the black curls on the baby's head. “I love you, sweetheart.”

“Agent Romanoff, there is an incoming call that has been marked as urgent,” Jarvis reported. “I'm putting it through now.”

“Hey Widow, how's my favorite former lab manager? Still a baby?” Johnny asked over the phone, the sound of rushing wind crackling over the call.

Darcy's cries abated a little as she looked to the ceiling for the sound of the voice that was not Jarvis.

“She's a little upset,” Natasha admitted. “We have a call to assemble, Storm.”

“Right, I see the giant angry mutant octopus now. It's kind of polka dotted. But hey, you and Wilson stay put with the babies,” Johnny suggested. “The Four are en route to the hostile area. I figure the four of us can fill in for like half a Black Widow.”

“Okay hot stuff, what about me?” Sam chuckled despite himself.

A rumble of thunder echoed through the phone call and Johnny laughed, “I think we just got some air support to replace you, Wilson. And I see War Machine on the horizon. We got this. Take care of your kids.”

The thunder excited all the babies and Bucky and Sam finally untangled themselves from Sam's legs and rushed to the penthouse windows, eager to see their friend who had been off world for the last few days.

“Thooooooor!!” Steve made a tiny baby growl as he pressed his face against the glass.

“CAAAAAAPE!” Bucky did the same, his nose smashed against the window.

“Seriously, we really need to figure out this cape business for Barnes when he grows up,” Sam shook his head as he walked over to a still emotional Natasha and hugged her and Darcy both. “Kid is obsessed.”

* * *

The debrief for that particular mission felt more like a Tony Stark approved party than a boring meeting with Maria Hill. The Fantastic Four had brought pizza and Chinese takeout, and Thor had brought Sif back to Earth with him and Rhodey was in the house. He was currently flirting with Sif, but he WAS in the house.

Thor was sitting on the couch with Jane, a baby Darcy in his lap while the boys climbed on his cape that hung off the back of the couch. He bounced a joyous Darcy up and down and Jane couldn't help but smile at how great he was with the babies.  He seemed to converse with them easily, despite the fact that Darcy only knew three words and the boys could barely string a full sentence together.  _Allspeak_ he had explained.  Damned magical science.

Jane was not great with kids. Before Darcy had aged up into teenaged status, Jane had barely managed to awkwardly pat the little girl on the head in passing. She snuggled up to Thor's side and sighed with contentment. With Thor around, kids didn't seem so bad anymore.

“My little lightning sister is most adorable at all times, but I find this incarnation to be most delightful!” Thor admitted, tossing Darcy up in the air.

“Woah man!” Johnny called out from across the room. “Be careful with her!”

“Lady Darcy knows that I would never allow harm to befall her,” Thor disputed, tossing a squealing baby in the air again.

“ME. ME. Frow ME!” Steve demanded.

“NO ME!' Bucky demanded.

Thor placed Darcy in his lap and grabbed a boy in each hand. He tossed them high into the air to Bucky's delight and caught them with ease. Steve consented to being put down into Jane's lap, a little shaky, his little body remembering that he didn't like flying very much.

  
  


“AGAIN!” Bucky demanded.

Thor complied three more times before Sam warned from across the room,

“They just ate three pieces of pizza you're going to make them---”

“Wuhoh,” Bucky looked suddenly green.

Thor was a God. He did not allow two-year-olds to be sick on his Asgardian armor.

So he did what any self-respecting God would do. He tossed the boy away, straight at Reed Richards, who miraculously caught Bucky and was immediately covered in half-digested pizza.

“Right on Barnes! I owe you another pony!” Tony cackled.

“Buck Buck.” Darcy waved at the recovered boy as he ambled back to the couch. She turned to face Jane and reached out with grabby hands at Steve. “Steeeeeeeeebe”

“Is it not miraculous, my Jane that true love runs so deeply that science and magic cannot wash it away?” Thor smiled.

“Hmm, it is,” Jane nodded. “I just wish Darcy was a grown up again. I can't wait to talk all of this Buck Buck and Steebe business over with her. She was keeping a lot of her emotions close to the vest at 26. I had no idea she loved them both.”

“You are brilliant, my Jane, but you cannot see everything,” Thor smiled at her. He leaned forward with a mischievous wink, “But I _did_ have more than an idea of Darcy and her gentleman's feelings. From the very start.”

“Of course you did,” Jane laughed. “Still, I miss my friend.”

“She is right here,” Thor disputed, his large hand ruffling Darcy's curly hair. “But I understand that you wish to talk of more adult manners. Which reminds me...during the revelry I forgot. Son of Wil! Find your shield maiden. The Lady Sif and I have matters to discuss with you regarding the young ones.”

“Okay, uhm, Shield maiden? Thor wants us,” Sam smirked at Natasha as they walked over to the couch. “What's up Big Thunder?”

“We have brought back a remedy. It shall return our friends to their normal state.”

* * *

* * *

 

** Chapter Fourteen: And Then Thor Came to the Rescue... **

The medicine from Asgard would bring Darcy, Steve and Bucky back to their original ages in 10 days time. Every two days, they would age until their bodies were set to right.

“ You're sure this will work?” Sam furrowed his brow. “I mean, the scientists were sure that the last try would either fix them or do nothing, and I have a  _ diaper genie  _ in my apartment that tells me otherwise.”

“I mean no disrespect to the fair Lady Jane or Lady Betty, nor the Warriors Banner or Stark,” Sif smiled politely. “But they do not have the means to find a true solution to this problem.”

“And you do,” Natasha quirked an eyebrow.

“Asgard's science is so much more advanced than our own,” Jane admitted.

“The cure sets the body back to its starting point before the trauma occurred,” Thor nodded.

“The Captain of America and the Soldier of Winter will retain those enhancements that allow them to be warriors,” Sif nodded. “But they will be back to their normal Midgardian age.”

“98?” Tony put in helpfully, his face skeptical.

“Their bodies will be reset to what they were before the original blast,” Thor insisted.  "This particular dose would negate what was done to the body in the last year."

“But what if it DOES but their bodies back to zero?  Serum-less?” Sam shook his head. He looked to Natasha with a furrowed brow. “Do we risk it? Should we just wait out the next year and have them slip back normally?”

“That's if it works,” Bruce shook his head. “We're still not sure what my experiment did, and now we have Reed's work on top of that. What if what Reed did stops the time jumps? What if they have to age from where they are now naturally? Are you ready to raise three babies for the next 17 years?”

“I will do whatever is necessary for their safety and comfort,” Natasha said coolly.

“I'm in this for the long haul,” Sam nodded.

“Are you ready to risk the fate of the world?” Jane asked with as much kindness and gentleness that she could muster. “Don't get me wrong, without Steve, you guys have been doing a great job with the Avenging but you have to admit that a few Hydra cells, a fire breathing robot and a giant octopus is kind of _tame_ for us. What happens if we have another extinction level event? Would Steve want us to risk leaving him as a two year old child when he would want to help?”

“ I don't mean to insult you,” Natasha addressed Thor and Sif directly. “But please understand that I won't risk their lives. If your cure puts Steve and Bucky to their real ages and erases their serums, they would drop dead in front of our eyes. I won't do that to them and I would never even  _ think  _ of putting Darcy through that. I won't have her back to her normal age and attempting life without them. It would kill her.”

“I understand, shield sister,” Thor nodded. “Your Midgard years are small, so it is of no great matter to me whether my friends are put to right. I will take comfort in their friendship no matter their age. But---I do believe Midgard will suffer without their soldiers to protect it.”

“Can we test it?” Tony offered. “Can we make sure it would work somehow?”

“Do you have an overabundance of serum enhanced individuals who we could de-age-ify in Reed Richards messed up experiment and then apply the Asgardian voodoo so we can see if it keeps all the serum in the right place?” Sam shook his head, trying to take some kind of amusement out of the situation.

“There's me,” Natasha said softly.

“No.” Sam said resolutely, all humor erased immediately. “I'm not doing this without you. That's not an option.”

“I think we're all forgetting the big green elephant in the room,” Bruce shook his head in amusement. “Hey...if it doesn't work---I'll be green-less.”

“Bruce, are you sure?” Betty murmured.

“I got them into this mess,” Bruce nodded. “I should be the one to get them out.”

* * *

Bruce Banner was sedated to avoid a Hulk Out to get him into the safe chamber that had pushed Bucky, Darcy and Steve's ages back to babyhood.

Reed Richard's de-age-ifying process brought Bruce back to the age of 10.

He was _adorable_.

Tony did his darndest to provoke a hulk out, because he really wanted to see a 10 year old Hulk. Pepper locked Tony in the penthouse with Rocky after Tony had given tiny Bruce Banner a wedgie and resorted to petty name calling.

Thor administered a the cure, a simple, small cup of golden liquid and then they waited.

* * *

Two days later, Bruce had hit puberty, and unlike Steve, Darcy and Bucky, his puberty wasn't quite so pretty, although he spent significantly less time in the bathroom than Steve. 

* * *

Four days later, Bruce was in his twenties and had grown to be quite cute. Many an admirer had been caught red-handed by Betty as Bruce went back to work in the lab.

* * *

Six days later, Bruce was in his late twenties and chuckled when he suddenly needed glasses again. It was a good sign that things would go back to normal.

* * *

Eight days later and Bruce had his first gray hairs for the second time around. Betty assured him he looked handsome and distinguished.

* * *

Ten days later, Bruce was back to his normal age. He went into the Hulk containment unit and gave Betty a smile before closing his eyes and concentrating on letting the _other guy_ out.

He was still big. Still Green. Still Scary.

The Asgardian remedy had worked as promised.

Natasha and Sam requested one more day with the kids to prepare themselves.

* * *

Steve, Bucky and Darcy were all at the small dining table in Natasha and Sam's apartment, Darcy was covered in spaghetti sauce from head to toe. Thankfully, Natasha had wisely stripped the girl down to her diaper so all they would need to do was toss her in a warm soapy bubble bath.

Steve and Bucky were still fully clothed and still totally covered with spaghetti sauce.

“Jarvis?” Natasha asked softly.

“Documented, Agent Romanoff,” Jarvis promised.

“I'm going to miss this,” Sam admitted, saying what Natasha was unable to say out loud.

“They'll be okay though,” Natasha nodded. “Let's just pack as much happiness as we can into the next ten days for them.”

“Absolutely,” Sam nodded. “Definitely going to let Uncle Tony and Aunt Pepper spend as much money as they want.”

“Hey, Wilson?” Natasha looked up at him, her eyes glinting with unshed tears. She was still always astonished that these emotions crept to her surface when he was around.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“You and your three kids are the best thing that ever happened to me. I love you, too.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Fifteen: And Then They Waited Ten Days... **

Thor administered the golden liquid to all three of the babies and kissed each forehead for good measure.

“My friends, it will be good to have you as your rightful selves. But I shall miss the innocence and purity of your hearts,” he smiled at them, knowing they understood. The All speak was most convenient.

“So...we have what---the rest of today and tomorrow?” Sam wondered.

“That is correct,” Sif smiled at him. “Enjoy this time, Son of Wil. Not many get to experience a friendship at this level. You have reshaped their hearts and minds with your parentage.”

“Huh...never quite thought of it that way,” Sam smiled. “I hope they turn out happier than before.”

“I have no doubt of this fact,” Thor clapped Sam on the shoulder, offering a smile to Natasha. “I know that this second and third childhood has been a trying experience. But you have healed many wounds for Barnes and Rogers. Wounds that could never have healed in any other way. They will honor you as true parents for the rest of their lives.”

“What I'm getting from that is that Barnes can never be a little shit to me again,” Sam grinned. “If he does, I totally get to whoop his ass. Or put him in a room with Reed Richards.”

* * *

** Day One: **

After spending the prior day cuddling with the children in their own apartment, going through a simple routine-filled day, Sam and Natasha spent most of the next day on the penthouse floor, where all of the Avengers and Avengers support staff that had helped to care for the children could soak in the last day of babyhood.

Tony and Pepper cuddled with the babies during a re-watching of Lilo and Stitch. Jane watched while Thor played horsey to all three of the babies. Bruce and Betty built lego towers with the boys and clapped and cheered when Darcy toddled her way through them.

The kids were napping against a blissful Rocky when Sue and Johnny Storm arrived, thankfully Reed-less. Johnny sat in front of the dog and watched baby Darcy sleep with his chin in his hands.

“I think we need to find Johnny a good girl who is _not_ Darcy,” Natasha said softly to Sue. “He's going to get his heart broken if he wants to try to steal her from her boys.”

“That would be greatly appreciated,” Sue smiled at her. “I think he might _actually_ be ready for something serious now.”

“Has he met Helen Cho?” Jane said thoughtfully. She knew of Helen's own obsession with Thor and Jane was far from above killing two birds with one stone. “She's nearly Darcy shaped except for you know...the boobs. And she's not as mouthy, but she is buckets full of smart and sassy.”

“Maybe invite her to the celebration we're bound to have when they're aged up proper,” Sam offered. “We'll set up a little meet cute.”

When Sam and Natasha had finally put the kids through bathtime and into bigger pajamas that would be necessary when the growth spurt hit, Sam was nearly floored when Darcy, who had only managed Mamma, Steebe and Buck Buck as words, cuddled close and grinned up at him toothily.

“Daddio...”

“Oh my Darcebug,” Sam grinned. “I love you, kiddo.”

* * *

** Day Two: **

“Did it work?”

Natasha narrowed her eyes at the door to her bedroom and saw Tony Stark bouncing on the balls of his feet. She checked her bedside clock and reached for her biometrically locked drawer, pulled out a gun and aimed it at Tony's head.

“It's three-thirty in the morning, Stark,” Sam grumbled in his sleep. His hand pushed at Natasha's pointing the gun away from Uncle Tony. “Don't shoot him, baby. He's just excited to get his maturity appropriate playmates back.”

* * *

It  _ did  _ work. Darcy, Bucky and Steve were three and five again, and they had escaped their cribs easily and were jumping on Sam and Natasha's bed by six am.

Thankfully Natasha had returned the gun to her bedside table and locked it.

“Did you miss us?!” Darcy grinned, throwing herself down and cuddling against her parents. “I lobe you, Mommy and Daddio. So bery much!”

“Being a baby was weird,” Steve admitted as he sat cross legged atop the bed, Bucky following suit and doing the same. “Good thing we were potty trained.”

“Sorry,” Darcy grinned at her parents sheepishly.

“It's okay. One day we'll be old and you can change our diapers,” Sam shrugged.

“Did it work?” Tony poked his head into the room again, with the same excitement he had shown at three-thirty in the morning. “YES. Okay, suit up kidlets. We're spending the day at the Stark Fair. The quinjet leaves in an hour!”

* * *

The fair was held at Stark Manor, which was forty minutes away via quinjet piloted by Pigeon Face. The terrible trio had spent the majority of the flight picking on him and asking him inane questions, mostly as a distraction, since Steve still wasn't overly fond of flying.

When they landed it was clear that Tony and Pepper had spent quite bit of time and money in planning the carnival, with rides, food trucks and games. Even a giant ferris wheel. They had invited and transported a lot of families from under privileged neighborhoods too, so as Steve put it,

“The fun is more funner cause we're sharing it!”

Tony challenged Steve to test his muscles at the strength meter, and postured to anyone that would listen that as a Stark, he knew the physics of the machine and would be able to obtain a higher score. Steve edged him out, but then Thor took a turn with Mjolnir, and no one else got a shot at it, since the strength meter was then demolished.

Barton and Bucky spent two hours at the booth with the little rifles, winning every single stuffed animal on the shelves.

Darcy had gleefully started giving out the stuffed animals to any and all that passed by.

Bucky and Steve's super solider stomachs almost gave way after all the hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream, funnel cakes, deep fried oreos, corn dogs, french fries, pizza, milkshakes and candy they had indulged in. They caught their second wind an hour later and tore into a large plate of nachos.

“Thank you, Uncle Tony,” Darcy kissed his cheek before doing the same to Pepper as they watched the fireworks explode in the night sky. “Thank you, Aunt Pepper. This was bery bery fun!'

“Yeah thanks!” Steve grinned at them, hugging each of them around their knees.

“You really are the best Uncle in the universe,” Bucky gave them thumbs up. He winked at Pepper as saucily as a five year old could. “And you're the prettiest and best Aunt in the universe.”

“Jarvis?” Tony looked to the surveillance camera and speaker he had set up strategically throughout the carnival grounds.

“Documented, sir.”

* * *

** Day Three: **

“Steebe. Steeeeeeeeeebe.”

Steve woke up to Darcy pressing her open hand to the tip of his nose. The threesome had been put up in ridiculously large king size bed in a guest room directly next to Sam and Natasha's.

“Go back to sleep, silly, its not light out yet,” Steve mumbled.

“Bucky isn't here,” Darcy frowned. “I can't sleep without Bucky too.”

“Oh...where'd he go?”

“Bathroom,” Darcy answered. “Maybe he got lost?”

“Let's go,” Steve sighed, climbing out of the bed and reaching for Darcy. Steve followed his super hearing, and led Darcy to a nearby study, where Sam and Bucky were sitting together in a squashy armchair.

“I want you to know, little man, and I want you to always remember, that you don't have to keep your feelings inside, and you don't have to hide them behind any kind of meanness or anger,” Sam said softly, rubbing at Bucky's scalp soothingly. “Your feelings are your own. And if you feel angry, then fine. Show it. But if you feel love, you should never be scared about that. You show that love as much as you can, don't hide it under anything. It's too darn pretty to hide. Okay?”

“Okay,” Bucky said softly.

“You're very lucky,” Sam insisted. “Darcy and Steve will be very patient, I know they will. But don't test that patience. Treat them with kindness, always. Definitely, you should never try to kill Steve again, ever, and never call Darcy dum-dum again. Be kind, Bucky, I know you have it in you.”

“I will, I promise,” Bucky nodded. “Thanks, Daddio.”

“You're very welcome, little man,” Sam smiled. “Now get back to bed. We're heading back to the city tomorrow and I'm pretty sure you're going to wake up a little bit bigger than you are right now.”

Bucky high-fived Sam before heading to the door, smiling at Steve and Darcy genuinely.

“You stink at being quiet, Stevie,” Bucky grabbed Darcy's other hand and started their walk back to the guest room.

“My daddio is the best,” Darcy smiled.

“Yeah...he is,” Steve grinned.

“We should do something nice for him and NatNat,” Bucky pondered. “We should start planning. We only have a couple days left.”

“Plan what?” Darcy furrowed her tiny brow.

“Getting our parents married.”

* * *

** Day four: **

Coulson was forgiven.

Because Coulson managed to get the entire Manhattan Dave and Buster's closed down to the public.

It was a very private party for a select few.

And Darcy told Steve he was right. It was like heaven on Earth.

* * *

** Day Five: **

“Mommy isn't the most romantic person in the world,” Darcy sighed. “But Daddio can do the romance stuff.”

“Then maybe NatNat should be the one to propose?” Steve wondered. “I bet Super Sammy would like that.”

“Huh...he would really like that,” Bucky nodded. He pulled Steve into a side hug and said, “Good thinking, Stevie!'

“Steebe is so smart,” Darcy grinned. “So how do we get Mommy to propose?”

“Uhm...maybe we can figure out that part tomorrow?” Steve suggested. “When we're teenagers we might understand more about romance and stuff.”

“Steebe is **SO** smart.”

* * *

** Day Six: **

Steebe was not _that_ smart.

It turns out that teenagers were NOT smarter in the romance department. It turns out their hormones overrode the very thought of romance.

“Please don't spend the next two days in the bathroom,” Darcy sighed as she cuddled into Steve's right side, while Bucky did the same on Steve's left.

“He can't help if we're too darn good looking,” Bucky smirked. “We get his motor runnin'.”

“Maybe---when you get all---bathroom needing, you can think of something that makes you need a bathroom...less?” Darcy suggested.

“Think about Super Sammy and NatNat swapping spit,” Bucky laughed, cuddling closer, his hand going over Steve's torso and resting on Darcy's forearm. “Speaking of our parents, I hope they get back here with the food soon.”

“I'm starving,” Steve agreed, his face flushing red as Darcy and Bucky continued to make him the filling in their cuddle sandwich.

“Why's it called swapping spit?” Darcy wondered. “I mean, there can't be THAT much spit. Right?”

“Let's see,” Bucky shrugged, pulling her closer so that she was half laying on top of Steve's chest. Bucky swallowed down his nervousness before wetting his lips, his pulse quickening when he saw Darcy do the same. He pursed his lips and pressed them gently to Darcy's, the kiss was chaste and innocent when compared to adult Darcy and Bucky's standards.

“That looked nice,” Steve whispered.

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded, before bringing his head level with Steve's and placing an identical kiss on his lips.

“Woah,” Darcy breathed, her whole face flushed scarlet. Steve looked to her and bent his head down, intent on pressing his lips to hers.

“ ** HEY YOU LITTLE BASTARDS!! WHATS THE WHAT ** ?”

Clint Barton rushed into the apartment at a dead sprint, panting and looking around wildly.

“Jarvis said you were up to no good. I'm here to ruin it so that Nat doesn't hand me my balls when she gets back. STOP SWAPPING SPIT!”

“PIGEON FACE! There was no spit!” Darcy yelled at him.

“I gotta go to the bathroom,” Steve squeaked before rising and hurtling the coach effortlessly, making a quick escape.

The front door opened again and Tony and Pepper ran in, followed closely by Jane.

Tony pouted at the retreating Steve and red faced Bucky and Darcy, “Did we miss it? I wanted to break up the tomfoolery!”

* * *

** Day Seven: **

It was hard to plot when Nat and Sam decided they needed a family sleepover in the living room. Jarvis had alerted the emergency list the day before after the teenagers had innocently kissed, but Sam and Natasha were no longer taking any chances. They were going to get Steve, Darcy and Bucky back to their normal ages before they could try to consummate their relationship with hormone fueled threesome antics.

“Pigeon face called me a bastard yesterday,” Darcy said suddenly.

“You know that's like a term of endearment for you all,” Sam smirked as they sorted out the large amounts of candy that had been delivered an hour ago in anticipation of movie night. “He loves you little bastards.”

  
  


“Yeah, but I mean. I AM a bastard,” Darcy grinned at Sam. “I mean...I was born and then babyfied with my parents out of wedlock. I _am_ a bastard.”

“Tough break, Darce,” Bucky smirked at her. “Bastards go to hell according to Father Hess. I mean, that guy died in the 30's, but he seemed to sort of know what he was talking about.”

“I don't want to go to hell,” Darcy turned her most innocent big blue eyes on Sam and then Nat, who was returning with Steve and four large bowls of popcorn.

“Stop giving your father your Bambi eyes, Myshka,” Natasha warned. “He should know by now that you're only trying to con him into something.”

* * *

** Day Eight: **

“MOTHER! I AM 20 YEARS OLD! I DON'T NEED CHAPERONED SLEEPOVERS!”

Natasha raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Darcy and crossed her arms in front of her chest, her mouth twisting into a small smirk.

“You'll thank me when you are back in your right mind,” Natasha insisted.

“Stop arguing with your mother, Darcy! She was changing your diapers a week ago!” Sam scolded from the kitchen where he, Bucky and Steve were working on making lunch.

“When you are fully grown up, you and your boys can do whatever you want to do,” Natasha promised, a hint of a scowl on her face. “But until I am sure that you are back to normal and you have no danger of being turned into a toddler again, I will continue to keep your innocence in tact.”

“I'm pretty sure I'm not a virgin at 26. OH MY GOD, MOM AM I A VIRGIN AT 26?” Darcy guffawed unattractively.

“It doesn't matter. You are _innocent_ now,” Natasha said sternly. “I will protect you from yourself until you are back to normal.”

“I sure as hell wasn't a virgin at 29,” Bucky chuckled to Sam and Steve.

“Doesn't matter, you were two years old a week ago,” Sam smirked at him. “The clock has reset.”

“Shit,” Steve breathed.

“ ** JAR! ** ”  Sam cried out victoriously.

“ Was  ** I  ** a virgin at 29?” Steve asked, his face pale. As they approached their real ages, they all vaguely remembered things from their grownup versions. Little imprints. He didn't quite have the imprint of carnal knowledge of anyone.

“Virginity is a social concept, not an actual thing,” Natasha reassured him easily as she and Darcy came back out in the kitchen. “What matters is that you have your full selves back in two days before jumping headfirst into a very complicated three way relationship.  The last thing I need is for this not to work and have to explain physical relationships to the toddler versions of yourselves.”

“ Yeah, and who knows, when you get back to 26, you might want to ditch these bozos for someone... _ hotter _ ,” Sam smirked.

“WILSON!” the boys chorused angrily, watching as Darcy's whole face flushed.

“Oh my god,” Darcy groaned. “I can't believe little me asked Johnny STD Storm to kiss me!”

Natasha grinned as the boys both nearly collapsed with relief. “And THAT is the reaction I'm hoping to avoid on Day Ten. Come on. Lunch time, children.”

* * *

** Day Nine: **

“She's still going to love us when we're back to normal, right?” Steve whispered under his breath as they sat around the penthouse, his voice only loud enough for Bucky to hear. Natasha may have heard it too, but she wasn't overly concerned so long as the conversation stayed PG-13. She had given up on PG at least. Bucky's foul mouth and mind would have overloaded Jarvis' servers.

“You're worrying too much, punk,” Bucky smiled at him.

“Jerk,” Steve said automatically. “I just---I want us to be happy. I mean, I love you, Bucky. I do. But its not going to work if she doesn't love us too.”

“I know,” Bucky nodded. His cheeks tinged slightly pink. “I love you too, Stevie. And our girl. It's all going to end up okay. Better than okay. It's going to be amazing.”

“What was it like to kiss her?” Steve wondered softly. Bucky was the only one of the trio who had (innocently) kissed the both of them. Steve was definitely keen to get back to normal so he could experience it too.

Bucky smiled in a dreamy way. “Just like kissing you. Absolute heaven.”

* * *

** Day Ten: **

Steve blinked his eyes open to see Darcy and Bucky staring down at him with smiles on their faces.

“That was a lot of fun,” Steve murmured.

All memories of their new childhoods and their old lives were clicked into place. All the feelings that had been shrunk to child-sized emotions were back to normal, but there was a calmness and surety that hadn't been there before. Steve felt content. He felt safe. He felt  _ loved _ .

“It really was,” Bucky admitted in a whisper. He looked over to a still sleeping Sam and Natasha and said, “We owe them a lot.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded.

“First things first, we're together now.  You guys are stuck with me.  No take backs.  And I didn't get to do this yet,” Darcy whispered, leaning over and placing her lips against Steve's innocently. She pulled away and whispered, “I love you, Steebe.”

* * *

When Sam and Natasha woke on Day Ten in the living room of the apartment, amidst air mattresses, pillow and blanket forts, they were alone.

“Jarvis?” Sam asked.

“Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes and Miss Lewis are en route back to your apartment with breakfast,” Jarvis reported. “All is well, Wilson.”

“We made it,” Sam blew out an exaggerated, relieved breath. He turned to Natasha with his hand extended. “High five, fellow parent.”

Natasha rolled her eyes and high-fived him with a smile before yanking his shirt front, bringing him bodily closer and slanting her mouth over his. Their celebratory kiss deepened and intensified, Sam's hands in her hair, Natasha crawling into his lap.

“Ahem...”

They reluctantly pulled away and saw their fully grown kids crammed in the doorway, their arms full of bakery boxes.

“Mommy and Daddio, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Darcy sing-songed.

“I don't know guys, I don't feel comfortable with you guys doing this out of wedlock,” Bucky smirked. “I mean, you guys were preaching chastity to us for the last four days...seems wrong that you get to fool around the minute we're out of your sight.”

“Hey, Nat?” Sam murmured against her temple. He fished in the pocket of his pajama pants and pulled out a ring box. “Let's head to Vegas this weekend and get hitched.”

“Sure. Sounds good.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Sixteen: And Then Everything Was Better Than Back to Normal... **

Sam still loved his Dad jokes.

He would often interrupt the private, personal time of Steve, Darcy and Bucky by calling at all hours of the day to tell them the latest hilarity he had come up with. It also had the added benefit of breaking up and ruining the mood on many a romantic night between the three of them. Sam considered it a win-win.

Darcy still called them Mommy and Daddio. It garnered a lot of strange looks when they were out in public, but a well-placed eyebrow from the Black Widow dispelled a lot of those looks.

Johnny Storm had sent a huge bouquet of flowers the day after everything was back to normal. He visited ten minutes after the flower delivery, looking hopeful and as dangerously charming as ever.

Bucky and Steve didn't interfere. Soft words from Darcy spoken the night before having put their nerves at ease. Earnest touches shared between all three of them solidifying their feelings. She was their girl. She always would be.

“It's good to see you back to normal,” Johnny smiled at her. He tilted his head down and rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. “So, are you all back to normal? Like, including hating my guts?”

“Johnny, I think it was pretty clear when my eight-year-old self asked to kiss you that I never _really_ hated your guts,” Darcy said softly. “But you have to admit, that when we met five years ago, you weren't really ready for a committed relationship.”

“Yeah, I had a little growing up to do,” Johnny joked. “What could have been, huh?”

“Don't think about that,” Darcy shook her head. She hugged Johnny tightly and said, “Just think what you can do with all of this new found maturity with another lady!”

“I suppose a butt pinch wouldn't get Cap and Barnes all riled up, would it?” Johnny whispered cheekily, his hands slowly moving down her back as she hugged him.

“Johnny, they put you in the hospital when they were TEN. Do you really want to see what they can do now?”

* * *

“My relationship with you has been put on fast forward from the moment you drove up to me in that fast car back in DC. I should have known that any woman who put her foot down on that gas pedal so hard was someone I had no chance in hell against. Our whole lives have been and will continue to be non-stop absolutely ridiculous situations and I can't wait for each and every crazy minute of it because I get to do it with you.”

Darcy sniffled as Sam finished his vows to Natasha. She beamed over at her boys and saw that they too were getting emotional during the wedding ceremony.

“I said my vows to you in private, as I have no wish for anyone, especially Stark, to know how I truly feel but you or our kids,” Natasha smirked. She squeezed Sam's hands and said, “You have taken me in when the world was hunting for me. You have had my back on the battlefield and when our kids wanted to stay up that extra hour or eat that extra candy bar. I cannot wait to go on our next adventure.”

Uncle Tony had spared no expense for his favorite set of parents. Stark Manor in upstate New York was transformed into a fairy-light lit wonderland. Darcy stood next to the bride, and Bucky and Steve stood next to the groom.

There were less than thirty people in attendance, only the closest of friends and family. Anyone that had done them a kindness and showed their friendship during the trios time in babyhood. Johnny Storm was there with Helen Cho. Steve and Bucky had trapped them in an elevator together with Jarvis' assistance less than a week after their final growth spurt.

They were quite happy together, if truth be told.

_Everyone_ was quite happy together. Clint was the first to say something about it during the revelry of the reception.

“You just know something is about to explode.”

“Cram it, Pigeon Face!” chorused Steve and Bucky at the same time Darcy yelled.

“Fuck you, Pigeon Face!'

“How come, Darcebug doesn't have to put money in the jar?” Sam wondered.

“We have a different system for Darce,” Bucky cheekily replied, waggling his eyebrows while Steve blushed and Darcy shrugged.

“If you say one more word, Barnes I will tear you apart with my bare hands” Sam promised, the protective, fatherly streak having never left him. His continued relationship with Steve and Bucky carefully relied on the fact that they NEVER discussed what those awful boys did to his innocent Darcebug.

“So...” Darcy sat between Steve and Bucky with plates of cake that looked suspiciously like cake sandwiches. She handed them off to both boys and smiled beguilingly at Natasha and Sam. “You guys have a choice to make, and you should think very carefully about your answer here.”

“Spill it, Myshka,” Natasha ordered sternly.

“Yes, Mom,” Darcy grinned at her. “Either you guys are giving me a sibling in the next year, or Bucky, Steebe and I are going to have to make you grandparents.”

Steve choked on a bite of cake sandwich and Bucky turned pale and looked to Sam warily. If looks could kill, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers would be dead on the ground. The parental figures didn't know that the she and the boys had discussed their future extensively and that children were not on the horizon until she had passed the 30 year mark. And her birth control was designed by one Betty Ross, so there was no chance for a slip up.

Natasha smirked at the girl she was proud to call her daughter and assured her,

“We've got something in the works. Don't worry about it.”

* * *

That something was an application for foster care. A trio of siblings. Three, five and eight. And they all LOVED old bull dogs, corny dad jokes and cake sandwiches.

 


	10. Big Babies:Fun Sized

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary:  
> Missing moments, prompts, holiday specials and more set in the Big Babies Universe.  
> Second Chapter: Gobble Till You Wobble

 

** A Bery Scary Halloween **

“Somehow, I don't think that Darcy will want to wear the Halloween costume she had been planning on wearing.”

Sam furrowed his brow as Natasha held up the costume she had retrieved from Darcy's room.

“Oh hell no,” Sam scoffed. “Darcy is never allowed to wear anything that small again. What was she trying to be?”

“A sexy raccoon?” Natasha shrugged. “And while I dig the protective daddy vibe, you are not allowed to dictate what Darcy wears when she is a fully functioning adult again. A woman's body is her own, Wilson.”

“ But...if she wears shorts that short, Bucky and Steve are going to be  _ panting  _ after her,” Sam pouted. “And then I'll have to slap their heads and Nat, you know how hard their heads are. I'll break all the bones in my hands.”

“Hmmm, I definitely need your hands,” Natasha smirked.

Their  _ kids  _ had been turned into toddlers. A month ago they had been normal twenty-somethings on the cusp of discovering a mutual three-way attraction. And now they were babies. Permanently attached at the hip babies and they had been for the last five weeks.

“So what does she want to be now?” Sam wondered.

  
  


“It's a surprise,” Natasha smiled softly. “What did the boys pick out today?”

“A surprise,” Sam smirked at her. “You're just going to have to see at Stark's Halloween party tomorrow.

* * *

Tony Stark had never thrown a party like this.

Usually a Stark approved Halloween party consisted of bobbing for apples in vats of vodka, half naked everybody running around and gyrating against each other, and many more stripper poles and dancing cages.

So Stark Manor being covered in toddler appropriate decorations (Mickey Mouse for crap's sake) _,_ with buckets and jars filled with candy all over the room, the Kidz Bop version of Halloween music playing softly, and buckets full of regular water and shiny shiny apples, was just a little bit of a shock to the system.

Tony Stark had planned to dress as a slutty fire fighter for Halloween that year. He had suspenders and everything. But when Darcy, Steve and Bucky became kid-ified and he became  _ Uncle  _ Tony, his plans for Halloween significantly changed.

Which was why he was dressed up as Captain America now. Not even a slutty version.

Tony looked down at Rocky the Avenger BullDog and smiled,

“Okay Barky Barnes, do you think the kidlets will enjoy this shindig?”

Rocky snuffed and licked at the silver sleeve that Tony had slipped over one of his legs. It had only taken him an hour in Funny Face Hair Man's company to realize that it was just easier and less time consuming to go with the flow.

Nice Pretty Paper breezed into the room, her normal pretty strawberry blond hair hidden under a dark wig. She had a purple knitted cap over the wig and wore really cool black-rimmed glasses in Rocky's opinion.

“Barky Barnes, you're the best,” Pepper scratched the dog's head. She looked up at Tony and said, “The kids are going to LOVE their party. After all, Captain America never disappoints.”

Tony grinned as she walked away to artfully dump more candy on an open table. The grin dissipated very quickly and he called after his lady love, “Pepp, you said that all flirty and stuff. I'm deeply concerned by this. Does the Captain turn you on when he's a grownup? Pepper!?”

* * *

Superheroes, as a rule, were wildly creative people when it came to actual crime-fighting and the general stopping of evil-doing.

As it turned out, superheroes were not wildly creative at coming up with Halloween costumes.

They had the tiny trio replicated on Dog Rocky and an adult Tony and Pepper. Clint was outfitted in plain khaki's and a comfortable button down shirt with wire framed glasses on his face that he frequently pulled off to clean.

“Sup Bruce Banner?” Sam smirked at him.

“What are you supposed to be?” Clint furrowed his brow, then looking down at the five year old boys who had arrived with Sam. Five year old Captain America had on a very impressive Iron Man costume, completed with touches of real metal here and there. Bucky and Sam were all dressed in black from head to toe. Bucky was outfitted with a utility belt with a very familiar red logo on it. Sam held up a tiny Nerf cross bow and Clint laughed. “NICE.”

“Super Sammy is Pigeon face,” Bucky explained.

“Bucky's the Black Widow, ” Steve announced and Bucky held up a dart gun and made his most intimidating Russian assassin face. “Stop laughing, Pigeon Face! We're supposed to scare you.”

“I'm flattered,” Clint stopped laughing and high-fived Sam.

“I had no choice. The boys picked the outfits,” Sam shrugged. “Although its nice that they call me Hawkeye instead of Pigeon face.”

“Cause you're cooler than Pigeon Face,” Bucky smirked at Clint, who only rolled his eyes in response.

“ You boys better be careful. This is Stark Manor. It's  _ haunted  _ ,” Clint relayed. “Bad kids get hunted down by mean ghosts here. Ask Tony. He grew up here.”

“Ghosts ain't real!” Bucky scoffed.

“ Don't be so sure little man, don't be so sure,” Clint advised. He looked around Sam and laughed at seeing Natasha entering with Darcy in her arms. “  _ Nice  _ .”

Sam turned with a grin and felt his heart begin a mad syncopated beat. Natasha had one of his t-shirts on along with his black leather jacket paired with the pair of jeans that always made him feel like he was an inexperienced teenage boy looking at his first real woman.

“Daddio!” Darcy grinned.

  
  


If Natasha was enough to set his heart aflutter, seeing Darcy in her combat gear and little wing pack was enough to make it explode with pride.

“My two Falcons,” Sam murmured.

“I HABE WINGS NOW AND I CAN FLY!” Darcy shrieked with glee. Natasha placed her on the ground and sure enough, the little wing pack that Stark had built for her really did work and Darcy floated a foot off the ground to stand by her boys.

“Tony didn't give me real repulsors!” Steve furrowed his brow. He grabbed at Bucky and Darcy's hands and began trudging through the party, eager to find the man and demand why he wasn't allowed cool extras as Darcy was.

“Stevie, you don't even like flying,” Bucky reminded him.

“Yeah but, its the prints able of it,” Steve pouted. “You gotta be fair!”

* * *

“Steebe, I don't like it here,” Darcy whispered as they walked down a darkened hallway in an attempt to locate Tony.

“Yeah, punk, whatta 'bout what Pigeon Face said about the ghosts and stuff?” Bucky whispered.

“GHOSTS?” Darcy squeaked. Tears suddenly swam in her big blue eyes. “NO GHOSTS I WANT MY MOMMY AND DADDIO. GHOSTS ARE BERY BAD!

“There's no ghosts, Darcy, it's okay,” Steve promised her, squeezing her hand and glaring at Bucky.

“Don't be a dum-dum, Darcy,” Bucky rolled his eyes. “No ghost would want you with all your cry-babying.”

“Buck!” Steve scolded as Darcy began to cry in earnest. He stopped walking and turned to hug Darcy, pulling on Bucky's hand so that he was hugging her too. “It's okay, Darcy, we'll always protect you.”

“You can't fight a ghost, eben if you are super strong,” Darcy whimpered, her tears at least easing as the boys cuddled her between them. Steve was about to dispute the fact that he couldn't fight a ghost. He was pretty sure he could fight just about anything. Darcy scrunched her face up in an effort to stop from crying and said, “They're gonna scare us to death!”

“We ain't gonna get scared to death,” Bucky promised. “We'll protect you.”

A loud boom reverberated throughout the halls and for all of the bluster of the boys, they added their scream of panic to Darcy's piercing screech and Steve hauled her over his shoulder and gripped Bucky's hand as they took off down the hall.

* * *

“Where are the kids?” Natasha demanded as Bruce Banner in full Thor regalia and a fake, but very effective Mjolnir, hammered the hook into the ceiling for the Hulk shaped pinata. She and Sam were met with sheepish looks from the rest of the Avengers and friends and she huffed out an exasperated sigh. “Sam and I left for fifteen minutes to go and pick up the cupcakes and you lost them in Stark manor?”

“Agent Romanoff, if I may, the children were upstairs but were frightened by the sound of the hammering, and they are hiding in the first guest quarters on the east wing,” Jarvis reported. “I do not have full communication throughout the mansion, so I have not been able to reassure them properly.”

“Come on, hot mamma,” Sam smiled and laced his fingers through Natasha's. “This is a job for super parents.”

* * *

“Ghosts are real. Ghosts are real. Ghosts are real,” Bucky whispered to himself as the three of them hid under the covers of a bed in one of Stark Mansion's gorgeously appointed guest rooms. “Pigeon face said the ghost doesn't like bad kids so I'm gonna get scared to death.”

“Bucky, no,” Steve shook his head as he tried to soothe a sobbing Darcy against him. “We're gonna be okay. Sammy and NatNat will come for us.”

“We're not bad,” Darcy managed to choke through her tears. “cept for the pranks...”

“Oh no!” Bucky's bottom lip trembled. He had done most of the pranking so far. Even if it was Darcy giving the orders, he was following her directions. “I'm gonna be good from now on, I promise.”

“Buck, you are good,” Steve insisted, squeezing Bucky's hand. He put a kiss on the top of a trembling Darcy's head. “You're both real good. No ghost is gonna get us.”

Darcy felt both Bucky and Steve tense and she knew that their super hearing let them hear all sorts of things that she couldn't with her normal ears.

  
  


“Is it the ghost?” she whispered, her entire body shaking with fear.

“no...it's people running to us,” Steve said softly.

“Darcebug?” Sam called out.

  
  


“DADDIO!” Darcy yelled out, feeling so much safer now that she knew her parents were on the way. “Mommy?”

  
  


“I'm here, Darcy,” Natasha announced as she walked into the room with Sam. She couldn't help a rueful smile at the lumpy bed, where all three kids were hiding under the bedspread. “You guys can come out of there. Let's go back to the party. There's lots of treats to be had.”

“ Pigeon face said there was a ghost!” Steve tattled as he threw the bedspread off of the three of them. He helped Darcy and Buck down from the bed and stomped over to Sam and Natasha. Now that their caretakers were there, he felt some of that bravery he had needed to keep Bucky and Darcy safe bleed out of him. He felt his face flush and his eyes tear up a little and said, “He made Darcy  _ cry  _ and now we have to make him sorry!”

“We can do that, Cap, no worries,” Sam promised. “Let's talk about plans while we get you guys downstairs and fed.”

* * *

As it turned out, Clint was actively trying to pick up one of the Stark Industry employees who was also in attendance at the party. He was just starting to get his flirt on when Darcy walked up to him with crocodile tears in her eyes and wailed,

“DADDY WHY DON'T YOU LOBE ME AND MOMMY ANYMORE? IS IT CAUSE OF YOUR RASH?”

To add insult to injury, the boys then pantsed him in front of the whole party.

Steve popped Darcy over his shoulder again and the trio made a run for it back to the safety of a hysterically laughing Sam and Natasha.

“YOU LITTLE FUCKERS!” Clint bellowed.

“Jar!” Tony gleefully announced, running up in his Captain America wear and holding out the swear jar. “Pay up Pigeon face.”

* * *

* * *

 

* * *

** Gobble Til You Wobble **

* * *

Pepper knew that grown up Darcy had been making big plans for Thanksgiving months prior to the actual event. She had started in July. And her plans had little to do with baking pies and brining turkeys.

The CEO of Stark Industries felt that the lab manager would want the plans to continue, whether she was currently a toddler or not. So she assigned the task to two of her most capable assistants, and made sure that all of the important guests would be present.

She had not been expecting two of those important guests to show up with black eyes and hobbling.

“I'm never playing football with those little monsters again,” Clint grumbled as he hobbled over with a similarly wrecked Tony.

“I'm sad that we couldn't sign them up for pee-wee football,” Tony admitted. “Imagine how much fun it would be to watch them demolish other little people?”

  
  


“Tony, you have a very skewed idea about what is fun,” Pepper rolled her eyes, although she accepted a kiss from him regardless. “Please go and shower. Dinner will be starting in two hours. Our guests will be arriving soon.”

“But I want to see the parade,” Tony turned, his arm wrapped around Pepper's waist despite her protests over his sweat and smelliness.

They watched as Bucky came wandering through the lobby with Rocky the Avenger dog, followed by Steve, who was pulling a little red wagon with Darcy inside it, who was throwing candy at anyone within ten feet of her, whether they wanted it or were ready for it at all.

Sam made up the tail end of the parade, apologizing to the strangers who had gotten a small candy bar to the face. He smiled at Pepper and said,

“I'm taking them up for bathes, because apparently, tackling middle-aged men made them stinky.”

“And then we're coming back down and we're going to eat more turkey than Pigeon Face and Tony and Rhodey combined,” Bucky grinned up at Pepper.

“Good thing Darcy ordered a lot of turkey a long time ago,” Pepper nodded.

“I did?” Darcy wondered curiously. “COOL. Did I order begetables? Cause if so it was a mistake.”

“You will be eating your veggies, Darcebug,” Sam warned. “Or else I'm going to ask Cap to give you his disappointed face.”

“Steebe, no!” Darcy looked to him in horror. She hated the disappointed face as an adult and as a child. The only time he had given her the disappointed face sine they became little was the time she had wandered away from both he and Bucky AND Natasha and Sam at the park and they had to use Jarvis to track her down.

“You have to eat them,” Steve lectured.

“Yeah, or else you'll be a runt forever,” Bucky laughed.

“I'm gonna grow up someday and I'm gonna be better at it than you,” Darcy threw back at him petulantly.

Tony laughed and shrugged. “Well she's not wrong.”

* * *

Jamie Barnes-Spencer had been named after an Uncle she had never had the good fortune to meet, seeing as he had fallen off a train during World War II, fifteen years before she was born.

So it had been incredibly strange to obtain an email from a young woman named Darcy Lewis six months ago, stating that she was invited to New York City, to Avengers Tower, to have dinner with the man she had been named after.

  
  


She and her husband had been put up at the Plaza, and had been driven over to Avengers Tower in a limousine. They had never managed a honeymoon after marrying. So after thirty years of marriage, they were happy to finally have one, despite the odd circumstances surrounding it.

When they arrived at Avengers Tower, they were shocked to see that the lobby had been transformed into a large dining hall, filled with families and strangers alike. They were greeted at the door by a little girl, who couldn't have been older than three, who was wearing a smart little apron and was holding out glasses full of apple cider.

“Happy Thanksgibing!” she grinned at them toothily. She then gave the a considering look and realized that the newly arrived guests didn't look like the others. For one, the man and woman were dressed very nicely, in a fancy suit and dress. Most of the other guests to the Thanksgiving dinner were families that had been down on their luck or homeless people she had managed to find in the park earlier that day.

And then the three year old girl tilted her head to the right and realized that the newly arrived woman had very familiar eyes. Big and clear and a very pretty bluish gray color. She squealed and screamed.

“BUCKY!”

The answering clatter and noise of two pairs of stomping feet approaching the girl and the newly arrived guests was loud and quick. The little girl was swept up in the strong, protective arms of another child. A little boy with blonde hair who looked to be about five glared at the newcomers while another little boy with long dark hair and an arm entirely made of silver metal rolled in front of the other boy and the little girl, the butter knife in his hand still managing to look incredibly dangerous.

“Whaddidyoudo?' he snapped at the new guests.

“Steebe, is okay,” Darcy shook her head and squirmed out of his protective embrace. She knelt next to Bucky and pointed to Jamie Barnes-Spencer and revealed, “That's your niece. I inbited her a long time ago but I forgot...but she came. Cause thanksgibing is for family and she's your family.”

“Uhm,” Jamie furrowed her brow at the tiny butter knife brandishing boy and was astonished to see a nearly identical furrow appear on the boy. “Are there any adults that could explain this to me?”

“Probably not,” Steve sighed. “But they can try.”

* * *

“It was very nice of Darcy to invite your family to New York.”

Bucky looked up from his fourth plate of pumpkin pie and scowled at Natasha. He knew it was nice of her. He just didn't understand why she was so nice to him all the time. He didn't remember much about being an adult, but he did remember not being very nice to her. He definitely hadn't deserved her tracking down his living relations and setting up everything she had done.

She had started the Thanksgiving dinner months ago, choosing the charity that Steve had championed and invited families from their old neighborhood that might have wanted a little help on Thanksgiving.

“It wouldn't kill you to be a little nice to her in return,” Natasha suggested. “Not calling her dum-dum would be a great start.”

“I'll try,” Bucky sighed heavily as he watched Darcy pile whipped cream onto a plate that held the smallest amount of pie she could manage. He rolled his eyes as she simply dove into the whipped cream pile face first, coming out with her mouth and nose covered in it.

“Some things don't change with age,” Natasha laughed at the sight of Darcy's face full of whipped cream. She had seen adult Darcy do the very same thing with whipped cream on top of blended coffee drinks, ice cream sundaes and pie as well. “She wants to make you and Steve happy, because she cares about you both very much.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Bucky nodded. “I'll be nicer. Promise.”

* * *

“Okay, dinner has been fun but we have a mission,” Tony stood and nodded to Sam and Clint.

“Abenging?” Darcy wondered as two nearly full, sleepy boys sandwiched her on the couch of the penthouse.

“So much worse,” Clint sighed. “Santa needs a little help. We're going Black Friday shopping.”

Tony Stark haggling with another Black Friday shopper over a set of Avengers action figures made the front page of the New York Post the next day.

Clint had been banned from Toys R Us for utilizing the air vents to get to the Lalaloopsy Doll aisle faster.

Sam was the only one who had managed to come out unscathed. His secret? Natasha and Jarvis on the comm set in his ear, feeding him direction and helpful hints the entire way.

It was going to be a really nice Christmas.

 


	11. Darcy's Delights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Darcy's Delights
> 
> Summary:
> 
> Darcy's Delights was a little bakeshop in the corner of Avenger's Tower. Business was really booming, but that didn't leave much room for Darcy's personal life, or extreme lack thereof. It's a little embarrassing that she hasn't had a date or a kiss in two years.
> 
> Good thing Darcy's Lightning Brother is owed a favor by the Norse Goddess of Love. Or Bad thing. Darcy isn't quite so sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: Gen  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), Captain America  
> (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Fantastic Four (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Johnny Storm, Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James  
> "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis/Everyone, Natasha  
> Romanov/Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Johnny Storm, Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson  
> (Marvel), Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Pepper Potts, Jane  
> Foster (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Tony Stark, Clint Barton  
> Additional Tags: Everybody loves Darcy, no really. that's it. everybody loves Darcy,  
> fluff and silliness and cotton candy, thor only wanted to help darcy  
> find true love, darcy just wanted to keep baking (and maybe a  
> smooch), darcy accidentally roofies a bunch of people with love  
> sugar, elements of dubious consent due to love voodoo  
> Stats: Published: 2015-10-25 Completed: 2015-10-29 Chapters: 7/7 Words:  
> 17116

Notes:

Please note that this story contains elements of dubious consent due to a love spell/love voodoo thing. Please, please, please do not read this story if this upsets you in any way.

 

* * *

* * *

** Recipe One: MewMew Cookies **

* * *

*Avengers' Tower, December 2013*

The Avengers common room was covered in cooling baking trays, racks of cookies, loaves of fancy bread and a truly ridiculous amount of pastries. They were all homemade, not an empty bakery box or pillsbury tube in sight.

“Holy crap,” Clint Barton whistled, looking around in astonished amusement. “Looks like Darcy made it back to the states with Thor and his lady.”

“The girl who sent you those cookies from London?” Natasha questioned quietly.

Clint reached out and grabbed a cookie, popping it into his mouth and groaning in pleasure. “The one and the same.”

“Oh hey Barton!” Darcy popped up from behind a counter, her hands full of trays that she had no room for. “How awesome is this kitchen? I mean, the helpful computer dude in the ceiling already put in an order for more flour for me and these ovens? I have serious lady wood for these ovens. Oh---you're the Black Widow. Congratulations on your...butt.  ---Uhm...want a cookie?”

“Yes. Thank you,” Natasha took a still hot cookie from the tray that Darcy was offering and nibbled at it. “What do you do, Darcy?”

“Uhm...feed Jane mostly,” Darcy shrugged. “Apparently computer dude in the ceiling can do all her transcription now, so basically I'm hoping to dazzle people with sugary treats so I don't get kicked out of Avengers' Tower for being a freeloader.  At least not until I've had my chance to ogle all the super hero booty.”

“You should have a bakery!” Barton said around a mouthful of a stolen brownie.

“Sure, you have a commercial grade kitchen and affordable retail space in the area? And you know, like fifty thousand dollars in start up capital?” Darcy smirked at him.

“I can get you those things,” Natasha shrugged, as if it were no big deal. “Do you know how to make lymonnyk?”

“If its got sugar in it, I'm pretty sure I can figure it out.”

* * *

**Avengers' Tower, Present Day**

Darcy could figure it out.

By the time the Russian lemon pie had cooled, Natasha had secured her funding, space and brand new sparkling commercial grade kitchen. It had taken one call to Pepper Potts and everything was secure.

Darcy's Delights opened in the retail space of Avengers' Towers two months later, just in time for Valentine's Day.

And Darcy hadn't had a day off since. Business was booming. Business was _really_ booming.

Part of the bakery's appeal was the rotating schedule of treats. Once they were sold out, they were gone for a few days or weeks. Darcy would tweet the special the night before and the next day there would be a line at the door. It was brilliant marketing and Darcy had paid Pepper back her start up capital in less than a year.

Running a successful business was unsurprisingly taking up an awful lot of Darcy's life. She was always at work. She'd make it up to Avengers' Family Dinners with dessert and promptly pass out on a nearby couch. The idea of dating was ridiculous. She would never be able to find the time for it with the way her life was now.

It was a price she was more than willing to pay though.

Sort of.

She missed kissing. She hadn't kissed anyone since 2013.

She missed _other things_ too, but she'd rather focus on the kissing part first.

“What's up Delightful Darcy? Wanna go make out?”

Darcy rolled her eyes as she boxed up the remnants of that day's baked goods. Anything that wasn't sold was transported to a local homeless shelter. The chances of that happening today were pretty slim as her last customer of the day looked down at her with a positively  _ sinful  _ leer.

“Mr. Storm,” Darcy smiled tightly. “What can I do for you today?”

“You losing your hearing, cutiepie?” Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, aka ¼ of the Fantastic Four, aka man whore extraordinaire, winked as he leaned against the empty bakery counter. “I asked for a steamy kissing session.”

“Can I interest you in a box full of mini-cherry tarts, instead firefly?” Darcy raised a defiant brow at the overly slutty superhero standing in front of her. Johnny stopped by _daily_ when he wasn't running around in his flame retardant onesie saving the world. Darcy was fairly sure it was because she was the only person on the face of the planet who hadn't immediately fallen into bed with him at the first playful smirk he threw at her.

“I'm wondering if those lips of yours taste like cherries, cutiepie,” Johnny murmured. “And I'll take whatever you're willing to give me.”

Darcy plopped one of her custom made cherry red cardboard boxes in front of him, the logo of a pinup girl with a tray of cookies and _Darcy's Delights_ in swirly lettering emblazoned on the top.

“That'll be twenty bucks, Mr. Storm,” Darcy gave him a coolly raised eyebrow, desperately trying to channel the Black Widow in her iciness. “And I added a half dozen of those cookies your sister and Ben liked so much last time.”

“Thanks,” Johnny put a few bills down on the counter. He knew when to cut and run. The cherry comment had obviously been too much. Usually he could keep the conversation just flirty enough so that she didn't pull out her Widow impersonation for fifteen minutes.  He gave her a small half-smile and and a wave as he walked out the door. “Keep the change.”

“Johnny!” Darcy called out, looking down at the two fifty dollar bills he had given her in shocked amusement, all pretense of trying to channel Natasha flying out of the window.

“And give me a call when you want to discuss that making out!” Johnny called out as he left the bakery and made the trek out of Avengers' Tower. He looked down at the bakery box in his hands and sighed. He crossed the street to the collection of homeless people in the small park and smiled, “Hey Carl. You guys hungry?”

“Sure, Storm. Always could eat,” the man answered back. “She turn you down again?”

“Is today a day that ends in Y?” Johnny laughed. It had been two years of trying. Darcy blatantly refused to take any of his advances seriously. A lesser man would have moved on to more receptive pastures. “I'm not giving up though. She'll come around eventually. All the ladies eventually come around.”

* * *

“Lady Darcy! It is good to see you outside of your shop of delights!” Thor boomed as she came into the room, bakery box in hand. “We are very low on companions tonight. Tis just Jane and I...but as you see...”

Jane was asleep on the couch, having pulled another all-nighter...maybe multiple all-nighters. Jarvis may be able to order her food and transcribe her data, but he lacked a certain finesse when it came to proper caring of humans. The Tony Stark method didn't apply to all crazy geniuses.

“So today's special was....MEW MEW COOKIES!” Darcy grinned at her friend opening the bakery box and revealing her highly popular sugar cookies, thick and soft, shaped like small Mjolnir's, intricately decorated with a delightfully sweet icing. She grinned when Thor lifted one and playfully swung it before popping the whole thing in his mouth. “They sold out in three hours. I had to hide these in my office so you could have some.”

“You are too good and kind, Lightning Sister,” Thor insisted around a mouthful of cookie. “You shall make your intended person quite happy someday.”

“Ha! Like that'd happen anytime soon,” Darcy scoffed, putting her box down and going for the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water. “I'm in bed at 8 pm most nights and in the bakery by 4. I have no time to watch through my stuff on the DVR, much less interact with humans on a deeper level.”

“The right person would accommodate your needs, Lady Darcy,” Thor promised. “Just as I am more than happy for every moment I get to spend with my Jane...”

Jane snored in response. Darcy sat next to Jane's sleeping form and covered her up with a blanket as Thor watched with a tender, loving expression on his face.

“No matter the moment, the love fills my heart,” Thor insisted. “I would have want for you to have the same fulfillment, Lady Darcy.”

“Hmmm...maybe someday,” Darcy sighed as her blinks became more prolonged. “Jarvis, wake me up at 4, please.  Captain Rogers has a big muffin order he's picking up first thing in the morning.”

“Yes, Miss Lewis,” Jarvis acknowledged.

“Ah, Lady Darcy, before you join my Jane in the land of slumber, I have brought back a delicacy from Asgard for you,” Thor smiled down at her warmly, his eyes twinkling with what Darcy might have thought of as mischief had she been a little more alert. “I would like to see what magic you can conjure with it in your kitchens.”

“Sure, just leave it here...I'll see what I can whip up.”

Thor smiled as Darcy cuddled next to Jane, he pulled a small vile of red crystals, looking suspiciously like sugar. But it was much more than sugar. It would help Darcy find the the love that she lacked in her life.

Darcy Lewis would find love. Of that Thor was certain.

* * *

* * *

** Recipe Two: Captain Amer-Eclairs **

Thor's fancy red sugar just happened to be perfect for the mini-eclair special of the day. The perfect golden pastry shells were cooling, the creamy decadent filling was ready to be piped and the red sugar had been used to create a caramel sauce that she would dip each eclair top into.

“Good morning, Darcy,” Steve Rogers smiled politely as he walked through the doors to her little bake shop. “Did you have that muffin order for me?”

“Steve! Just the man with a plan and sweet tooth that I wanted to see. Come here. Taste this,” she held out a wooden spoon that was coated in a red caramel sauce. She arched an eyebrow at him and ordered, “Be brutally honest. I mean it. The fate of the world depends on it.”

“I highly doubt that,” Steve smirked. Darcy had been a shock to his system after meeting her. She crammed more words into silence than any person he had ever met before. But he liked it. He thought she was swell, and it helped that he always craved sweet stuff and she always had a recipe that needed taste testing.

Whenever he saw her, he went back to the time she had demanded he design the logo of her shop and the very interesting afternoon he had spent sketching her in pinup poses. It had only taken him fifteen minutes to realize his sexuality was a lot more complicated than  _ Bucky-sexual _ .

Had he met her before he knew Bucky was alive, things might have been very different at that moment. But Bucky WAS alive, and Steve was going to find him. And any attraction he had felt for Darcy would just have to be buried deep down as he concentrated on maintaining the perfectly cordial friendship he had with her.  He still ogled her figure from afar and his gaze may have lingered on her lips for longer than strictly necessary, but he was only human.  And he knew if Bucky was there, he'd be doing the same.  Because Bucky's sexuality had always been a heck of a lot more complicated than  _ Steve-sexual. _

She waggled the spoon at his face enticingly and he leaned in and took a small lick off of the spoon.

It was buttery and smooth, rich and decadent, with a perfect balance between salty and sweetness. Steve meant to give her those words. He meant to provide his honest thoughts. He opened his mouth and a low, gutteral moan came out instead, one drenched in pleasure. His hand darted out and he grabbed Darcy's wrist, making her bring the spoon closer as he took another long,  _ obscene  _ lick that had Darcy's eyes nearly popping out of her head.

“Okay...so what you're trying to say is that its good?” Darcy whispered.

“So good,” Steve murmured. He swallowed and could feel his face heating up as he stared at her with the practiced eye of a tactician. Any attraction that he had buried for her was suddenly bubbling up to the surface. God, had her eyes always been that sparkly? “What---what are you planning to make with that?”

“Uhm...Captain Ameri-eclairs?” Darcy smiled cheekily. “I'm gonna slap some white and blue sprinkles on top. It'll be a guaranteed best seller today.”

“You're adorable,” Steve smiled softly at her, his eyes drinking her in from head to toe. “Can I---can I get a dozen of those to go?”

“Absolutely!” Darcy smiled. She pulled at her hand which was firmly grasped in Steve's hand. “Uhm, I need my hand back to put them together for you.”

“Oh, of course,” Steve nodded, blushing faintly as he released her wrist. His eyes never left her though, leaning over the counter to watch her work, a definitely hungry expression in his gaze. And not particularly hungry for any pastry.

Darcy swallowed nervously. Steve had never really shown anything other than a perfectly platonic interest in her before. She had fallen asleep on his ridiculously broad shoulder many a night in the Avengers' Common Room and he had never once tried to cop a feel. She had chalked it up to the fact that he was kind of in love with his back from the dead best friend who had tried to murder him and all of his buddies. The guy that he was still chasing across the globe every time Jarvis had a ping on the Winter Soldier.

But he was not looking at her in a platonic way anymore. Not unless Steve wanted to carnally devour all of his normal, every day friends.

“So, three dozen assorted jumbo muffins and one box of Captain Ameri-eclairs,” Darcy brought his stacked boxes and smiled at him nervously. “Anything else?”

“So many other things, sweetheart,” Steve chuckled to himself, even as a blush stained his cheeks. “Would you be interested in having dinner with me tonight?”

“Whaaaaaat?” Darcy shook her head. “Uhm—Steve what? You---what's going on?”

Steve put a few bills down on the counter before reaching out a hand to cup Darcy's cheek. “I just think it would be nice. I'd like to take you out. We can get to know each other better.”

“Uhm—sure, I guess, I can meet you in the lobby at six?”

* * *

Darcy sold 30 dozen Captain Ameri-eclairs by the time she closed up shop. She had sent two dozen up to the Avengers' common room so Thor could see what she came up with. She was staring at the last dozen she had placed in a box and looked to the front door curiously, wondering if _he_ would walk through that day. Johnny never missed a day at the bakery unless he was doing official Fantastic Four business. Between their eerily similar bone structure and their ridiculous sweet tooth, Darcy was getting more and more convinced that Steve and Johnny were long lost (frozen then thawed) relatives.

She immediately snorted and realized that she was going to have to ask Jarvis to help her change both of their ring tones to Hot N' Cold from Katy Perry. She wondered if she could get Ben on board with making Johnny's hero onesie more star spangly...

She shook herself out of her reverie and continued to wipe down her counter tops.

“Ugh, idiot. What are you doing? You have a date...”

“Did we have a date, cutiepie? I think I would have remembered you finally saying yes,” Johnny Storm walked into the bakery, his stride full of swagger, his hands jammed in his pockets. His face lacked its usual delighted conceit, instead it appeared carefully blank.

“You would have also remembered hell freezing over, firefly,” Darcy smirked. She held out the box of eclairs and said, “Last thing in the shop today, Mr. Storm.”

“Oh yea? Something cherry flavored like yesterday?” Johnny wondered, staring at Darcy's ruby red lips. He would put a large sum of money on the fact that those lips tasted of tart, fresh cherries, with just the slightest hint of sweetness.

“Captain Amer-Eclairs,” Darcy arched an eyebrow.

“Ugh, Rogers,” Johnny rolled his eyes. “Captain Boredom.”

“He's not so bad,” Darcy disputed softly.

“I've fallen asleep just looking at the dude,” Johnny insisted. “Why don't you ever have any kind of Johnny Storm inspired desserts?”

“Uhm, this is a bakery. I do sweets. Not spice,” Darcy shrugged.

“Sweet and spicy is a combination that some people like,” Johnny waggled his eyebrows at her. “Ever tried Mexican hot chocolate?”

“I lived in the American southwest for six months, I've definitely tried it a few times,” Darcy assured him. “Anyway, the eclairs are on the house.”

“I can't let that happen, cutiepie,” Johnny pulled out a few bills and placed them on the counter.

“ Johnny, you gave me an eighty dollar tip yesterday,  _ please  _ just take the eclairs, and enjoy,” Darcy smiled up at him genuinely. She took his money and put it back in his hand, feeling a blush spread to her cheeks when Johnny grabbed her hand. “And now, if you'll excuse me I have to meet someone.”

“ Wait, you were serious about that date thing?” Johnny furrowed his brow. “With  _ who _ ?”

“Storm.”

Darcy and Johnny turned to the front door of the bakery, which one Captain J. America's beefy shoulders were currently filling.

“ No no no no no no no no no no no no no,” Johnny murmured turning to a blushing Darcy who was looking down at the counter. She squeezed his hand and he looked down seeing a spiral of smoke wafting off of his skin. He swallowed and tried to control himself but was finding it immensely difficult. “Come on!  _** Really ** _ ? He's not even into chicks!”

“That's none of your business, Storm,” Steve growled. “I may have been born in the last century but even I know that it's not always the equipment, it's the person. And I think we can both agree that Darcy is a hell of a person.”

“Yeah, she is,” Johnny said shortly. He pulled his hand away from Darcy's before he burnt her and put his money back down on the counter, grabbing the pastry box and stomping out of the bakery.

He speed walked out of the building, crossing the street and thrusting the box at Carl.

“Not a good day?” Carl asked, opening the box and taking an eclair before passing it around.

“She has a date,” Johnny spit out. “With Captain Fucking America! I can compete with any other man on this planet. But here's the thing, Captain Fucking America looks kindalike me except he's all blonde with poofier muscles and a puppy dog face, and he's actually a good person where as I've just spent the last ten years of my life being a gigantic whore. So yeah...I'm screwed, Carl.”

“ Captain America?” another homeless dude  _ growled.  _ He looked down at the eclair he had bit into and then back up at Johnny Storm, his blue gray eyes glinting in the light of the sunset. “A date with the dame who made these?”

“Yeah, she's fucking perfect,” Johnny sighed. “And now she's going to marry him and have his perfect damned star spangled babies. It fucking sucks.”

* * *

This was an _interesting_ date.

“ So we're all at the camp, and Phillips is going to give us hell because we lost three vehicles  _ and  _ a week's worth of rations all for nothing. And Bucky saves our behinds by distracting Phillips by walking through the whole length of camp without a stitch of clothing on!”

Darcy smiled and let out a half-hearted chuckle.

She had been hearing an awful lot about Bucky Barnes for the last hour and a half.

A hell of a lot about Bucky Barnes.

She could _probably_ write a biography about the life of the man who became the Winter Soldier at that point.

So yes, from a historical fact finding standpoint the dinner date with Steve was successful.

As an  _ actual facts date _ ?

It. Was. Awful.

Darcy yawned as Steve waxed poetic about the wonders and delights of Bucky Barnes. He didn't notice, so she yawned louder and added stretching arms.

“Cap, I've been up since four in the morning, and I'm going to be seeing that tomorrow again,” Darcy smiled politely. “Thank you for the dinner, it was...fun and informative.”

  
  


“Oh...I'm sorry, I've been talking a lot,” Steve blushed. “I don't normally talk so much. Really.”

“It was nice. I really hope you find Bucky again soon, though,” Darcy said honestly as she rose from the table and grabbed her purse. “He is obviously very important to you.”

“Darcy, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to---”Steve followed her out of the restaurant, his face flushing. He felt his stomach rapidly turning over and he realized he had gone about the whole date the wrong way. “I never, ever talk like that, I mean, I wanted to share something important with you. You've been on my mind all day, and I just, I wanted to make you happy and I guess I sort of thought, nothing ever made me happier...”

“Than Bucky?” Darcy finished with a knowing smile.

“Did I screw this up?” Steve whispered as they walked across the street from the restaurant back to Avengers' Tower. He looked morose.

“ Cap, it was just dinner,” Darcy said gently. “It was the first date I've had in YEARS. So you know what? It was the  _ best  _ date I've had in years.”

They were quiet on their walk through the tower lobby and in the elevator ride up to Darcy's floor. Steve was red in the face and obviously thinking hard as he furrowed his brow, intent on finding a plan to get the disastrous date to turn around. He couldn't help but hear Tony and Clint in his head advising him to take his shirt off to distract her from his awfulness with his wonder-abs. He had to make it right. He had to prove to her that he liked her just as much as he ~~loved~~ liked Bucky.

“This is me,” Darcy gave a little, awkward hand wave at her door. “Thanks again, Cap. This was...fun?”

Steve looked down at his shoes and made the conscious decision to fight dirty to get her to give him a second chance. Not by listening to Tony or Clint and taking off his shirt, but by listening to Pepper Potts, who had once told him that she'd rather step on tiny children than make him have a sad face.

So he slowly looked up at her with the saddest puppy face in the world. Darcy felt _terrible_ but she wasn't going to lie to him. It had not been the best date in the world and it was clear as day that no matter how adorable and devastatingly handsome Steve Rogers was, there was less than zero chemistry between them. Mainly due to the fact that he was totes mcgotes in love with his bestest pal from the first half of the twentieth century.

She reached out and attempted a squeeze of his ridiculous bicep (which seriously made her start thinking that a second date could still be an option), before standing on her tip toes and pressing a chaste kiss to Steve's cheek.

“Good night, Steve,” she whispered.

He hid the victorious smirk that had bloomed on his face as she kissed his cheek. There was a plan forming. The whole night wasn't a total wash yet.

He looked to her with those big blue puppy dog eyes and flushed cheeks and was about to say something when suddenly he was _flying_ down the hall, having been pushed by someone who had to have super hero strength. Darcy audibly gulped and looked up at the person who had pushed Captain America so hard he had flown fifteen feet away.

It was a homeless hobo. A _hunky_ homeless hobo. With a very shiny metal arm.

Darcy felt her jaw drop. That arm was  _ hot _ .

“You make the sweets,” Hunky homeless hobo intoned gruffly.

“Yes?” Darcy squeaked.

“You're my dame, now,” he informed her, his voice growling, staring down at her with what could only be described as possessive lust.

“Bucky?” Steve demanded as he pulled himself to his feet and walked back to Darcy's door. “What---how did you get in the Tower? Keep your hands off my girl!”

Bucky turned to Steve with a blank face, with the exception of a flash of something vaguely possessive and definitely murderous in his eyes before he launched himself at Steve, looking very much like he was going to kill him.

Darcy wisely ran to her door and pressed her thumb to the security panel. Once inside she called out,

“Jarvis? Send Natasha! And Maybe Thor! Shit, even tell Tony to suit up. Two super soldiers are about to kill each other in my hallway!”

“Help is on the way, Miss Lewis. Might I advise you to bolt your door, please?”

“Shit on a sandwich,” Darcy blew out a shaky breath, following the AI's advice, especially since he sounded _particularly_ nervous. When the AI gets nervous, that's a bad situation. She heard sounds of wood splintering outside as bodies were obviously being tossed about in a terrifying battle.

“Wait---Jarvis? Did...did Bucky Barnes say I was HIS dame now?”

“He did indeed, Miss Lewis.”

“What in the hell is going on ?”

* * *

* * *

** Recipe Three: Bucky Bear Claws **

The sound of asskicking, repulsors and thunder erased the sounds of the two super soldiers brawling and eventually Darcy opened her door to peek out and saw an eyeful of familiar Asgardian armor.

“Lady Darcy, all is well, have no fear,” Thor assured her.

Darcy threw her door open and pushed against the armor covered chest with all her might, obviously not pushing Thor one inch.

“ ** What did your brother do to me ** ?” Darcy shrieked. Captain America wanted to date her and the Winter Soldier wanted to  _ claim  _ her like a piece of luggage. This smelled strongly of the shit that the God of Mischief would pull.

“My—my brother? Has he made untoward advances upon you?” Thor furrowed his brow. “He is not on Midgard and could have no opportunity to sample your delights.”

“ WHAT?  ** WHAT?  ** _ ** WHAT ** _ ?!?!??” Darcy pushed against Thor's chest to punctuate each repeated word. “Captain FUCKING America and the Winter GOD DAMNED Soldier have both essentially peed on my leg today and now I'm going to have to worry about LOKI? And what do you mean sample my delights?”

“The treats that you prepared with the Asgardian sugar,” Thor smiled with a level of innocence that only he could muster. “It will bring you love.”

“What in the actual fuck, Thor?” Darcy whispered. “What was in the sugar? The sugar that I used to sell THIRTY dozen eclairs.”

“It will not work on all who sample the treats,” Thor assured her. “But those that are capable of making a handsome match with you will be drawn to you. They will battle most heartily amongst themselves for your affections until you choose amongst them a worthy suitor with the truest of love for you.  The more suitable the match, the sooner the suitor will apply for your hand.  You are to be commended for so speedily entrancing two of Midgard's greatest warriors!”

“Jarvis?”

“Miss Lewis...”

“Where is Jane? Because if she doesn't do something to mediate this, I'm going to shove Mew Mew up Thor's ass.”

* * *

Darcy wished she had not drug Thor by the cape to the common room where Jarvis had told her Jane was. She should have just closed the door on Thor and crawled into her bed and hid under the covers.

Because Jane was in the common room. Along with a quite a few other people. All of their mouths stuffed with the eclairs she had sent up earlier in the day.

“Oh shit,” Darcy breathed. She looked at Thor and ordered him roughly. “Don't you dare eat one of those!”

“You think us a match, little Lightning Warrior?” Thor smiled at her winningly. Those fierce, beautiful blue eyes had a moment of contemplation and he nodded, obviously thinking over the enjoyable possibilities.

  
  


“STOP THAT!” Darcy hissed, shoving at him again, moving him not one inch.

“Darcy?” Jane questioned. She walked over to her former intern and her boyfriend and smiled. “What are you doing here? You're usually cuddled up in bed by now. I was going to come check in on you.  The eclairs were awesome by the way.  A very suitable lunch.”

“ Ugh. Long story short....Thor gave me magic love voodoo sugar from Asgard and now, maybe one out of every five people that ate the eclairs will BATTLE for my affections. Two of those people have been revealed as Captain America and the Winter Soldier. They  _ attempted  _ to kill each other in order to secure my affections outside of my door,” Darcy word vomited. She sniffled suddenly, dangerously close to becoming overwrought at the culmination of all the insanity that had descended on her life in less than twenty-four hours.

“Oh honey,” Jane cooed, reaching out and pulling Darcy into an embrace, smoothing at the wild curls running down Darcy's back.  A wave of affection for her former intern overtook her and she squeezed Darcy tighter.  “It'll be okay.”

“Your boyfriend needs to learn boundaries,” Darcy sniffled miserably.

  
  


“ We can teach him boundaries together,” Jane murmured, her arms tightening as she nuzzled at Darcy's temple with her nose.  She breathed in deeply of Darcy's ever present scent of sweet vanilla.  Her hand drifted down Darcy's back,  _ definitely  _ copping a feel of her lovely bottom.  “Think of all the fun the three of us could have.”

“WHAT THE FUCK JANE?” Darcy cried, pushing her best friend away, gathering all the attention in the room.

She looked around at the dangerous people scattered about, and saw as Tony and Steve stalked back into the room, Tony going straight for the bakery box that still had eclairs.  Steve looking around wildly until he spotted her and unmistakable affection stole over his previously worried features.  Okay...Thor said it wouldn't be everyone. Just those that were capable of making a plausible match with her. So that included Steve. The Winter Soldier. Jane...

“I know that I can convince her,” Jane whispered to Thor. “You don't mind do you?”

“I would never deny you anything, my love,” Thor assured her, kissing her lips tenderly. He pulled away and licked his bottom lip and his eyes went to Darcy's and she _swore_ she saw nervousness in his expression.

Shit. Jane had the caramel sauce on her lips. Sloppy damned eater.

“Darcy, sweetheart, are you okay?” Steve asked, walking up to her and reaching for her hands. He brought her hands up and placed a gentle kiss on the insides of her wrists.   “I'm so sorry that happened. Bucky's sedated down in the medbay right now...I hope he didn't scare you...”

“I'm---I'm gonna go,” Darcy whispered, pulling away from Steve as he had continued to place soft kisses on her skin.  She took a deep breath and looked around the room.

Tony and Clint seemed unaffected. THANK FUCK.

But  _ uhoh _ . Pepper was giving her a look. Uh oh, that was a nice look. And by nice, it was very very very bad news.

Natasha had a blank look on her face, but then again, Natasha always had a blank look on her face.

Bruce seemed amused by the sudden antics in the room, but oh GOD. What if the Hulk liked her?

“Lady Darcy, I would never allow any harm to come to you,” Thor said softly.  "The feelings are real, I assure you.  Our affection is genuine.  I only wish to help you find true happiness and enjoyment in your bedchambers."

“Yeah? Then find some anti-love voodoo and break the spell!” Darcy hissed at him as she stomped towards the door. “I didn't ask for your help!”

“The only way for this to come to an end is for you to choose amongst those that could be your match,” Thor smiled. His arm tightened around Jane and he gave Darcy a sinful look. “Choose wisely, Lady Darcy.”

Darcy blushed and sputtered before banging her balled up fists against her thighs in frustration. She looked up to Steve and saw that he was watching her anger in unguarded fascination and definite desire. She held up a finger and poked his chest angrily, taking a sudden deep breath at the feel of the massive pec of the Captain of America.  His lips turned into a self-assured smirk in combination with those damned puppy dog eyes and that shouldn't have made her skin break out in goose pimples, but it definitely damned did.

She turned on her heel and stomped out of the room muttering things about asshole Asgardian gods of asshattery and Star-spangled butffaces.

Darcy's sudden absence was keenly felt. Half of the people in the room looked like they wanted to chase after her. Natasha finished the eclair she had been eating, thinking through her available options.  Finally she nodded and marched to the door to the common room.  She yanked on Steve's collar as he tried to chase after Darcy and with a deadly spin of her body, Steve was on the ground with Natasha's foot on his throat.  She glared heavily at everyone in the room.

“If anyone thinks of following her right now, I will incapacitate you and it will _not_ be pretty,” she promised in a low voice. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her most recent contact. “Wilson.  Get to Avengers' Tower. I need you.”

* * *

Darcy retreated to her bakery and she tried not to be surprised at the new industrial sized kitchen aid mixer with a big red bow on it, along with a portfolio full of papers that trademarked a lot of her recipes and desert names. A lovely card was attached to the gifts.

_ With Love, from Pepper _

“Jesus,” Darcy breathed, her hand rubbing at the shiny red mixer in reverence. Pepper REALLY knew how to treat a lady.

Darcy spent the night in the tiny office of her bakery, curled up in a ball on her slightly uncomfortable desk chair. She sent out a tweet from the bakery's account stating that the bakery would be closed the next day due to an unforeseen emergency.

The emergency?

The complete shambles her life had fallen into. She absently wondered if her business income insurance covered Asgardian love spells.

She gave up trying to nap at her normal 4 am wakeup call and walked into the kitchen, feeling the need to bake even if she wasn't opening up shop that day. She was halfway through assembling what she would need to make a brioche dough base for her cinnamon rolls or bear claws when she heard the pounding of a fist against the front door of the bakery.

“Shit,” she breathed, walking out nervously, taking a moment of relief to see Johnny Storm on the other side. She rushed to the door and opened it, yelping in surprise when he wrapped her in a hug. “Uhm...you feeling okay there, Johnny?”

“I was worried,” Johnny murmured, pulling away from the embrace, his hands encircling her wrists as he gave her a once over. He had seen Darcy's tweet and HAD been worried but then he had received a text from the Black Widow half an hour earlier telling him that Darcy was in trouble and he was needed at Avengers' Tower.

He broke quite a few traffic laws in getting there after that. His hand caressed her cheek and he felt relief sweep through him that she was safe and whole and right in front of him. “You haven't closed this bakery in two years, cutiepie. I thought the unforeseen emergency was you know---you getting blown up or something.”

“No, that might have been better,” Darcy sighed morosely and she leaned into the warm hand that was tracing patterns on her cheek.

“Is this about---did something happen to you on your date with Captain Assface?” Johnny asked, his jaw ticking with anger, his hand heating up so quickly that he jerked it away from her skin.

“No---well, yes? Sort of,” Darcy shook her head. “Apparently, my helpful Lightning brother Thor thought I needed help getting a date. So those eclairs were most unwittingly made with love potion number 9999999. And now there's all sorts of people who want to date the crap out of me and they're going to battle royale about it.”

“ Uhm... _ what _ ?” Johnny shook his head as if his brain had just exploded. He blinked rapidly and said, “So, Rogers had the whammy on him when he took you out?”

“Yeah, apparently only those that are romantically compatible with me will be affected,” Darcy shrugged. She looked up at him and swallowed nervously. “You're not feeling it, right? I mean, you had the eclairs yesterday...”

Johnny opened his mouth to speak, and found that he didn't know what to say. No he hadn't touched the treats he bought from her the day prior. No he hadn't actually ever eaten anything he had bought from her bakery. The hundreds of visits he had made to the bake shop weren't for the sweets. He wasn't a fan of sweets.

He just happened to be a fan of the baker.

“Uhm, no, I'm not feeling any different than I usually do,” Johnny shook his head. “Just my normal self. And also---a little tiny bit freaked out that you know, you apparently are gonna have stalkers now! How do you---how do you make it all go away?”

“Apparently I have to find a worthy suitor with the truest of love, meaning I have to pick one of the crazy people who were gobsmacked with the love voodoo,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “I just wanted someone to kiss and cuddle with and you know, maybe let someone into the lady parts eventually. I didn't want anything resembling this shit fest.”

“Oh, cutiepie,” Johnny sighed, pulling her in for another hug, surprising himself that he let the lady parts comment slide in favor of giving her some kind of comfort. “You know your neighborhood friendly Johnny Storm would have helped you with any of that stuff. No love spell necessary.”

“I'll keep that in mind once this is finally over,” Darcy smirked in spite of herself.  Johnny's antics immediately alleviating the bone crushing panic that had settled in steadily in the last few hours.

The sound of Darcy's plate glass window breaking in had her jumping in Johnny's arms.  Of course someone would find a way to remind her about the reason for panic.  Johnny pushed her behind him and looked to the intruder and felt his fists heat up as the Winter Soldier pulled himself up into a standing position.

“Jarvis!” Darcy hissed as Johnny and the Winter Soldier moved towards one another. Johnny's hands were pure flame by that point, but Darcy was sure the smoke spiraling towards the ceiling was going to set off the highly efficient tower sprinklers, which would put Johnny at a serious disadvantage against the super strong serum enhanced Winter Soldier.  Natasha knew how to kill a guy with a post-it note and the Winter Soldier TAUGHT Natasha how to do that so Johnny was so screwed.  Darcy looked around wildly for a weapon to help out and reached for a rolling pin and held it like a small baseball bat.  "Can you turn off the fire alarm?"

“Help is coming, Miss Lewis. I will attempt to obtain approval from Ms. Potts to terminate the sprinklers.”

On cue, the alarms went off and the sprinklers came on as Bucky batted away Johnny's fiery punches with his indestructible metal arm. They grappled, but Bucky had supersoldier strength and the sudden downpour of water stole Johnny's only weapon.

The Human Torch was thrown through Darcy's empty bakery case, glass shattering and metal crunching. The sprinklers quickly shut off and Bucky stalked towards Darcy with intent, looking less homeless, less scary and more hunky than the day prior, but still, he looked like he was hunting.  _ Her _ .

She swallowed a small whimper as he easily pushed her makeshift weapon to the ground and put his hands under her arms and lifted her up so that she was at his eye level. Her feet dangled nearly a foot off the floor as he stared at her hungrily from head to toe, his lips turning up with a smirk as he obviously liked what he saw.  He knew the little lady from the bakery.  She often went out of the Tower with Natasha.  The Winter Soldier had thought her a worthy source of relief.  Bucky Barnes thought she looked like a swell dame that had an adorable laugh.

“Hi Bucky,” Darcy scrunched her eyebrows together in embarrassment. “I've heard a lot about you. From Steve.”

“I'm gonna kiss you now, sweetheart,” Bucky told her, sounding less like the Winter Soldier and more like womanizing James Buchanan Barnes, before bodily bringing her to him, his lips slanting over hers.

A flood of memories and long forgotten know how suddenly sprang up in Bucky's brain and he proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of her. A metal arm wrapped around her, supporting her weight as he held her off the floor and his flesh and bone hand tangled in her hair as he voraciously tried to suck her brain out by way of her mouth. He pulled away with a satisfied huff and nodded at her, as though he had just confirmed what he already thought he knew.

“I'm Darcy by the way,” Darcy muttered sarcastically.

“Mine now,” Bucky nodded. He saw her hesitancy and gave her the ghost of a smile as he played his trump card, “If you want Steve too...we could. We could figure it out. We can make you happy.  It ain't the first time I thought about it.”

“Uhm...would you kill me if I said... _no_ to that?” Darcy wondered, her eyes bugging out of her head as the Winter Soldier just proposed a threesome with the dude he was most recently assigned to murder.

“Nobody will ever hurt you,” Bucky promised, his voice low and growly and he smirked when he felt Darcy involuntarily shiver at the sound of it. He licked his lips and vowed, “I'll always protect you.”

“Oh Yasha, who will protect you?”

Bucky's eyes widened ever so slightly and he placed Darcy gently down before turning and facing the Black Widow.

Darcy immediately rushed to Johnny and helped him stand as Natasha and Bucky threw themselves at each other, engaging in what looked like a complicated dance but was probably actually vigorously attempted murder.

Darcy felt Johnny's arms tighten around her and she looked up to him and asked, “Are you alright?”

“Felt better. Felt worse,” Johnny shrugged as she delicately pushed glass off of his shoulders.  "I'm more worried about you, cutiepie.  This is all kinds of nuts."

Sam Wilson rushed through the door, his eyes darting between Johnny and Darcy and the Black widow and Winter Soldier. He nodded and addressed Johnny, “Take her some place safe, out of the city. Way out of the city.”

“Do not bring her back until I've told you its okay,” Natasha called out, not even the slightest bit out of breath as she continued to violently spar against James. “Go now, Storm!”

Johnny never made the Black Widow repeat orders twice. He'd seen the damage she could do. That she was currently effortlessly doing to the Winter Soldier. He grabbed Darcy's hand and pulled her out of her ruined bakery, running towards the front door to Avengers' Tower.

He tossed her a helmet before hopping on his bike. He held out a hand and asked, “Do you trust me to keep you safe?”

Darcy fastened the helmet on and took a deep, measured breath. One decisive small nod from her had Johnny's pulse racing and his skin heating up. She took his hand and hopped on the bike behind him, pressing against his back tightly and wrapping her arms around his torso. Johnny put a shaking hand over her clenched fists before kicking the bike's engine to life and taking off into the early light of dawn.

“I trust you,” she murmured into his back. “I trust you, Johnny.”

* * *

* * *

** Recipe Four: Potts De Crème **

Darcy should have been cold.

She was driving down a dim highway at 7:30 in the morning on a crisp fall morning in upstate New York. She was in a thin cotton dress that had recently been soaking wet due to unforeseen sprinkler problems and it was maybe 45 degrees Fahrenheit outside. And she was on the back of a motorcycle currently zooming down the highway at 70 miles per hour.

She should have been  _ freezing. _

But her arms were wrapped around Johnny Storm. The Human Torch.

She was  _ sweating _ .

Every half minute Johnny would bring his large hand over hers where she had them bunched into his t-shirt. He'd squeeze for five seconds before pulling away. It made her even  _ warmer _ .

About 100 miles away from New York City, Johnny pulled into the parking lot of a diner/gas station combo and turned off the bike. He hopped off with a little effort, his earlier run in with the Winter Soldier and the tense ride taking its toll. He gave Darcy a charming smile anyway and held out his hand.

“You hungry?” he wondered.

“Starving,” Darcy nodded, hopping off the bike and taking the helmet off. She grimaced as she fanned herself and pulled at the fabric of her dress repeatedly in an effort to cool herself. “Anybody ever tell you that you're really hot?”

“Hmmm, never sounded better than coming from those cherry lips,” Johnny forced a sinful smirk on his mouth. He hadn't realized he had been that hot during their ride. Her luscious body pressing against him and her hands clenched in his shirt must have had a bigger effect than he had bargained for. “I'll try to tone it down when we head out.”

“Where are we going?” Darcy wondered.

“Uhm, Sue and I have a cabin about twenty miles away. Secluded. Private. Perfect hideout,” Johnny explained, grabbing her hand and walking towards the diner. “None of your overzealous suitors will be able to find us. I think.”

“ Can we booby trap the fuck out of the place just in case? Like, I'm talking  _ Home Alone: Lost in New Yor _ k style,” Darcy muttered as they were ushered to a table.

“Whatever makes you feel safe, cutiepie,” Johnny promised with a chuckle. He opened a menu and said, “Sweet, they have a fiery buffalo omelette. I'm going to eat two.”

“Ugh, spicy,” Darcy rolled her eyes at him playfully. She actually had no problem with spicy, but she wasn't going to let Johnny Storm have the satisfaction of knowing that. “Your butt is gong to be on fire later.”

“Stop thinking about my butt, _pervert,”_ Johnny drew in a ridiculous, shocked gasp. His face was the perfect caricature of appalled dismay. “Darcy Lewis! Are you thinking about my butt RIGHT NOW? I am shocked and appalled. What would Captain Americass think?”

“Ugh, don't bring it up, please,” Darcy begged, looking up at the ceiling of the diner in frustration. “I was half a minute away from forgetting about the whole nightmare.”

“I can help with that,” Johnny smiled gently, looking very different from his normal suave cockiness. He looked _genuine._ Of course it didn't last long. He cocked a self-assured eyebrow and said, “Just keep thinking about my hot butt. Touch it if you want. I'm talking caressing, slapping, pinching, whatever floats your boat. I'm all about the helping, cutiepie.”

“Yeah. Johnny Storm...next to be nominated for sainthood.”

* * *

Steve stood outside of the holding cell that Natasha and Sam had thrown Bucky into earlier that morning, his hand on the glass of the two way mirror as a lot of emotions filtered through him very quickly. Having Bucky back was like a dream come true. He had wanted this moment for a long time. He loved Bucky. Could never stop loving him.

But things were different now.

  
  


Now there was Darcy. Darcy who had disappeared earlier and could be in danger. Darcy who had kissed his cheek the night before and tried to make him feel better at his awful dating habits. Darcy who he was suddenly smitten with. Who he knew he could love with his whole heart if she let him.

He didn't understand the why or the how of it all. But he knew it. He had to have her. Had to show her just how good they could be together.

But he loved Bucky too.

He'd move heaven and hell if it meant he didn't have to make the choice between Bucky and Darcy.

Bucky suddenly stalked to the mirror that Steve was watching him through.

“I love you, Stevie, but we need to get out of here and get Darcy back,” Bucky said lowly, nearly every trace of the Winter Soldier gone from his features. “She's my girl, now.”

Steve furrowed his brow and wondered how on Earth that was possible. As far as he knew, Darcy had never met Bucky before last night. Steve had felt guilty all day yesterday that Bucky would be upset at him for falling for a dame so fast. He had not expected Bucky to show up proclaiming affection for the same dame.

“ If you help me get out, punk, we can---she may want both of us,” Bucky said softly, his words tinged with the accent and lilting cadence of his youth. Darcy may have said  _ no  _ that morning to the idea, but Bucky can read body language.

Her eyes had dilated, her pulse had quickened and the little hairs on her arm had stood straight up when he had suggested it. She could definitely be persuaded. Bucky let a small, sexy smile grace his face as he spoke to Steve, “The three of us,  _ together.  _ It's worth a shot.”

Steve's eyes widened to the size of saucers and his cheeks tinged pink. That really wasn't a half bad idea. Actually, when he let himself think about it, that was the best idea that Steve had ever heard. The idea of having both Bucky AND Darcy was something he immediately wanted and his master tactician brain began to think of ways to make that happen. Step One: Break Bucky Out. Step Two: Find Darcy. Step Three: Kiss the living daylights out of them both.

“Rogers, if you even think about conspiring with your idiot soul mate about pushing Darcy into a threesome she hasn't asked for, I will end your life,” Natasha said lowly as she and Sam walked down the hall.

Sam held up a pair of shackles and said, “Team meeting upstairs in an hour.”

* * *

Darcy had been expecting a state of the art bunker in the woods. A rich person's escape with all the comforts of rich people home.

But this was literally a two room log cabin. One large room with a big king sized bed, a dusty bookcase and old stereo with a record player, an empty fridge, a wood stove and a table. And one bathroom with a toilet, sink and huge old fashioned claw footed tub that  _ definitely  _ needed to be scrubbed up.

“I used to come up here a lot,” Johnny admitted. “Some times there's nothing better than just getting away from absolutely everyone. Haven't had a chance to in the last couple of years. So we're _really_ going to need some supplies to make it through a few days.”

“And an air mattress,” Darcy arched a suspicious brow.

“Oh Darcy, you're going to want me on the other side of that big ole bed with you to warm you up. This place gets _cold_ at night.”

* * *

“Who here loves Darcy? Show of hands?” Sam opened up with the question, looking around at the people that were assembled in the Stark Industries conference room. Roughly 30 people, random Stark Industry employees, a few people who had been waiting at the trashed bakery this morning with bouquets of flowers, Janitor from the Med Bay along with that idiot surgeon Todd, two super soldiers (one shackled), Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, Thor, Tony and Clint Barton were sitting in front of Sam and Natasha.

Everyone raised their hands (or in Bucky's case, his shackles that both Natasha and Sam knew he could easily break out of, but hey at least they'd hear him and get a headstart on strapping him back down). Natasha narrowed her eyes at Tony and Clint and finally Todd the surgeon.

“I'm an equal opportunity lover,” he relayed.

“ _ Out _ ,” Natasha ordered. Not only did she knew the Todd wasn't a match for Darcy, but he also hadn't been on call yesterday so he hadn't touched an eclair. She watched him mopily leave before glaring back at Tony and Clint.

“ Oh you mean like  _ creepy  _ love her,” Tony nodded, putting his hand down. “I just normal pet monkey love her. I'm also down with my Pepper bringing her home as her new toy. I'm really down with that.”

“Who doesn't love Boobs? This is a weird ice breaking session,” Clint scoffed as he popped open a box from Darcy's shop, popping a day old eclair in his mouth.

“Stop eating them!” Sam ordered.

“ I had like, ten, it's not going to kick in on the eleventh,” Clint disputed. “I love the kid, but I don't want to go into the  _ Hunger to get into Darcy's pants Games _ . I'm happily married, you idiot.”

“And I'm happily into watching Pepper get her experimental on,” Tony nodded with pride as Pepper smiled softly at him. “Girl love should never be discouraged. Love voodoo or not.”

“Where is Darcy?” Thor demanded. “I demand to know that she is safe. I want her brought back to me and my Jane immediately. The surest way to end this is to allow Jane and I to bed her.”

“That's not going to happen,” Natasha said evenly, her eyes boring holes into a smug Jane and Thor. She half-believed that if anyone were able to convince Darcy to choose them in bed it would be Jane and Thor. Their libido driven activities were the stuff of legend amongst the Avengers. She shook her head and asserted, “She isn't safe here. We sent her somewhere she can be safe.”

“What with that pathetic fire guy?” Bucky demanded obnoxiously. He wrinkled his nose in annoyance and said, “Guy couldn't punch his way out of a wet paper bag. He can't keep her safe. Stevie and I are the only people that can keep her safe.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. Bucky and Steve were dangerous together and it was very important that Darcy stay far far away at that point. Natasha and Sam had worked out a list and while there was no clear winner amongst those in the conference room, there were some front runners. Jane and Thor won in the bedroom. Pepper won when it came to providing for Darcy. But Bucky and Steve together could do both of those things for Darcy handily. Plus Natasha knew Darcy had a secret thing for Steve's shoulders and the girl also had a secret kink for possessive cavemen.

Bucky and Steve had to be kept from Darcy at all costs, especially now that they were working together.

“ She's with  _ Storm _ ?” Steve asked angrily. He was instantaneously jealous, remembering seeing Johnny and Darcy holding hands the day before. “He can't---he'll...we can't leave her with him!”

“Here is how its going to go, people,” Sam took the reigns back and looked around at the assembled group. Natasha said Johnny Storm was their way out of this and that they just needed to give him time. And Sam always believed the Black Widow. So he was going to find the time for Storm to get them out of this with minimal blood shed. “We're going to have a contest to see who is better suited for Darcy. The winner will get to see her.”

“A contest of strength?” Thor asked, an eager look flashing in his eyes.

“Of Brains?” Jane hoped.

“Of vast superiority in anything that matters?” Pepper smirked.

“Yeah, all those things,” Sam nodded. “First contest...who can stay quiet the longest. AND START.”

* * *

Going to a Super Target with Johnny Storm was surprisingly a lot of fun.

Apparently he didn't get to ordinary, run of the mill superstores very often. They each pushed a giant red cart and Johnny kept throwing stuff in them. Darcy highly doubted they would need the slip n' slide, the industrial sized bottle of Frank's Red Hot or giant inflatable pumpkin lawn decoration. But he was just so joyous with each new find that she didn't have the heart to explain just why it was unnecessary.

“Cutiepie, look it, there are aprons...I want to buy you all of them,” Johnny held up cute vintage style aprons with a big grin. “And then, if you should so choose, you can just wear them and nothing else, and definitely none of those boring fleece pajamas you picked out.”

“Pervert,” Darcy rolled her eyes. They pushed their overly full carts back towards the electronics and entertainment section of the store, intent on getting a few books to go along with the twenty board games Johnny had insisted he needed. “You know, we drove here on your bike. How exactly are we transporting all of this stuff back to your cabin?”

“Eh, there's a car lot across the street. We can pick out a pickup or something,” Johnny shrugged, nonplussed as he reached for a few DVD box sets. “Sweet! We can watch every episode of Buffy.”

Darcy laughed and picked out a book she had been meaning to read before going to the magazines. She was about to point out that the cabin didn't have a tv, but Johnny was already using his cart as a giant skateboard as he rushed towards the aisle with flat screens, intent on picking out the biggest and brightest one.

“I feel kind of terrible that the craziness in my life is forcing you to spend more money than I make in a year at the bakery,” Darcy sighed as Johnny struggled with a 60 inch box. “I mean, I can't pay you back, Johnny.”

“It's just money, it doesn't matter,” Johnny assured her, carefully placing his tv on top of his cart. He smiled reassuringly at her and said, “What matters is that you're safe. And you're happy. And that we pimp out my cabin with one of everything from this magical store.”

Darcy's genuine laughter was like music to Johnny's ears. His expression turned serious as he watched her laugh, trying his damnedest to etch it into his memory. He had impressed a lot of ladies in his life. He'd gotten more than quite a few thankful, satiated expressions from them. But he'd never gotten anything so satisfying as the very real, very beautiful happiness that Darcy was currently beaming at him.

Christ, he was so out of his mind for this girl.

A bright beeping emanated from the line of televisions indicating a breaking news alert.

_ Hello. I am Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries. Earlier this morning, a young woman was taken from Avengers Towers by an unknown assailant. This is a picture of Darcy Lewis. She is innocent and good and sweet and kind. And she needs your help. If you have spotted Darcy Lewis, please call the number at the bottom of your screen, any viable information used to rescue Darcy will be rewarded handsomely. Darcy, sweetheart, if you're out there, I'm going to find you and bring you home to us... _

“Oh my God, Pepper Potts' has lady wood for me and she's totally going to use every resource at her fingertips to bring me back in,” Darcy's eyes widened in awed astonishment. “I'm almost half tempted to give it a go. You know she'd be the type to look after a girl proper.”

“ Hmmmm,” Johnny furrowed his brow as Pepper continued to urge the public to  _ rescue  _ Darcy Lewis. Too late America, that was a job for Johnny Storm. “So...does this store sell like, baseball hats and sunglasses? We're going to need you incognito for the rest of this supply run. Oh, also, do they sell bubble bath?”

* * *

* * *

** Recipe Five: Banana Bread Foster **

They did sell bubble bath, Johnny put 12 bottles in the overflowing shopping carts before heading to the checkout. Darcy waited in the bathroom at Target until Johnny had retrieved a pick up truck from the car dealership and loaded their purchases in it as well as his bike. He knocked on the bathroom door in the rhythm of _shave and a haircut...two bits_ and Darcy and he made a break for it, giggling despite their sudden dire circumstances. They made it back to the cabin while pleasantly arguing over the Pandora station with no tails and so far had not been spotted.

The cabin was now covered in bags and boxes from their shopping excursion. Darcy was sorting out food provisions while Johnny busied himself with setting up the giant inflatable pumpkin in front of the cabin.

“I don't know, Storm,” Darcy smirked from the cabin door, a bowl of something perched on her hip as she stopped stirring. “Nothing says covert like having a six foot tall bright orange inflatable pumpkin in the front yard.”

“Aww, but Giant ass pumpkin!” Johnny wrinkled his nose at her with mock petulance. “I won't keep it going all night. I just want to see it once.”

“ You are full of surprises, Johnny Storm. I mean...you're secretly  _ adorable _ ,” Darcy laughed. “I can't wait to see what you do for Christmas decorations.”

Johnny took a shallow breath as he looked up at her, his steely blue eyes big and hopeful. She  _ liked  _ him. She wanted to stick around with him until Christmas. Johnny's stomach did several somersaults in the span of a few seconds.

Darcy threw him a flirty wink before turning and going back to making whatever she was making. It was several minutes before he could stop staring after her with that smitten expression, he looked down at the twine he had been using to secure his Halloween decoration and huffed in annoyance when he saw that he had ignited most of the ball of string.

He was so screwed.

* * *

Pepper had won the silence contest. She had remained tightlipped after giving Tony an arched eyebrow and he did her unspoken bidding, darting around the room and annoying everyone else into speaking. Bucky had been the hardest to break, obviously, and Tony had resorted to attempting to giving him a lapdance so he would yell out in annoyance.

Pepper kissed Tony thoroughly for his effort before demanding a bathroom break with the same command that she would have normally taken in a boardroom. When Jarvis alerted them that Pepper had overridden his protocols to put out a previously recorded message about a kidnapped Darcy, Sam and Natasha had not been pleased.

She was now sitting in a corner of the conference room with only Tony and Clint for company. A punishment worse than anything else the Black Widow could give her that excluded violence.

Jane had won the SAT portion. Literally, Sam and Natasha had handed out practice SAT packets and told them they had three hours.

Pepper had been very sorry to miss the Monopoly tournament. Tony had pouted on her behalf. Steve had won it all when it was discovered that Janitor from the Medbay carried around his own stack of monopoly money at all times.

_What do YOU put in tip jars, you cheap bastards?_ Had been his response.

The cheating didn't matter though, because it turned out that Captain America could have probably been a great slum lord owner because he had bankrupted everyone who stood in his path with his vast battalion of little red hotels.

And now there had been a large tournament of arm wrestling. The final bracket had been Thor versus Bucky's mechanical arm. They were at a stand still for thirty minutes so far.

“How long can we keep them in this room without them trying to tear each other apart?” Sam murmured to Natasha.

“Long enough to maybe give Storm a chance to break the spell,” Natasha smiled knowingly. She nudged Sam's shoulder and said, “The monopoly tournament was a great idea, by the way. I kinda like that you're fast on your feet, Wilson.”

To his credit, Sam only gaped at her for a full minute as she walked away. Then his face broke out into a joyous grin. The Black Widow  _ kinda  _ liked him. He suddenly didn't feel so bad that Darcy was in this big mess anymore and he hoped he could drag it out for the rest of the day. He hoped Johnny and Darcy's date was going as well as his date with Natasha.  He hoped it would be kind of a  _ long  _ date, because he was going to try to make sure the Black Widow  _ really  _ liked him.

* * *

The provisions they had picked up were either installed, put away or stacked in neat piles. Johnny had set up the television, but had decided to put on a record instead as he continued to putz around the cabin as Darcy prepared dinner.

“I have to say, Johnny, I'm kind of impressed with your record collection,” Darcy brushed flour off her hands as she arranged triangles of pastry on a small baking sheet. The sounds of Jimmy Eat World's[ _Futures_ album](https://youtu.be/0085_FUpics) played through the cabin. Her cheeks were stained a pretty pink after the song with the _cherry lipstick_ lyric.

“Eh, I spent a lot of time up here after you know...the big change,” Johnny held up a finger tip and ignited it briefly. “Music was probably the only thing keeping me from going crazy back then.”

“I can't imagine,” Darcy furrowed her brow. “I mean...yes, in the last forty-eight hours I've had something crazy change my life, but you have a whole different level of crazy and you did it alone up here. And I---I'm not alone.”

“I'll never let you deal with this alone, Cutiepie,” Johnny promised, his voice low and solemn, sounding foreign coming out of his mouth, but the sentiment and his absolute honesty were more than welcome.

“ I love this song,” Darcy said quietly. 23 was playing and she sang along in a soft, sweet, clear tone, “ _ You'll sit alone forever, If you wait for the right time, what are you hoping for _ ?”

Johnny swallowed as she continued to sing along while she worked on their dinner. It was his favorite song. Not just on the album. It was his  _ favorite  _ song of all time. And she knew every word. He could feel his body temperature rising and for the first time in a long time he found himself struggling to bring it back down to normal. He walked to the old fashioned wood stove and put some of that extra heat to use, lighting the kindling on fire.

“ _ I'm here, I'm now, I'm ready, holding on tight. Don't give away the end. The one thing that stays mine _ ,” Darcy sang, bringing the baking tray over to the stove. She looked down with a smile and said, “How hot do you think it is in there?”

“Probably about 325,” Johnny stuck his hand into the oven. He smiled at her as she gasped and he nodded. “Yup. Exactly 325 degrees Fahrenheit.”

“Do you think you can crank it up to 425?” Darcy asked dubiously.

“Please,” Johnny rolled his eyes, placing his hands on each side of the little oven and concentrated on getting it to the right temperature. “Ding ding. Ready for you, Cutiepie.”

“I need to have you in the kitchen more often, Johnny Storm,” Darcy grinned, popping the trays in and then pinching his cheek. “I'd save a lot of time on pre-heating ovens.”

“I'll be happy to warm up anything you want, Darcy Lewis,” Johnny said with absolute, gut wrenching honesty.

Darcy winked at him and went back to her makeshift kitchen, cleaning up and singing along to his favorite song.

“ _ I won't always love what I'll never have. I won't always live in my regrets _ .”

* * *

The arm wrestling was really taking a long time. Bucky and Thor had been at a standstill for three hours now. The rest of the invitees to the  _ Everyone Loves Darcy  _ dating game had moved on to eat dinner and socialize on their own. It turned out that not everyone had a reaction like the Avengers. Sure, the random customer liked Darcy and thought it'd be fun to date her, but they weren't going to battle Thor over it.

Steve was standing behind Bucky, muttering encouragement under his breath so low that only Bucky could hear it. How much he loved him. How happy he was to have him right there. How good it was going to be when they had Darcy with them.

Jane had her arms wrapped around Thor's shoulders and she brought her lips to his ear, looking to Steve and Bucky, knowing that with their enhanced hearing that they could hear her too.

“If you guys can give me a distraction so that I can get to my lab, I can get her back to us by morning.”

* * *

“ So...did you make us dessert for dinner?” Johnny looked down at his plate and then back up at Darcy skeptically. He didn't know how he was going to break it to her that he didn't exactly  _ like  _ dessert. Seeing as she made dessert for a living, it felt like it would be a slap in her face. And kind of awkward to explain why he bought desserts from her every day he could. He looked down at the puffy golden pastry and gave it a sniff. It didn't smell sweet.

“I'm capable of making more than dessert,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “I made a croissant dough, which is NOT EASY, firefly. And I stuffed it with something that I think you will enjoy.”

Johnny held his fork up high, before diving in with an exaggerated flourish, the spicy smell hitting his nose immediately. He put a large forkful in his mouth and moaned in pleasure.

“Buffalo chicken and blue cheese stuffed croissants,” Darcy grinned victoriously. “I accept worship as acceptable forms of payments.”

Johnny had never actually eaten anything that Darcy had made before.

It was a stinking revelation. She was crazy talented.

  
  


“I will bow down at your feet and worship you every day of your life,” Johnny promised before he put another forkful in his mouth and moaned again. The buttery flakiness of the croissant was sinful and the spicy mixture inside was tempered with the occasional pocket of blue cheese. “You're amazing. Like...so amazing.”

Darcy giggled and gestured with her hand for more, “YES. WORSHIP ME.”

* * *

The distraction was brilliant in its simplicity.

“Shield brother and the beloved man of my shield brother,” Thor announced suddenly, sounding regal and just a little bit rehearsed as he and Bucky continued in their arm wrestling standstill. “We do not have to battle any longer. I have decided that to make Darcy truly happy, the four of us shall love her together!”

Bucky seemed to consider it but Steve balked.

“I'll share her with this jerk,” Steve jutted his chin lovingly at Bucky before glaring dangerously at Thor. “And maybe even Doctor Foster And Ms. Potts. But there's no way I'm letting you touch her.”

“ You could not stop me, Steven!” Thor chuckled, clearly not understanding the nature of his shield brother Steve  _ FIGHT ME  _ Rogers. He had five seconds of bemused chuckling before Steve threw himself at him with an angry growl.

Jane backed away before Steve dove for Thor. She was out of the conference room before the first punch was thrown.

* * *

Johnny locked himself in the bathroom an hour later as Darcy began to read her book. She had  _ warned  _ him that his butt would be burning from all that hot sauce. But of course he didn't listen. Typical superhero.

He finally poked his head out of the bathroom door twenty minutes later and smiled at her,

“So, Cutiepie, are you ready to be worshipped properly?”

“I'm not having sex with you tonight, Johnny,” Darcy said offhandedly, distracted by her book.

“Not tonight, but it _is_ on the table for the future? Like in the morning?” Johnny's eyes widened with sudden giddiness and hope. “Cause not to toot my own horn, but I'm _really_ good at morning sex.  Like slow, endless, sloppy, make your toes curl morning sex.”

“Wait-what?” Darcy slammed her book shut, blushing profusely as she looked around in confusion, wondering what just popped out of her mouth.

“Come on, I did something nice,” Johnny promised tilting his head to the bathroom.

Darcy put her book aside and walked to the bathroom warily, ducking under Johnny's arm and taking in a small gasp of breath. The bathroom had been transformed. It was covered in lit candles, there were stacks of fluffy white towels on a newly installed towel rack and there were cushy white bath rugs all over the hardwood floors. The bathtub was scrubbed clean and full of _steaming hot_ water and so many fluffy bubbles that it looked almost cartoonish.

“WOW,” Darcy breathed.

“Yeah, I try,” Johnny nodded. “So settle in, have a soak. Relax and forget all about the potentially thousands of people that could be looking for you right now, ready to bring you back to a couple dozen people who want to battle for the right to woo you.”

* * *

“JARVIS! Suit Tony up!” Sam ordered as he corralled the rest of the normal people into the hallway to another conference room.

“And find Foster!” Natasha added as she tried to keep two super soldiers and an Asgardian Demi-God from destroying the place and each other.

“Dr. Foster is currently in her lab,” Jarvis reported.

“On it,” Clint sighed, walking away from the funnest meeting he had ever been to. “Don't have too much fun while I'm gone.”

* * *

Thirty minutes in Darcy called out from the bathtub.

“Hey, firefly!'

Johnny had to stop himself from flaming on and flying to the bathroom door. He poked his head in and saw Darcy's head in a sea of fluffy bubbles.

“You naked under all that?” he leered playfully.

“No, I'm taking a bath fully clothed,” Darcy rolled her eyes.

“You bellowed?” he asked.

“Water's getting cold,” Darcy blew out a breath and saw it in puffs of white air. “The whole room is getting cold actually.”

“Yeah, I told you it gets cold up here at night,” Johnny reminded her. He stepped into the room and brought the room temperature up ten degrees automatically. He walked towards the bath, wishing with all his might that he could trade all his fire to be able to see through bubbles. He rolled up a sleeve on his dark red henley and arched a brow. “May I?”

“Yes please,” Darcy smiled softly. “I'd like to stay in here until I'm properly pruney.”

“I have to tell you, I could keep the water warmer longer if you know, I was _in the tub_ with you,” Johnny murmured playfully as he put his hand in the water.

“Hmmmm, nope,” Darcy shook her head, seriously fighting her brain to mouth filter so that she didn't push the words _not this time_ out of her mouth. She bit her lip as she looked down at Johnny's arm, which was in the bath water up to the middle of his forearm. She could feel the water heating up immediately and she couldn't help but let out a pleasured moan. “You really do come in handy, firefly.”

“I do my best,” Johnny chuckled. He pulled his hand out of the water and took immense satisfaction in Darcy's little gasp as he sizzled the water right off of his skin. “Let me know when you're ready to get out. I'll send a little blast of warmth in here so you don't freeze any of my favorite important parts off.”

Johnny ambled out of the bathroom leisurely, but once he closed the door, he took off for the front door, running outside as his whole body erupted into flames. He flew up into the night sky to try to take the edge off, he had never felt so damned out of control, not even after he had first changed. She did that to him. She made him lose control. His feelings, and it was a shock for him to know that he had feelings, not just a crush, not just a chase. His feelings for her were something he had no hope of ever reigning in.

She was  _ dangerous. _

Johnny loved dangerous.

* * *

“Jarvis, lockdown the lab and engage privacy protocol Alpha 4242,” Jane said absently as she began programming her machine.

“No can do, Doc,” Clint shook his head as he strolled into the lab, nonplussed and bored looking. “Let's get back down to the Darcy Dating Game. I think your boyfriend was about to be smothered by a metal hand and Steve's bloated sense of patriotism and self-righteousness.”

“Okay, sure,” Jane gave him an innocent smile, hitting a few more keys on her wicked old brick of an IBM laptop. With the privacy protocol that only Pepper or Tony could break, the machine would do what she wanted it to. Darcy would be back by morning.

* * *

“Johnny?” Darcy whispered as she dozed against the pillows. She blinked at him in exhaustion on the other side of the bed.

“Yeah, Cutiepie?”

“I'm...I'm cold,” she admitted as she shivered under the blankets.

“Oh, alright,” Johnny nodded, scooting closer to her. He held up a hesitant hand and she nodded at him with a soft smile. His arm wrapped around her and drew her to him so that her face was cuddled in the crook of his neck.

“That's nice,” she hummed appreciatively. “You aren't going to light the bedding on fire, are you?”

“Flame resistant sheets,” Johnny whispered. “But I'll try to keep it under inferno status.”

They remained silent as Darcy's breathing evened out when sleep started to overtake her. Johnny held her close, pulling away an inch or so to stare at those fabulous lips of hers. They were still cherry red, which he seriously couldn't understand. She had no lipstick on her and she hadn't bought any at the store. How'd she get them so perfect? Were they as soft as they looked? Did they really taste like cherries?

“Johnny?” Darcy whispered again, her voice barely a mumble.

“Yeah, Darcy?”

“Thanks...for everything.  I don't know what I'd do without you.”

* * *

Steve, Bucky and Thor were all in shackles now. Natasha was torn between fretting over a shallow cut on Sam's forehead and glaring at the three idiots who had insisted on brawling until Jane got back.

Now the quartet had spent the rest of the night with smiles on their faces (Bucky's was especially disconcerting) as Sam started a new contest of who could sleep the best.

  
  


Clint was winning.

“Ten minutes,” Jane said softly to the three shackled men, causing all of their smiles to grow into anticipatory grins.

* * *

Darcy woke up sweating. HOT. She had kicked off the blankets and sheets long ago as her body temperature increased. The fleece pajamas had definitely been a mistake, but if she took them off she had no doubt she wouldn't be able to stop herself from mauling her bed mate.

Jesus Christ, no wonder most ladies spent time around Johnny naked. He could melt a girls clothing off without even trying.

Hot hands were wrapped around her person as Johnny cuddled her to his body and she wriggled slightly to watch his sleeping face. He looked completely different in sleep. Peaceful. Happy. Nearly innocent.

Darcy was at odds with her brain. Her brain told her that this was Johnny Storm. The man who had slept with eighty-five percent of the females in New York City. The shameless flirt. The manwhore. He had only kept on pursuing her because two years ago, she had been the only woman on the face of the Earth to actually turn him down. And then she had done it repeatedly. She knew that the majority of Johnny's interest in her was just the thrill of the chase.

Not to mention that according to the Asgardian love voodoo...Johnny wasn't a viable match. He had the eclairs but he wasn't losing his mind with love and lust for her.

But he had been so sweet. So genuine. So darned helpful since half of her friends and associates had decided that they wanted to make her their personal possession.

Johnny hadn't though. He just wanted to help her. To keep her safe.

“This is nice,” Johnny mumbled as he pulled her closer. “You feel better than you do in my dreams.”

“Johnny?” Darcy whispered.

“Yeah, cutiepie?”

“Do you remember what you offered yesterday morning? To...you know. Will you kiss me?”

Johnny's eyes flew open and he was suddenly 100% awake. He nodded eagerly and pulled her to him so that their noses brushed against each other. He exhaled once before bringing his lips to slant over hers...

There was a booming noise, a flash of light and in a split second, Johnny's arms became distinctly Darcy-less as she vanished into thin air.

* * *

* * *

 

** Recipe Six: SNickFuryDoodles **

“JANE FUCKING FOSTER! WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL?!”

“Oh good, it worked!” Jane smiled, hopping up from her seat next to a shackled Thor, Steve and Bucky. “I was worried about you. You disappeared and Natasha and Sam and Jarvis refused to tell us where you went and who you went with. Bucky said it was Firecrotch. I mean, really Darcy? The four of us are so much better than Firecrotch.”

“ **THE FOUR OF YOU?”** Darcy glared at Jane and the trio of idiot men who were staring back at her in adoration. Bucky had the audacity to _wink_ at her.

Natasha was at Darcy's side in a moment and the Black Widow eyed the restraints on the boys with suspicion. They had been placating her through the night and left the shackles on, but now that the object of their shared affections was right in front of them again she was sure they'd rip them off themselves.

“Darcy, I'm sorry,” Natasha said softly. “I thought this would have been enough time---”

“Time for what?” Darcy furrowed her brow.

“For Storm to declare his feelings for you. And vice versa,” Natasha answered evenly.

“Johnny doesn't....it's not an option,” Darcy shook her head.

“Damn right he's not!” Bucky victoriously crowed.

“On the plus side, this love spell is breaking the Winter Soldier programming pretty handily,” Sam smiled at Darcy and Natasha.

“Glad something good is coming out of it,” Darcy snorted.

“I'm confused,” Natasha shook her head. She was very rarely wrong when it came to the romantic intentions of others. “Johnny Storm is in love with you. Why would you think he is not an option?”

“Because he's not!” Jane and Steve yelled in unison.

“ Nat, he bought a dozen eclairs,” Darcy revealed. Her cheeks heating up at the idea of Johnny being in love with her. She thought about it briefly and realized very suddenly that she wanted it to be true.  _ Desperately  _ wanted there to be truth in Natasha's words. But there was a big naysayer in her brain. The magic said he wasn't a match. “And there was no love whammy on him.”

“Oh, you little fool,” Natasha laughed fondly at Darcy. Her lips pulled into a smirk and she asked, “How often does Johnny come into your shop?”

“Nearly every day,” Darcy answered. “Unless there's doombots or doom squirrels or doomy doomersons.”

“And he buys a large box of treats every day,” Natasha nodded knowingly.

“Yes...”

“And he still manages to fit into his catsuit with the extra eight thousand calories a day?” Sam furrowed his brow. He looked to Natasha in confusion and a moment of realization lit up his face. “Ohhhhhh. Gotcha.”

“ Well I don't  _ gotcha _ ,” Darcy frowned. “What are you trying to say?”

“Miss Lewis?”

Everyone's attention was at the door to the conference room suddenly.

Nick Fury had a way of garnering attention, even if he was no longer the Director of Shield. Also, the two dozen lackeys surrounding him had a way of drawing a person's eye.

“I'd like for you to come with me now.”

* * *

Johnny's arms wrapped around air as Darcy disappeared in a flash of light.

He understandably panicked.

A quick glance around the Darcy-less cabin had him rushing for the door.

It had seemed like she had been portal-ed right out of his arms before he could kiss the living daylights out of her. And there was only one person capable of pulling that portal crap off.

He was out the front door and a streak of flying fire in less than five seconds.

This whole thing was getting ridiculous. He'd been shown up by Captain America. He'd been beaten up by the Winter Soldier. Pepper Potts had essentially made him a kidnapper in the eyes of the public. And now Doctor Jane Foster had smooch-blocked him. He didn't want to see what the rest of the love-smitten crew could do.

He was going to break the damned Asgardian love voodoo spell if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

A tranquilizer dart hit Natasha's neck even as her hand went to grab for it in midair. It barely broke the skin, but the tranquilizer was built with speedy reflexes in mind. A millisecond of contact was all it took.

“Natasha!” Sam shouted, rushing forward to break her fall.

“Don't let him take her, I'm sure Storm will be here soon,” Nat warned before succumbing to the tranquilizer.

Sam looked to Thor, Bucky and Steve and nodded. “You can take those off now. Time to defend your girl. And someone wake up Barton!”

* * *

Johnny made it back to Avengers' Tower in less than ten minutes. He burst through the common room floor windows before his fire receded and he grimaced at the lack of his suit.

And lack of clothing in general. He reached for a pink and frilly apron hanging off a hook in the kitchen and looked up at the ceiling as he wrapped it precariously around his NC-17 parts.

“Jarvis, can you lend a guy a hand? Where's Darcy?”

“Please proceed to the nearest elevator, Mr. Storm. Darcy requires your immediate assistance in Conference Room B.”

“Shit, that doesn't sound good,” Johnny dove into the elevator and held on to the railing as Jarvis sent it plummeting to the ground level floors. He didn't have to get directions from Jarvis once he got to the right floor.

He heard the fighting.

When he got to the conference room he saw about two dozen Shield agents that were obviously still loyal to Fury actively engaging in battle with the Avengers. Nick Fury was advancing upon Darcy with his hands up in a gesture of peace.

Darcy. Darcy, who was still in those ridiculous cupcake pajamas she had painstakingly chosen at the store yesterday, was glaring openly at Fury and the rest of the fighting idiots even as she was being backed into a corner by the aforementioned Fury and the rest of the ridiculous violence in the room.

He sent a small fireball whizzing past Fury's head, less than an inch away from grazing his skin.

“Back away from her,” Johnny ordered.

“Storm, I want no quarrel with you,” Fury said evenly. “My surveillance tells me that you aren't even in this race. Not a viable match according to the Asgardian hoodoo.”

“That's because I didn't even eat any of the damned things!” Johnny spit out.

“Want one?” Clint opened the box of now two day old eclairs.

“Suck it up and eat it, man,” Sam ordered as he shielded a recovering Natasha from the violence that was starting to die down. 24 Shield agents being no match for the Avengers plus the Winter Soldier plus Pepper Potts. Extremis or not, that woman had a mean left hook. And Jane was actually kind of a fierce little thing. “It's the only way to end it, I think.”

Johnny nodded, and popped the whole eclair in his mouth, barely tasting it as he chewed it and swallowed quickly.

He didn't feel all that different.

He always wanted to taste those cherry lips. But now, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he  _ would _ .

He looked at Darcy and her carefully guarded hopeful expression, her bottom lip worked between her teeth as she studiously gauged his reaction. He smiled at her softly, feeling a very familiar heat swirl in his gut as he was struck by just how cute and distractingly sexy she was. How much he wanted her.

But that wasn't any different than how he had felt every time he had laid eyes on her in the past two years.

He stalked over to her and pushed Fury out of the way. One warm hand on her cheek, another at her waist and he looked down at her with a very unguarded expression of worshipful adoration.

“Hey cutiepie,” he murmured, pulling her close.

“Hey firefly,” Darcy whispered.

“I'm going to kiss you now, okay?” his thumb trailed warmth along her jaw, his cobalt blue gaze darting over her face, taking every square inch of her in.

“Its been a while. I might suck at it,” Darcy honestly blurted, her head nodding anyway.

“Impossible,” he shook his head, leaning in. His mouth slanted over hers and her hand scrambled for purchase on the steaming bare skin of his shoulders and arms.

It was better than he had ever imagined. She was as much of an enthusiastic kisser as he was, her lips parting as she melted into him with a kittenish purr and he swore he could feel her everywhere, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes, she was just coursing through every vein, every muscle, every inch of him.

And he came to the realization very suddenly that he was naked except for a hastily wrapped apron that was barely tied together at his right hip. He bit at her bottom lip and pulled away with a lick of his own lips.

“You do taste like cherries,” he whispered. Her lips weren't sickeningly sweet, but instead tart and delicious. “Do---you're picking me, right? I'm the worthiest one, yeah?”

“You're naked,” Darcy whispered back. “And hot. And I totally choose you.”

“And we have an audience,” Johnny turned his head to the assembled Avengers and quirked an eyebrow. “You guys all back in your right minds now?”

“Indeed, I thank you, crotch of fire,” Thor grinned, his arm wrapped around a thoroughly embarrassed Jane. “You are worthy of Lady Darcy's love.”

Bucky and Steve looked unimpressed and unconvinced, but ashamed enough of their previous actions that they weren't willing to open their mouths. Pepper shrugged and conveyed silently with Tony that nothing was absolutely off the table.

“Barton! I told you to stop telling him names to say like that!” Darcy yelled. “Now someone better be flying me back to Johnny's cabin in the next ten minutes, or there will be several thousand pounds of hell to pay. I'm taking a damned vacation.”

* * *

* * *

** Recipe Seven: Johnny Cakes **

Natasha and Sam flew Darcy back to the cabin in a quinjet. They had helpfully reminded Johnny that he had been banned from all quinjets after one too many melted high impact plastic incidents so he was leading them back through the air, annoying Natasha and Samy by showing off with one too many barrel rolls.

“Nat?” Darcy questioned as she sat cross legged in the co-pilot seat. Natasha was piloting and Sam was leaning against the back of her chair, every once in a while taking a conspicuous sniff of Natasha's red curls with a heavenly grin on his face. “You guys didn't like me?”

“Sam didn't have an eclair,” Natasha explained. “And he's smitten with me, so I don't think there's much more room in his brain for a forced love curse on you.”

“ Damn straight,” Sam nodded. He looked down at Natasha and prodded, “And you  _ kinda  _ like me too, right?”

“Hmmm,” Natasha hummed noncommittally.

Sam was cool with that. He never minded putting the work in for the good rewards.

“I was not unaffected by the sugar,” Natasha admitted with a smirk. “I'm practical, Darcy. The surest way to secure your love would be to secure your happiness.”

“And you thought Johnny would bring me happiness?” Darcy quirked her lips in a small smirk.

“I was 97 percent sure,” Natasha nodded. “He gets this look on his face when he asks about you during debriefings. Can you say that he hasn't brought you _any_ happiness since you met him two years ago?”

“If he hasn't yet, I'm sure he will in the next few days,” Sam chuckled.

“I really appreciate everything you guys did for me,” Darcy smiled.

“And you love us now, right?” Natasha murmured.

“Always,” Darcy grinned.

“Then mission accomplished.”

* * *

Natasha and Sam dropped her off with the promise of a double date some time in the future when Darcy and Johnny ventured back to the city and the promise of making Bucky, Thor, Jane and Steve start repairs on the bake shop during Darcy's vacation.

Darcy waved and blew kisses as the quinjet took off and Johnny joined her, fully and properly clothed.

“Oh firefly, that's no good,” Darcy frowned at his jeans and t-shirt as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“What?” Johnny furrowed his brow and looked down at his spiderman t-shirt. “Hey, Spidey's my buddy. Nothing wrong with supporting a bro.”

“I like Spiderman,” Darcy shook her head. She waggled her eyebrows and made a tiny shrug of her shoulders. “I just don't think you want to go take that bubble bath with all of those clothes on.”

She popped up on her tip toes and placed a scorching kiss against his lips before meandering into the cabin with her hips swaying in a mesmerizing pattern.

The Spidey shirt went up in flames as Johnny rushed to catch up.

“So cutiepie, the eclair wasn't half bad, but I liked what you did for dinner yesterday better,” Johnny admitted.

“Hmmm,” Darcy walked to the bathroom and began filling the tub before pushing the pajama pants down her hips. “So---you have spent thousands of dollars in my bakery, firefly.”

“I hadn't noticed,” Johnny murmured as he stared at every inch of skin Darcy had revealed. He'd do anything to get her in just one of those aprons and nothing else.

“And you never ate anything?”

“I never liked sugary sweet stuff,” Johnny sheepishly admitted.

“You never liked sugary sweet stuff,” Darcy repeated, unbuttoning her pajama top slowly.

“But I really liked the girl that baked the sugary sweet stuff. From that first time you told me to flame on to easier pastures,” Johnny sighed as he watched her fingers toy with that last button on the pajama top.

Darcy ended his suffering and undid that last button before shrugging out of the shirt. She took two steps forward and her cold hands found the warm bare skin of his shoulders.

“ Want to know a secret?” she whispered, waiting for him to nod slightly. “The girl who bakes the sugary sweet stuff isn't really a fan of  _ eating  _ the sugary sweet stuff either. She prefers spicy.”

* * *

Darcy's Delights had a grand re-opening a six weeks later. Thor had made extensive renovations as part of his apology for his interference.

And Darcy had found a better balance between her work and her pleasure.

  
  


It helped that Johnny had introduced a friend of a friend to help run the storefront from noon to closing. Mary Jane was a perfect fit for Darcy, and Darcy never minded having MJ's boytoy around either, as he was pretty good at reaching for the stuff on the high shelves.

“How hot does this one have to be, cutiepie?”

Darcy looked up from her work of scooping batter into cupcake tins and said, “375, please and thank you.”

“So polite,” Johnny smiled at her as he shoved his hands inside the oven and warmed it to the temperature she needed. She brought the trays over to him and he snagged a kiss after she popped them in the oven. “My cherry lipped girl.”

The bells on the front door to the bakery rang out and Darcy kissed Johnny one more time before heading out to the counter. She smiled at her customers and said, “Gentlemen, welcome to Darcy's Delights. Today's special is Johnny-cakes. A mildly sweet vanilla cupcake filled with mexican hot chocolate filling. What can I get for you?”

Steve Rogers blushed, but Bucky smirked at her and quirked a flirty eyebrow.

“You on the menu, doll?”

“Ugh, can the centenarians please stop hitting on my lady?” Johnny groaned as he walked into the front of the shop. He wrinkled his nose at Steve and Bucky's daily appearance in the bakeshop. Just because it worked for him, it wasn't going to work for Captain Sparklebutt and the Scruffy Shiny Armed Soldier. “She's perfectly content and satiated by her neighborhood friendly Human Torch, thanks very much.”

“Let the lady speak for herself, Storm,” Steve advised curtly.

Out of all the people affected by the Asgardian Love Voodoo, Steve and Bucky were the only ones that still had any sort of interest. Well, Pepper still flirted, but Johnny (and Tony) chose to enjoy that rather than be annoyed.

“I'm perfectly happy as things are, boys,” Darcy insisted, setting up a box and placing a sampler of treats in them to appease two supersoldier appetites for at least an hour. “But I'll let you know if I ever change my mind.”

“Babe!” Johnny scoffed.

Darcy turned a wicked grin Johnny's way and shrugged. “Just giving you incentive not to screw things up, firefly.”

Johnny wrapped his arms around her from behind and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “That's just never going to happen. I love you, cutiepie.”

“hmmm. Love you too, Johnny-cakes.”

* * *

The End

 

  
  


 


	12. Between Heaven and Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Between Heaven And Hell
> 
> Summary:  
> Darcy Lewis should not have let Jane unsupervised. The brilliant astrophysicist was one stale Pop-Tart away from doing something to promote her to accidental supervillain status.  
> Like blast her best friend onto a deserted tropical island with a few surprise guests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: F/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Darcy Lewis,  
> James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky"  
> Barnes/Natasha Romanov  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Jane Foster  
> (Marvel), Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Vision (Marvel),  
> Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton  
> Additional Tags: a version of the 'stranded on a deserted island' trope, attempts at  
> writing feels, ridiculous premise but less crack than usual, Bucky  
> barnes makes me cry all the time, all work and too much caffeine  
> make jane a bad girl, what if Steve didn't sleep away his time on ice?,  
> Mature rating for mildly sexy times  
> Stats: Published: 2015-11-02 Completed: 2015-11-05 Chapters: 4/4 Words:  
> 15783

  
  


* * *

** Between Heaven and Hell **

** Part One:  ** _** I Missed You, But I Haven't Met You ** _

*New Avengers' Facility, Upstate New York, 2015*

“Oh My Thor. DUDE, how long have you let her stay awake?”

Vision blinked a few times and tried to calculate an answer to Darcy Lewis' question. She had just arrived at the New Avengers' Facility an hour ago and had immediately demanded to see Jane in the new lab space. Darcy had been closing up shop at Jane's lab in London while Jane had been at the new facility in upstate New York for the last two weeks, setting up her  _ new  _ lab.

Darcy should have known better to send Jane to be on her own.

Her little astrophysicist was currently BUZZING around the lab, not walking, not running, but vibrating around the room as she looked at her notes written down on what Darcy could only assume was toilet paper. God, she prayed that it was unused. Every few seconds Jane would make an excited squeak before randomly pressing buttons on her old brick of a laptop.

“I apologize for Doctor Foster's current state. I believe that she has not slept in some time,” Vision admitted.

“She has not slept in two weeks,” Wanda revealed as she levitated bits of what Darcy assumed were two week old pop tarts into the air in complicated patterns.

  
  


Darcy arched an eyebrow at the maroon Avengers liason and his little witchy Avengers girlfriend who had greeted her at the front gate. What she wouldn't give for someone normal at this moment. But no, Captain J. America was out on a mission with Natasha and Sam Wilson (who if she was being honest, was her best bet in the normal race). And Rhodey was in DC trying to secure additional funding for the new facility. So she was stuck getting the Avengers Initiative welcome basket and tour from the toddler AI in a full grown body and the emo Teen Witch.

She wouldn't have minded, but Vision was _clearly_ not Jarvis. Jarvis would have locked Jane out of her lab after hour 24 of the _No sleep and all caffeine make Jane a crazy person_ show. Vision and his new found innate humanity just let her meddle.

  
  


“She is performing extraordinary work,” Vision informed Darcy, his tone casually defensive. “It did not seem quite correct to stifle brilliance.”

“Ugh. You'll learn Maroon Smurf. You'll learn,” Darcy sighed as she grabbed a bit of pop-tart from Wanda's energy field and approached Jane as if she were a skittish, wild, horse. She waved the pop tart piece invitingly and said, “Janie....Jaaaaaanie. Step away from the science and let's go and get you a hot meal, a shower and a bed...”

“Almost. Five more minutes,” Jane waved Darcy off as she squinted at a piece of toilet paper and then excitedly clapped her hands. “Of course...I should have realized!”

“Oh boy. This is worse than I thought,” Darcy sighed. She looked between Vision and Wanda and demanded, “Is there a way to get this place powered down so she HAS to leave?”

“Only Agent Romanoff or Captain Rogers could authorize such a thing,” Vision acknowledged.

Darcy rolled her eyes and looked to Wanda with sudden interest.

“Could you do it?”

“Could I do what?” Wanda asked back in her bored, accented tone.

“Blast the power to this room out?” Darcy smiled at her. “Just a little vandalism. Unless you know. You're afraid of Captain America getting mad at you and sending you to your room with no dessert.”

“I'm not afraid,” the nineteen-year-old witch petulantly disputed.

Darcy hid her smirk. It was like taking candy from a baby. It helped that Wanda seemed to be an awful lot like Darcy was when she was fourteen. Darcy knew how to work that particularly rebellious brand of teenager. She clapped her hands eagerly as Wanda began to build a large ball of her mysterious red energy in her hands.

“This does not seem to be the most well thought out plan,” Vision hedged.

“Oh, you know what's not well thought out?” Darcy glared at him. “Letting the brilliant astrophysicist spend two weeks in a lab with nearly zero sleep. You're lucky that she hasn't accidentally blipped this entire facility to the asscrack of Jotenheim!”

“Miss Lewis, will you at least allow me to shield you from any explosions that may occur?” Vision watched as Wanda gleefully made her energy globe even bigger.

“GOT IT!” Jane shouted and ran back to her laptop, smashing buttons with excitement.

“What's going on here?” Natasha demanded as she walked into the room fresh off of the quinjet, followed by Sam and Captain America. “We were getting disturbing energy readings from the quinjet from this lab.”

“His fault!” Darcy pointed to Vision. “All of your faults! You can't just let Jane be unsupervised for two weeks, are you crazy? You're supposed to be Earth's mightiest heros. Jane is one sleepless night and stale pop-tart away from being the next accidental supervillain and you need constant vigilance in order to avoid the inevitable apocalypse that will accidentally tumble out of her crazy smart brain---and can someone please tell me why Captain America is looking at me like that?”

Everyone (except Jane) turned to Steve Rogers, who was looking at Darcy with his mouth gaping open and tears in his eyes. He tried to speak, and his lips moved but all that came out was a huff of air as his hands trembled. He took one unsteady step towards her, one of his hands reaching out for her even as he shook from what appeared to be awestruck happiness and whispered,

“Darcy?”

How in the hell did Captain America know her name? And why was he looking at her like she was his salvation? She'd never even met the guy. Not for lack of trying. Thor was a serious Cap-blocker. And Clint had decided to pick up the big brother mantle and refuse to let her meet him and/or molest him.

“Oh shit,” Jane muttered.

“That can't be goo---”

Darcy couldn't even finish her sentence as she turned away from a seriously freaked out Captain America who was  _ actually  _ crying stunned but happy tears at that point. One of Jane's machine doohickies sparked with energy and that spark combined with Wanda's red energy globe and suddenly there was a whipping vortex in the lab, sucking in all light until all that could be seen was the crackling red and blue sparks that was coming from the dangerous looking cloud. The wind shifted in the room and the vortex that was three feet from Darcy suddenly became a lot more powerful and she felt herself sliding towards it very quickly.

“Darcy!” Captain America called out, reaching for her but it was too late.

There was bright flash of red and blue sparks, a series of small popping sounds and then nothing.

Darcy was gone.

* * *

He jerked into wakefulness as if he had fallen in a dream.

The sounds of gentle waves lapping at sandy beaches did their best to soothe that jerky, fear-filled response to the nightmarish feeling of falling and he blinked as he slowly sat up and looked around.

Sandy white beaches. Crystal clear blue ocean. Lush green forest right behind him.

_ Was he dead? Was this heaven? _

If this was heaven, then Father Hess and the nuns back home were definitely wrong. Because he didn't think heaven came with a gorgeous dame sleeping at his side.

He furrowed his brow and looked down at her curiously. Her clothing was strange. She was wearing skin tight blue jeans and underneath a thick cardigan sweater was a black t-shirt with words, he tilted his head to the side....

_ Nerd? I prefer the term intellectual badass _ .

He chuckled. He was sure this dame was a pistol.

But she was hurt. He inched closer to her prone form and saw a shallow cut on her forehead and he panicked. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a handkerchief, holding it against the small line of blood as she roused herself.

“Don't cry Cap...s'okay...”

“Cap?”

“Huh?” Darcy mumbled, sitting up and feeling incredibly dizzy.

“Woah, there girlie,” he said softly. “You musta hit your head.”

Darcy blinked up at him owlishly as he continued to tend to the cut on her forehead.

“Where are we?” she finally managed.

“Dunno.”

“Am I dreaming?” Darcy's eyes wandered over the handsome, familiar face. “Weird dream.”

“What are the chances we're both dreamin?” he asked. “I---I think I was falling? And I woke up here.”

“I was---there was a thing. With science?” Darcy wondered. “And Captain America was crying and---”

“Steve?” he breathed. “You know Steve?”

“No,” Darcy shook her head. “I just met him. Well, saw him. Before the science exploded. But he---wait. You. You know him.”

“A little,” he smirked.

“You're Bucky Barnes,” Darcy breathed in recognition. She was suddenly way more awake as she looked around her in dismay. “Why am I on a deserted tropical island with Bucky Barnes? You know, Captain America is still looking for you....and where is your arm?”

Bucky furrowed his brow at the strangely dressed pretty girl and shook his head. “What're you on about? My arms are right here.”

He held up his arms and wiggled his fingers at her.

“Where were you before you fell?” Darcy whispered, suddenly very serious.

Bucky felt that the look didn't suit her.

“A train,” Bucky answered.

“That really can't be good,” Darcy breathed. She had read the file, seen the made-for-tv-movie and devoured every op-ed piece about James Buchanan Barnes. She didn't care if this was real or not. Her heart clenched at what was sure to happen next. Bucky let out a sudden gasp of pain and Darcy panicked, reaching out and grabbing his hand. “You're okay. Are you okay?”

“My arm,” Bucky whispered, looking down at his left arm. “What'd you do to it?”

“I didn't do anything, I swear!” Darcy shook her head. Her eyes filled with tears for him as he began to fade before her eyes. Literally he began to fade into transparency. “Oh God, Bucky, I'm so sorry for what's about to happen to you. Stay here. Stay here with me!”

But it was too late, with one last desperate reach of his fingers to her he faded from view entirely.

Darcy sniffled and looked around, well and truly alone.

* * *

“What did you do? Where is Darcy?”

Jane blinked up at a  _ livid  _ Captain America and she looked to Natasha and Sam for some kind of explanation.

“How do you know Darcy?” Natasha prodded, her face carefully blank as always.

“It---It doesn't matter and it's none of your business,” Steve insisted. “What matters is bringing her back. Where is she?”

“I –I don't know,” Jane admitted. She swayed on her feet and had to be steadied by Sam.

“Doctor Foster, needs to be taken to the med bay,” Vision reported. “Her vital signs are precarious at the moment.”

Steve watched as Sam led Jane out and he turned to Vision and Wanda.

  
  


“Do either of you know what happened?” Steve asked. “Do you know what happened to Darcy?”

“I do not, I can't...I cannot feel her thoughts,” Wanda admitted, although it looked like she was seriously trying, a fine sheen of sweat breaking out over her forehead. “I will continue to search...”

Steve watched as Vision directed Wanda to a nearby cluster of lab tables. His hands were still shaking and tears were still in his eyes. He hadn't thought she was real. Darcy Lewis was a figment of his imagination. It was the only way he could reconcile himself to living in this new century.

But she had been in front of him. She had been standing just a few feet away, right within his grasp. She didn't know him though. Her face hadn't broken into that silly grin she always got when she saw him. Her eyes hadn't been sparkling at him as they so often did. But she had been right in front of him...

_ She was real _ .

“Cap?” Natasha asked. “Are you alright?”

“When she's back, I'll be fine. We have to find her.”

* * *

Darcy lost track of time on the island. She had spent a few hours exploring, finding a fresh water source immediately. She'd ditched her clothes and shamelessly walked around the island in her prettiest and most functional navy blue bra and panty set.

She spent a few more minutes setting up her fantastic hut, and by hut it was a few tied together palm fronds hung four feet off the ground to provide her a canopy for when it rained.

The weather was seriously perfect. The daytime was picture perfect weather and the night promised to be absolute bliss with gentle breezes and twinkling stars. She lounged on the sand. She ate fruit. She swam in the ocean and in a cool little pond with a lovely little waterfall. She tried lighting a fire for approximately half an hour before giving up and spent her time building sand castles instead.

She was positive that it was only a matter of time before Jane got Thor and Heimdall involved to find her. So she was enjoying her solitude on the little mile wide island, taking it as a much needed vacation. And that positive attitude of hers lasted maybe two hours before she was seriously missing human companionship and the comforts of home.

She would have taken the Destroyer for company at that point.

Two days of solitude passed by in a blur of monotony before Darcy woke up from a brief nap to the same perfect twinkling starlight, the same waves lapping against the sandy shores and the same gentle breeze against her bare (and still woefully untanned) skin. She rolled on her little mat of palm leaves and right into a solid wall of a man in a very familiar star spangled suit.

And he was  _ freezing _ .

“Oh shit on a stick,” Darcy breathed looking down at a blue lipped Capsicle. She hopped up on her knees and began searching his frozen water logged star-spangly suit for zippers and pulls so she could get him out of his clothing before he could start to suffer from hypothermia.

“Jesus Christ your leg weighs a metric fuckton!” Darcy huffed as she tried to pull the ice cold pants from his legs. She was kind of glad he was out of it, because there was no way that any person would find being undressed like this to be appealing in the slightest. It was really hard to maneuver a 220 pound rag doll.

Finally he was down to his vintage olive drab boxers and Darcy took fifteen full seconds to appreciate all of that. Like, _ all of that _ .

And then she made a run to her water and brought him back a delicate cup fashioned from an empty coconut shell filled to the brim. She knelt next to him and bit her lip. His lips looked decidedly less blue as the bright morning sun warmed him. Her hand went to his brow and she saw either leftover ice droplets or tears on his eyelashes and she distinctly remembered when she had seen Captain America first. Last?

How he had looked at her as if she were some illusion. How he had looked at her with awestruck happiness and disbelief all at once. How his trembling hand had reached out to her as if to feel if she were real. How he knew her name and had whispered it as happy tears leaked from the corners of his eyes.

It kind of made sense now.

If by sense, you meant crazy town banana pants.

His brow was warm enough, so she set the water down and her hands went to work on the rest of his cool skin, rubbing across his broad shoulders, then those massive pectoral muscles of freedom, sweeping down every ripple of his abdomen.

“This is like fucking torture, dude,” Darcy breathed as her hands rubbed at his hips before moving straight to his thighs. She did another pass upwards and was pleased to see that every thing was warming up quite nicely.

Including her face, which was beet red as she huffed out little breaths of exertion.

“Fucking made of marble,” Darcy sighed, pushing her hands down his abdomen again, her palms pressing gentle pressure against his skin, skirting along the oh so perfect v shape along his hip bones. She blew out a small breath and whispered, “Jesus H. Christ.”

“What's the H stand for?”

“JESUS H. CHRIST!” Darcy shrieked, jumping away from a now awake Captain America. “I wasn't molesting you!”

Steve swallowed painfully and Darcy cringed as she helped him drink from the coconut shell. He struggled into a sitting position and looked down at his state of undress, grimacing at the tenting in his shorts.

“Sorry! I was---you were freezing...and I didn't want you to...uhm...freeze?” Darcy cringed at the words coming out of her mouth.

“Thanks,” Steve nodded. He looked around in confusion and asked, “This doesn't look like the Arctic...”

“No, it's not quite,” Darcy admitted. “I don't actually know where we are.”

“Is this---is this heaven?” Steve whispered, furrowing his brow. “Who are you?”

“I'm---my name is Darcy, and no, I don't think it's heaven,” Darcy shook her head. She thought of Bucky and how he had been there with her to begin with before fading away... _going back_ to that hell on Earth. And now a freshly iced Captain America appeared? She had officially entered the Twilight Zone, but she sort of got it. This was a waiting room until Steve Roger's big thaw. Darcy felt a twinge of fear about what that meant for her. Where had Jane and Wanda blasted her to and how long would she stay?

She felt a large hand envelope her shaking hand and she looked to a concerned Steve and she whispered, “We're not dead. I think its some kind of waiting space?”

“How do you figure that?” Steve furrowed his brow. “I should have died.”

“ You don't,” Darcy shook her head. She didn't know how much she should say. Any one who had watched  _ Back to the Future  _ knew not to mix future knowledge with someone straight out of the past. “And---well, there was someone here before.”

“Who?” Steve saw her hesitancy and squeezed her hand in encouragement. He had to know the whole story so he could get them out of there.

“Heya punk.”

* * *

* * *

** Part Two: The Way You Laugh, The Way Your Kisses Taste **

“Buck?” Steve stood and looked as Bucky ambled towards them on the beach. “She said it wasn't heaven...what are you...”

“Not heaven,” Bucky shook his head, looking down at where his left arm used to be. There was a definitive point on his arm where the flesh and bone ended, and the remainder of it was a translucent mirage of what his arm used to be. “Not dead.”

Darcy squeezed Steve's hand as a she tried her best to stifle a whimper. Bucky looked away from Steve and let his eyes roam over Darcy, who was considerably less clothed than she had been before. He looked back to Steve, who was also down to his skivvies.

“Did I miss the party?” he asked with a smirk. He looked back to Darcy and said, “Wished like hell I could've stayed here with you, girlie.”

“Me too,” Darcy nodded.

“Why can't you?” Steve wondered.

“I don't think we get the choice,” Bucky shook his head. He winced and felt a tugging sensation in the pit of his stomach along with an odd blip of his heartbeat. He looked between his best friend and the girl he had woken up to on the island and said, “I'm waking up again. I really don't want to...it's...it's bad, Stevie.”

Steve reached for Bucky, the distress on his best friend's face clear and Steve could feel Darcy trembling next to him as Bucky faded from view. Steve looked to Darcy and asked quietly,

  
  


“Do you understand what's going on?”

“I have a theory,” Darcy admitted. “But it's so---just it's a whole new level of crazy and fantastical.”

“I used to be 5 feet 4 inches and a hundred pounds soaking wet,” Steve shrugged, his free hand gesturing towards what he was now. “I can believe crazy and fantastical.”

“I think---I think this is like, purgatory?” Darcy pushed the word out and shook her head. “No, because you're not dead. Bucky's not dead. It's like a waiting room? You're here now because you're not dead, but you're not alive.”

“How do you know Bucky and I aren't dead?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Because I just met you in the year 2015. You come out of the ice, Captain Rogers in a very different time,” Darcy shrugged, figuring that she didn't give a crap about the whole ruining the future problem at the moment. Captain America needed answers. She was going to give him answers and worry about damage control later. “And you _knew_ me.”

“But, if I'm here, and you're here...” Steve's brain was whirring and trying to figure every thing out. He accepted what she said as truth. His best friend with a translucent left arm had just disappeared before his very eyes. He had crashed a plane and woken up in paradise with a beautiful naked girl rubbing him all over. He had learned to stop rejecting the unrealistic scenarios from his life as soon as Erskine injected him with that first shot of penicillin.

He took in her expression, tears wavering in her eyes, her bottom lip between her teeth as her hand shook. “Darcy, what happened to you in 2015 to send you here?”

“I don't know.”

* * *

“Doctor Foster, I need to know what you were working on,” Steve said firmly as he sat by Jane's bed in the medbay where Nurse Carla was placing an IV to replace fluids that she had been seriously low on after her science bender. “Clint went to pick up Dr. Selvig from his lecture tour and we're trying to find Bruce to assist. I'd also like for you to contact Thor as soon as possible.”

“I---it was just a portal,” Jane insisted, still shell shocked from what had happened. “A faster portal than what Heimdall has been using. But, if my calculations were correct, and they're always correct Captain Rogers, Darcy would have just wound up a floor above us. Maybe on the roof at most.”

“She is _not_ on the roof, Doctor Foster,” Steve said grimly, trying to keep his patience with the frail, obviously panicked woman in front of him. “Wanda says that she can't get a lock on Darcy's thoughts. That means she's _miles_ out of reach. At least.”

“It was the addition of Wanda's energy that was throwing the readings off,” Jane nodded, tears suddenly blurring her vision as true panic set in. “I should have asked her to stop, but the readings were so good and---Oh God. Darcy! What have I done? What if she's...”

“She's not dead,” Steve whispered. “She can't be. I just found her.”

Jane sniffled on her bed as Steve reached out a hand to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. She blinked at him and asked quietly, “How do you know Darcy, Captain Rogers? She---she's never met you, not for lack of trying on her part. Please, I need to know everything. It might help me bring her back.”

“I thought it was a dream,” Steve answered. He took a deep breath, getting ready to explain what he had been sure was a dream when he had woken up in that Shield Facility in 2012. “A 66 year long dream. Although it felt more like seven or eight months for me and Darcy.”

* * *

Steve's first order of business was to completely insult everything Darcy had accomplished so far on the island.

“ This is your  _ shelter _ ?”

“Dude, it's totally functional!”

“You've only been eating fruit? For two days?”

“I LIKE fruit.”

“You run for water every time you're thirsty?”

“It's not like I had the resources to build a faucet! Damn, Cap! Stop making me feel like an asshole! I'm a 21st century city girl. My idea of roughing it is not having access to wi-fi.”

“You're not an-- What's wi-fi?” Steve wondered.

Darcy rolled her eyes. “It's another one of those things that I shouldn't really explain. Cause you know, the space time continuum.”

“ Right. We wouldn't want the universe collapsing in on itself,” Steve sighed, with no small amount of sarcasm. This had not been the first time in the last two days that Darcy had explained why she couldn't tell him all about the future. Specifically  _ his  _ future. He only knew that they would eventually meet again. In 2015. He wanted to believe her. Only because this really didn't feel like a dream, even though all rational logic in his brain told him that it had to be a dream.

Bucky's fear at going back. Bucky had only been truly scared a handful of times in his life. Steve had been there each time. That was real.

His melancholy over leaving his life behind. Of leaving Peggy behind. His heart clenched and the pain of it was everywhere. That was real.

He had burnt his hands starting a roaring fire hours after Bucky had faded away. The pain was real, even if the burns had faded and healed with the same speed and effectiveness it had in the real world.

Every time Darcy wandered around in her skivvies a rush of blood headed straight to his groin. The too easy arousal followed by the sharp guilt of objectifying her and betraying Peggy. That was also very real.

“Time to go check the traps,” Steve announced. She may have been perfectly content to consist on copious amounts of fruit, but his metabolism demanded protein.

“I'm not eating jungle rats,” Darcy wrinkled her nose at him. “I don't care what you barbequed in war-torn Europe in 1944.”

“It tastes like chicken,” Steve smirked at her.

“Ugh. You're such a troll, Cap. The history books never managed to tell me that.”

* * *

When Steve was finished with his whole story, Jane had demanded to be let out of the med bay to continue working. She had made Dr. Dorian cry with her demands until Nurse Carla had ordered Bambi to leave the room and compromised expertly so that Jane would stay until her vitals were normal, but was allowed to work on a Stark pad until then.

Steve made his way back to the lab where Wanda and Vision were interfacing with Friday in an effort to set a wide net for Darcy Lewis across the world, much like the protocol that was still in place for the Winter Soldier.

Steve hoped that this protocol would actually work.

He reached for the bag Darcy had dropped on one of the lab benches and shamelessly rifled through it. An old and battered ipod made Steve's gut twist. She had often lamented the lack of music on the island and had explained that she had a portable record player in the 21st century with any song you could imagine. She had made do, singing and humming constantly throughout the day. He had fallen asleep to the sounds of her melodic humming most nights.

Cherry red lipstick. He couldn't wait to see it on her.

A hair tie and a brush. She had literally gotten on her knees and bowed to him when he had managed to create a hair tie for her out of a small strip of bamboo.

A small red wallet with one bank card, five dollars and twenty-seven cents, and a picture of Darcy with Thor, Jane and Selvig. He smiled as he stared down at the photo of her grinning face. A lot of stories about Darcy's Doctor and the Doctor's boyfriend suddenly made sense now, knowing that the Doctor's Boyfriend was the Norse God of Lightning.

“Do not rifle through her things,” Wanda warned. Her brow furrowed at Steve suspiciously.

“She wouldn't mind,” Steve muttered to himself, although he began putting things back in the purse again.

“Captain Rogers, it seems highly improbable that you know Miss Lewis on intimate enough terms to invade her privacy,” Vision said calmly. “You never had the opportunity to meet and there was never a time when you were both at Avengers Tower at the same time.”

“We've...we've met plenty.”

* * *

“What was I like when you met me?”

Darcy looked up from her tedious but somehow still relaxing work of weaving palm fronds and smiled as Steve continued to work on their shelter, strapping pieces of bamboo together to build sturdy six foot high walls. His mouth was pursed ever so slightly and Darcy imagined that this was what he looked like when he was anxious.

“You were hotter than the sun,” Darcy joked at him.  "I wanted to climb you like a very patriotic tree and cuddle you like an endangered Eagle of Freedom."

He rolled his eyes and leveled her with his best unimpressed smirk. Darcy grinned back, mission accomplished. That anxious twist of his lips was gone.

“Captain America saved me two times and he never even knew it,” Darcy smiled. She had been in Chicago during the Zodiac fiasco, one block away from Willis Tower. Of course he hadn't known he saved her at the time. He was too busy jumping from the one hundred and eighth floor with no parachute.

And she had been one of the targets of the helicarriers when Shield fell. She had been in her hometown of Philadelphia at the time, visiting old friends. If he hadn't stopped them, she would have been dead in the parking lot of a Vietnamese grocery store.

“I feel selfish. I mean, you lost everything to the ice, and I get here and I get to have you here with me and have you help me even after you've done so much already,” Darcy tried to articulate her thoughts. “And I remember that look on your face when you saw me before---before I got here.”

“I'd imagine I was happy,” Steve said softly.

“Mostly shocked,” Darcy shook her head. “A little happy.”

“Darcy, I will be very happy to see your face again, I promise you that.”

* * *

“Captain Rogers cannot be left alone.”

The order behind Natasha's words were clear. Sam, Clint, Wanda and Vision nodded their assent.

“ You thinking he's going to do something typical...and by typical, I mean ridiculously  _ drastic? _ ”  Clint wondered.

“I know he'll attempt something the longer Darcy is missing,” Natasha nodded.

“What aren't you tell us?” Sam demanded. There was a piece of the puzzle that was missing.

“I can't say for sure,” Natasha shook her head. “I do know that Darcy is incredibly important to the Captain. More so than any of us previously knew. And he would do anything to get her back.”

“Including walking into a portal or throwing himself off a building?” Clint nodded, following Natasha's train of thought and coupled it with what he had lip-read of Jane's conversation with Erik half an hour ago. He nodded and said, “I say we take shifts. Don't let him get too desperate.”

* * *

About three weeks in to their stay, their life developed a rhythm. Their shelter was perfect. Steve had figured a better way to store their drinking water close by. He had even managed to create soap but refused to give Darcy the horrifying details of what exactly it was made out of.

They were fast friends. And it was easy to see why Fate had stranded them on that island together. They both had a snarky sense of humor, while Darcy was brazen with it and Steve was sly, it still worked well and they spent a lot of their time laughing.

Steve had always been described by his contemporaries as being a good man, and he recognized the same qualities in Darcy. She was fair and decent and kind. Her compassion shone through in the stories she would tell of her life before waking up on their little island.

He quite liked the funny stories about her Doctor and the Doctor's fun boyfriend.

He would tell her stories about Bucky, the other Howling Commandos and Peggy, focusing on good stories most days just to see her laugh. When he became wistful and sad, she comforted him, small hands rubbing his bare shoulders, her cheek pressing against his bicep as he worked through how much he missed them.

Steve found that he sought her comfort just as much as he wanted to provide her with comfort. Darcy's face was an open book and he could tell when she was worried. He could tell when she was homesick. He could tell when she was thinking deep thoughts. And he knew that all he wanted to accomplish in those moments was to help her, to get her through the dark spots and find a way to eventually get that pretty mouth wide open with laughter and easy grins again.

He woke up one morning with Darcy on the other side of their shelter, she was curled into a ball, her legs pulled to her chest, her face twisted in discomfort.

“Darcy? Sweetheart? You okay?”

“It...I'm okay,” Darcy managed to whimper.

“You're not okay,” Steve shook his head, rushing over to her and checking her for injury. His hand against her forehead checking for her temperature. His panic didn't lessen when he felt that she felt normal. If something was wrong, he had no way of helping her. They didn't have medicine. If she fell ill, he would run the risk of losing her, and he realized just how much she meant to him in that moment. The island paradise would be hell without her. “What's wrong? You gotta tell me so I can make it better.”

“She's got her courses, you big dope.”

Steve looked to the little entryway of the shelter and saw Bucky leaning against it. In the place of his left arm was one composed entirely of metal. Bucky smirked at Steve and took a few steps out to the fire that was still burning low and held the metal hand over the fire for a few seconds. He walked back to the hut and sat down next to Darcy, before gently placing the warm metal against her abdomen. She moaned in relief and mumbled her thanks.

“Bucky...your hand,” Steve whispered.

“Yeah...got an upgrade,” Bucky acknowledged, laying down next to Darcy, the metal hand giving just the right amount of warmth and pressure to ease her pain. “S'not so bad. I mean. It works better than no hand at all. Seems kind of strong too.”

“Where have you been? You've been gone for weeks,” Steve whispered as Darcy settled back into a less pain-addled sleep, her body relaxing between them.

“I've been gone longer than a few weeks, punk,” Bucky revealed. “More like a few years.”

* * *

Steve paced in front of the lab when Vision and Wanda approached him. He nodded at them and the three of them stood in the hallway in awkward silence. Well, Wanda and Steve were awkward. Vision was staring complacently at the Captain, searching the soldier's face in an almost clinical manner.

“Here,” Wanda held out Darcy's purse to Steve. “You may look through it all you want now. I removed the feminine products.”

Steve smiled softly and took the large purse. He looked into it and saw a half eaten bar of chocolate and smiled. She had told him it would be the first thing that she wanted when they got back to the real world. A lifetime supply of chocolate. He had promised her that he'd be happy to provide her with it.

“You love her,” Vision concluded suddenly.

“I do,” Steve nodded.

“This seems very improbable,” Vision acknowledged, although he was far from condemning it. “When you are not so distraught, and when Miss Lewis has returned, I would be most eager to hear every detail of your courtship of her.”

“It mostly involved me walking around in my boxer shorts,” Steve dryly muttered. He pulled Darcy's phone out of her bag and said, “Would you guys help me? I'd like to pull up her online profiles. See what Darcy Lewis in the 21st century is all about.”

“Yes,” Wanda nodded, pulling out her phone. “She added me to her instagram two minutes after we met.”

“She posts an inordinate amount of pictures of her face,” Vision admitted.

“Good thing I'm pretty fond of her face, then.”

* * *

Darcy was herself again three days later, and Steve found that Bucky fit seamlessly into the life they had carved out for themselves on the island. If anything, he was even better at what Darcy had named the _survivalist skills_ they needed to thrive. And Steve knew that Bucky had not had that knowledge before his fall. Just as he hadn't had the metal arm.

Bucky would fall into a moody, contemplative silence most days and it wasn't unnatural for Darcy or Steve or both of them to wrap an arm around him and wait for the thoughts to pass. He refused to talk about whatever was happening to him on the other side, instead he struggled through the darkness so that he could soak up the sun that Steve and Darcy provided to him.

Steve had been surprised when Bucky swore in Russian after a botched net lost them a wild boar in the woods.

Bucky had never known Russian before.

Steve tried to ask Darcy what she knew about Bucky's future. But she had been adamant that she couldn't reveal a thing, even though it clearly pained her to keep silent. Everything hinged on not changing any aspect of the future. That the only thing they could do was provide him comfort for as long as he stayed with them. And she warned him that she knew Bucky would never stay as permanently as Steve would.

So she told him that in the small parcels of time they were given should be filled with love and comfort so that Bucky could take it back with him, if at all possible.

Steve set aside his frustration about the lack of knowledge and focused on the kindness that she wanted to extend to his best friend. She was right of course. Bucky should know that no matter how broken he came back, they would be there for him.

“Why do _you_ think she was sent here with us?” Bucky questioned one day when Darcy had wandered to the watering hole for a scrub up. “I have my own ideas, but I'd like to hear yours, punk.”

“I---I think I'd be lost without her,” Steve admitted freely. “I'd be lonely waiting for you. And I wouldn't know how to put a smile on your face as quick as she does. She's so good, Buck. I think someone up there likes me a little, because she's...she's the closest thing to perfect I ever saw. And I mean, not perfect cause she still drives me nuts, but she's just right for me and you. For us.  ”

“I think we're three peas in a pod, three for now, who knows when another person'll show,” Bucky whispered, looking to the gentle waves rolling in. “The Chinese have this thing about red strings and destiny and soul mates. I think this island...it's where we go when there's no where else to go. It's not heaven and it's not hell. It's in between and it's real and it's important.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “I believe that. I gotta be true, though. I feel guilty.”

“Cause of Carter?” Bucky nodded.

“ Feels like I'm being a cad,” Steve sighed. “I wake up with an arm wrapped around Darcy most nights. I want...more. I want  _ her _ .”

“You're not a cad,” Bucky shook her head. “Carter's doing just fine on the other side. She's living a life and finding her happiness. It's been years already, Stevie. You should be able to find happiness too. I mean, at least be happy for me, cause I'm not gonna find it on the other side.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded, his frown deepening at the resignation in his best friend's voice.. It would be nice to reach for that happiness. “When Darcy and I get out of here, we're going to find you and you're gonna be happy, Buck. I promise.”

“The cold is coming,” Bucky revealed with a frown and a shiver. “Means I have to go back again. I don't...I don't want to. I don't like what they're doing. What **I'm** doing. I can't remember when I'm there.  I want to stay here with you and Darcy.”

“I'm so sorry, Buck,” Steve managed to whisper around his suddenly tightening throat. He reached an arm around his best friend and pulled him into a tight embrace. “Please be strong. Please come back to us someday and know we'll put you back together. Me and Darcy, we'll always put you back together.”

“Be real good to her, okay?” Bucky ordered as he faded from view.

Darcy came back to find Steve alone with his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking with force from the sobs ripping through his body. She knelt by his side and threw her arms around him, squeezing with all her might. His arms immediately reached out for her, clinging to her as his crying eventually ceased.

“I'm sorry, Steve,” Darcy whispered. She ran her fingers through his hair, scratching at his scalp in an effort to soothe him. “I'm so sorry we keep losing him. But I promise you that you'll find him. Just like you find me. His pain will stop some day. You'll make that happen.”

“I can't do anything,” Steve shook his head morosely.

“ Hey, no.  ** No ** ,” Darcy kissed his cheek with bruising force. “You're Steve Rogers. You're the best man I've ever met. You will help him someday. You'll help me. You're already helping the both of us just by being you. Do you understand?”

“ No,” Steve chuckled humorlessly. “I didn't help you enough to stop you from being sent here. Bucky said its been years.  _ Years,  _ Darcy. I've stolen you from your life and your friends for years now.”

“You didn't steal me,” Darcy said resolutely. “There's no where else on Earth or wherever we are that I'd want to be than here right now, in this paradise with you. Believe me, Steven. Please.”

Steve looked into her unwavering blue gaze and knew she wasn't lying. She was real. She was true. She was  _ comfort.  _ He brought a hand to cup her cheek, his thumb making small passes over her cheekbone. His fingers pulling her to him as his lips met hers in a slow, innocent kiss, full of warmth and hope and promise.

“Oh,” she whispered as he broke the kiss, but rested his forehead against hers, a smile on his face replacing his previous torment. She stayed silent for a full minute, her fingers still tracing patterns against his scalp.

“Steve? Can we do that some more? The kissing I mean. And anything else you're up for.”

* * *

* * *

** Part Three: In My Arms is Where You Are to Be **

Darcy was like a dog with a bone.

Steve was perfectly content to go slow. It was in his nature to move slowly when it came to romance. The kisses and innocent touches and embraces they shared now gave him thrills. The promise of something more developing was tantalizing and addicting and he didn't mind waiting as their bond developed.

Darcy, however, was quite the opposite.

“Why don't you want to sex me? Is it because we're not married?” she wondered as they went about their work preparing dinner. He was tending the fire and she was tearing up edible leaves for a surprisingly delicious salad.

“Geez, Darcy,” Steve rolled his eyes as he turned the spit that their meat sizzled on. “It's...I mean, I think the right order of things probably means you should at least have a ring on your finger. I really like kissing you. I really like holding you. I'd like to do those things for a while before we move on to other things.”

“I like those things too. But moving on would be SO MUCH FUN,” Darcy grinned at him as he pulled the meat off the fire and brought it over to her. “I mean...I'm no expert at it, but I've done it a few times. Is that what---are you bothered that I'm not pure as the driven snow? ...a loose woman?”

“Darcy, you're not a loose woman,” Steve rolled his eyes. “It doesn't bother me that you...you've done this stuff before.”

“Does it bother you that I really like it?” Darcy furrowed her brow. “Like...a whole lot?”

Steve blushed and shook his head and they tucked into their meal. He could tell that Darcy was getting more and more frustrated as the minutes passed in silence. Her mouth turning downwards after every chew. She looked sad. And scared suddenly.

“Why don't you let those sad thoughts outta your head so they stop making your face all sad,” Steve smiled softly at her.

“Is it because you're still in love with Peggy Carter?” she whispered, her eyes looking down at her feet resolutely. Her voice a fragile, delicate thing that he had never heard before from her. “I mean, its okay if you are, its only been a few months for you. I understand and I'll back off---”

“ Darcy, sweetheart,  _ no _ ,” he said emphatically. “Peggy was my first love, I'll admit that. But...that's...it's...you're YOU.  And its different.”

“It's okay, Steve,” Darcy waved him off, a painted on smile on her face. “I get it.”

Steve didn't quite think she got it. He didn't quite get it. He did understand that ever since they started the kissing, Darcy would be overtaken with an emotion he couldn't quite identify on her. He'd never seen it there in all their time on the island. Darcy was brashness and confidence and pithy humor. But lately, she'd have small moments of quiet, pensive...he would wager the unknown emotion was insecurity.

He'd had that emotion plague him a lot in his life. He hated to think she was feeling that way about his feelings for her.  He set about working out his words so that he could make it right.

“Is it because you're a virgin?”

Steve choked on the grilled meat they had prepared for dinner.

“I mean, Stark is always cracking jokes about you being the 90-year-old Virgin---”

“Stark? Howard Stark is still alive in 2015?”

  
  


“ Did I say Stark? I didn't say Stark. I said. ... _ Bob _ .”

“Hmmm,” Steve arched an unimpressed eyebrow. “And I'm not a virgin. Millie Adams had the dubious honor of taking that title away from me in 1938.”

“Was she prettier than me?” Darcy shrewdly asked, although her eyes were mirthful again.

“Nobody is prettier than you, Darcy,” Steve answered back wisely.

“I call bullshit. Wait till you meet Naaat---someone we both know later,” Darcy bit her bottom lip. “Are you gay?”

“What?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“For Bucky? I mean...would you rather be doing touchy stuff with Bucky?”

“He's not gay, Doll,” Bucky laughed as he approached the fire they had dinner assembled around. “Neither am I for that matter. And you're every bit as pretty as Natalia.”

“Welcome back, Bucky,” Darcy gave him a smile and hopped up to tackle hug him. She let out a whoop of laughter as his metal hand found her rear end and squeezed playfully. “Steve is being all sorts of kinds of noble. That's the most action my derriere has seen so far on this island.”

“That's a damn shame, cause your derriere is outta this world. But yeah, its kind of his way of doing things,” Bucky nodded. He gave Steve a wink and said, “But if you need me to redress any sort of deficit while I'm here...I'd be happy to serve. With the lovemaking, Doll. With tons of sweaty lovemaking.”

“Hey!” Steve stood up very quickly and stalked over to Darcy and Bucky. He managed to pull Darcy away and he hugged Bucky to him instead. “Welcome back, jerk. You seem...different.”

“Yeah, funny what a pretty red head will do to a man's head,” Bucky smirked.

“I hope you remember that someday,” Darcy smiled softly, knowing vaguely what lay ahead for Bucky and his Natalia.

Bucky smirked wryly and shrugged, “With the way things are on the other side, I really doubt it.”

* * *

Ten hours in, Sam found Steve in the hallway in front of Darcy's assigned living quarters, staring at her suitcases and boxes. Sam had always prided himself on being a good judge of a person's past. Especially a soldier's past. He had helped enough of them in his time with the VA to know that brand of sorrow, to know where it emanated from.

He had definitely gotten Steve's reasons for melancholy in the twenty-first century wrong.

“Care to fill me in, Cap?” Sam said gently, crossing his arms and standing shoulder to shoulder with him, staring at the mismatched luggage and cardboard boxes that were taped shut with patterned, brightly colored duct tape. “I heard Foster mumbling some interesting things when she came back to the lab. I'm feeling a little left out on the information train.”

“I didn't even believe it,” Steve shrugged. “I wanted to. More than anything. Wanted to believe she was real.”

Sam nodded. Jane had basically been babbling about a the portal sending Darcy back to a transient plane of existence where time didn't quite have the same sort of properties they had on their  _ Earthly  _ plane of existence.

Sam knew Steve Rogers. He knew him well enough to identify concern for a teammate or any average citizen. What Steve was feeling was a couple thousand levels above that. He could take Steve's reaction to seeing the pretty little science wrangler and add Jane's crazy murmurs and put two and two together. And then multiply it with Natasha's orders to not leave the Captain alone in his misery and he came up with a pretty solid theory. Steve Rogers had gotten some company during his nap in the ice. Some very friendly company.

Steve Rogers was a man that knew love.

But the fact that she had blipped out of existence just when he found her was obviously taking its toll on his friend. Steve looked like he was a minute away from losing it and demanding to be put back on ice.

“So, I'm going to make an assumption here, Steve,” Sam announced, going to the stack of luggage and loading himself up. “I'm going to move these into your quarters, and we're going to spend the next hour or two unpacking your girl's stuff. And you are going to tell me your favorite three stories about your time with Darcy Lewis, so you know, I can befriend her properly when we get her back.”

“Most of my favorite stories involve---well, body parts that I don't think you want to think about,” Steve smirked as he took the two large duffle bags and lifted three of the boxes.

“True,” Sam nodded, picking up the last box. “Especially cause if I thought about her you know---assets, you may kill me.”

“Also true,” Steve actually managed a laugh. “Okay, there was one time when I frustrated her so much with something that seemed really silly at the time, and she used my head to crack a coconut. Just cracked it clean in half. Just to prove to me that I was being hard headed.”

* * *

“You okay, girlie?” Bucky whispered as he plopped down next to Darcy, who was staring out at the ocean with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face. He hadn't liked her serious expression the first time he had seen it and he didn't like it any better now. “Homesick?”

“Maybe a little bit,” Darcy shook her head. “And that makes me feel guilty. I should miss home more. But I like spending time with you boys. And you can't beat the view.”

“Yeah, I know, I'm gorgeous,” Bucky preened.

“You're such a nerd,” Darcy rolled her eyes.

“I prefer the term intellectual bad-ass,” Bucky quoted her t-shirt. “So tell me true, what's got you so down, Darcy-girl?”

“ I feel like---I just, I don't feel good enough for him,” she whispered. “I think sometime that I'm just convenient. I'm just a fill-in here because I got thrown in a portal and wound up here by chance. And, I'm falling head over heels in love with him, but he---there's Peggy. And he loves  _ her _ .”

“Darcy,” Bucky shook his head at her, the tears in her eyes and the heartbreak on her face was startling. He wasn't used to seeing it, the exception being the small glimpse every time he took his leave from them. He wrapped his metal arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, squeezing with a gentle firmness. “That's a big load of bull. And I'm going to beat that big lug upside the head for ever giving you any reason to think that.”

“He didn't do anything wrong,” Darcy insisted. “He can't help how he feels. No one can help who they love.”

“Ain't that the truth,” Bucky pressed a kiss to her temple. “You're the best thing that could have happened to him. To me. You know that right?”

Darcy made a non-committal noise and extricated herself from Bucky's embrace. She hopped to her feet and said, “I'm going for a bath before it gets dark.”

“Let me know if you need help scrubbing your back. Or any other parts of you,” Bucky waggled his eyebrows at her, earning a small giggle. He got up and walked back towards the traps Steve had been checking for anything barbuque-able and watched as his friend worked.

“ You know you can pitch in and help anytime you want,” Steve smirked at Bucky, who was lazily leaning against a tree. He furrowed his brow at his friend, Bucky looked particularly miffed. At  _ him _ .

“So you got a fiesty little dame who is prettier than any of the pinups the boys had in the barracks who wants to fondue the ever lovin' hell out of you...”

“Buck!” Steve admonished looking around for Darcy.

“She's taking a bath,” Bucky told him. “All sudsy and naked and whatnot...give you any ideas?”

“I got plenty of ideas,” Steve grumbled hotly. He blew out an exasperated breath and shrugged, “She's not the kind of dame you fool around with, you know, not unless I put a ring on her finger. I'd want to make it forever with her.”

“She doesn't seem so concerned with the ring, and we ain't got too many priests to make it official,” Bucky rolled his eyes. “Wait till you get to the 60's, kid. You'll learn that a woman's reputation ain't about what she does with her unmentionable parts. I mean, you love her, right?”

“Yeah,” Steve replied quickly, his voice resolute with honesty. “I love her.”

“Then maybe that's all you need,” Bucky shrugged. He pursed his lips and said, “She's feeling awful low. Thinking you don't love her. I don't like it when she's feeling low, punk.”

“I don't either,” Steve nodded.

“ Then make her feel less low,” Bucky advised. He felt that familiar tug and he smiled. “Gotta go, punk. Got my own fiesty little dame to romance. Red heads.  _ Who knew _ ?”

* * *

“Cap? You good in here?” Clint walked into Steve's quarters and wandered to the bedroom, chuckling at the sight of Steve trying to properly put away Darcy's many varied bras in space he had cleared in his bureau. “She's just going to throw them on the ground anyway. Girl is seriously messy. She drove Laura NUTS on the farm. I mean, who leaves wet socks on the floor?”

“Darcy knows your wife?” Steve furrowed his brow. He thought over the stories and the code names she had used to protect the future. He shook his head and said, “You're Link. And Laura is---”

“Zelda,” Clint nodded, knowing Darcy's codenames for them when she was talking to her normal childhood friends. He surveyed Steve analytically. He had gotten the just of the situation by eavesdropping on Selvig's conversations with Jane. Reading lips was invaluable for his gossip supply. “She tell you stories about us?”

“Mostly how you refused to introduce us cause you were afraid she'd climb me like the Washington Monument,” Steve huffed a small laugh.  "And that you couldn't punch me hard enough if I ever hurt her feelings."

“Well its probably a good thing I stuck to my beliefs, or else you know...space time continuum,” Clint shrugged.

“Wibbly woobly timey wimey,” Steve whispered, picking up a t-shirt of Darcy's that had the very same words on it. She'd used the phrase once or twice on the island.

When he realized that the Winter Soldier was Bucky...was _their_ Bucky, Steve had one of those moments when he was so angry at Darcy. For not telling him everything, for not preparing him for that particular shock. For making him promise to wait to find her, when all he wanted was her comfort.

But she had been right. If he had woken up from the ice with the knowledge of Bucky being alive and tortured, he would have stopped at nothing to save him. And that would have included tearing down Shield before the Chitauri invaded. The world might have been overrun with alien invaders had it not occurred exactly as it had.

His emotions began the inevitable slide back into morose worry, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears as he thought of what might have been if he had know everything from the start. She had said she had been saved twice by him.

“When did I save her?” Steve asked.

“Willis Tower,” Clint supplied easily. “And she had been one of the helicarrier targets.”

“God,” Steve breathed. He pinched the bridge of his nose, a shiver going through him at the intricate way their lives had been woven together. He sniffled and went back to unpacking a box, unsurprised when Clint began to assist.

“You're kind of making it hard to do the shovel talk at this point, Cap,” Clint chuckled. “But Laura'd have my hide if I didn't say that you'd better be ready to make her happy when she gets back. Cause they'll be hell to pay if you don't.”

“Clint, I can say with absolute certainty that the only thing I want in this life anymore is to make her happy.”

* * *

“Steve?”

Steve looked up from the fire he was stoking in order to prepare their dinner. He was a city boy, born and raised, but he was finding that the time on the island had made him into an expert fisherman. Every time he set a net, he would bring back a fish that was fat and perfect for an evening meal. There had to be some kind of magic to the island. They never wanted for anything.

  
  


Well. Except proper clothing.

Darcy flittered about in her underwear most days, sometimes she took pity on his poor soul and wore the tight denim she had torn into short shorts or the t-shirt with the silly saying on it, but never both at the same time.

She was a minx. That was for sure.

Ever since their first kiss she had been gently pushing for more. One more tender touch. One more lingering kiss. One more breathy moan that made him shiver from his head to his toes.

Four months into their stay on the island and Steve was one small hair's breadth away from giving up on doing right by Darcy. He was so close to giving up on chastity and just taking her in his arms and possessing her, touching every inch of her, worshiping her as she truly deserved to be worshiped. He didn't know how long he could hold out for.

He knew he'd do just about anything to make her believe how important she was to him. He'd been getting better at sensing her insecure spells lately, sweeping her up in an embrace and a kiss before those thoughts could take over. He knew words would be better, but he didn't know what words to use.

Yes, Peggy would always be his first love. But fate had decided that it wasn't meant to be. Fate had given him an island with a girl from the future who was absolutely perfect for him. How did he tell her that without her running off scared at the mere mention of Peggy Carter? Every damned time he had tried to bring it up, she'd cracked a joke and changed the subject.

Bucky had blipped in and out on them five or six times in the last few weeks, never for more than a few minutes at a time. He looked tired each time, but always manged to level Steve with a look that clearly told him to get his act together.

And Darcy had hugged Bucky each time, giving him comforting words and warm touches. And when he faded again, she'd go about putting Steve back together too.

He didn't know what they would do without her.

“Yeah, sweetheart?” he smiled at her softly.

“I love you,” she whispered sincerely, her mouth set in a beautifully soft smile. “I thought you should know that. Just in case you know. Either of us have to go. I love you.”

And his resolve broke like wet tissue paper.

He threw the stick he had been using to poke the fire down in the sand and walked over to her, lifting her up by her waist and claiming her mouth with his own, his fingers twitching against her skin when she wrapped her legs around his hips.

Every time his lips left hers she said it again.  _ I love you _ .

She whispered it against his skin in breathy moans.  _ I love you. _

He carried her to their tiny shelter and laid her down, his lips nibbling along her jaw lazily.  _ I love you, Steven _ .

It had been the first time a woman had ever said those words to him and meant it in that way. The way that a lover says those words. With honesty and passion and their whole heart. And he knew they were true. He knew because he felt it too.

The universe had put this girl on the island with him for a reason. Born decades apart, but yet somehow they were made for each other. Her outspoken brashness and his smirking calmness. Her innate ability to draw words and calm from him when he felt lost and adrift in too much emotion and worry. He'd only ever felt confidence as the soldier. On the battlefield and in the war room. But she made him feel like he was capable of hanging the moon.

If a thousand women had been on that island with him, it wouldn't have mattered. All that mattered was her.

“I want to show you,” he whispered into her ear. “Can I show you how much I love you, Darcy?”

“Please,” she nodded, grinning in eager anticipation. She wiggled around and released the clasp of her bra and let out a moan of appreciation as his big callused hands sought out her newly exposed flesh and she tried to not get distracted into a frenzy as she attempted to push his shorts from his body.

His hands drifted lower down her body as his lips kissed a line from her mouth to the tip of her jaw, the smooth line of her throat down to the swells of her breasts and she couldn't help but giggle as his big, powerful hands gently pulled at the waistband to her panties.

“Even good ole Millie Adams didn't laugh. I must be doin' somethin' wrong,” he murmured against her skin, even as his fingers danced along the soft skin of her stomach, seeking out a ticklish spot.

“No, I'm just happy,” Darcy giggled again. “And there is _nothing_ wrong with a little laughter mixing in with sexy fun times.”

“Hmm,” Steve smirked at her, pulling her panties off and tossing them to the side before positioning himself between her parted knees. His fingers danced along her wet flesh in reverence. “I want other noises now.”

Darcy obliged him. Making him earn each gasp and mewl of pleasure and then some. She brought his face back up to hers and her lips closed around his bottom lip, sucking and biting at it absently as her feet finally managed to push his shorts off of his body. She broke the kiss and looked down with a grin and a waggle of her eyebrows that had _him_ giggling.

“I love you,” he whispered when he finally sank into her. “God, I don't ever want to leave you. I don't ever want to go back. I want to stay here with you forever.”

“ Yes,” Darcy cried out, babbling nonsense, but the most coherent words were  _ Yes  _ and  _ I love you  _ and  _ Forever _ .

After seeing to her finish his hips stuttered and he was about to pull away when Darcy wrapped her legs around him tighter and shook her head.

“No, I want to feel you,” she whispered, fluttering around him in her afterglow. “Please?”

How could he deny her anything? Moments later his release spent inside her, his face buried in her neck as he struggled to resurface as she stroked his back gently repeating her platitudes and declarations of love which went right to his gut and made him twitch inside of her in renewed interest.

“Jesus Christ, Rogers! Get off the girl before you suffocate her, you dumb punk!”

* * *

* * *

** Part Four: Oh But I Want To, Oh How I Want You **

Bucky did not disappear right away this time. He blatantly refused to talk about what he had experienced away from their paradise and did not bring up his Natalia once.

Steve could tell that Bucky had changed though. Bucky preferred solitude most days and on others he would just sit with them without a word from his mouth.

As the days passed by, it was clear that Steve and Darcy were stealing away from Bucky to indulge in their new favorite way to entertain one another for tiny parcels of time. They never took very long and they always rushed back to him with flushed, guilty faces.  Bucky confronted them about it,

“You don't have to sneak. I know what you're doin',” Bucky grumbled. “And I don't care. It's nice that you can share that. I'm not jealous.”

Bucky knew something was different with himself. The Bucky before the war would have been doing his damnedest to make time with Darcy himself. He definitely wouldn't have said no to all three of them rolling around that hut together if he had been his old self. At the very least he'd be trying to catch a glimpse of the action.  He looked down at the metal left arm and sighed. Yet another thing that had changed. Had evolved.

He craved their closeness. He craved the soft touches and hugs and hand holding that both Darcy and Steve would lavish upon him. But he didn't want any more than that. He thought he could want more, but it should be with someone else. Someone not there. Someone with red hair.

And she was lost to him. Every day that passed in that paradise made her further and further away.

“Do you think I'll ever be able to have some kind of...some piece of calm and happiness?” Bucky whispered one night at the fire as he smiled softly at Darcy and Steve's entangled hands. “You don't have to tell me the particulars, Darcy-girl, I just---is there ever going to be a time when I can be safe?”

“Yes,” Darcy promised, the word resolute. “You just have to let me and Steve take care of you. When we find you, we're going to make you safe.”

“I promise, Buck,” Steve nodded. “They'll be a day when you can be happy again.”

“Is---is Natalia happy?” Bucky asked Darcy directly.

“She's---she's safe,” Darcy sniffled. “But I think the one thing that made her happy got taken away from her a long time ago. It'll be good when Steve finds you. You guys can try to find that happiness again.”

Bucky sniffled and nodded he poked the fire one last time and stood stating, “I'm going to go for a swim. Why don't you two crazy kids make some time together while I'm gone?”

That was the last time Bucky said anything about his time in the real world. He was still subdued, still a muted version of himself, and he managed one whole month in their paradise before he felt that familiar tug at his insides. The cold creeping in telling him he was going back.

“Don't go,” Darcy cried, unable to stop herself.

“Look after her, will you?” Bucky smiled at his friend who was gripping onto his right hand fiercely. “I'll try to come back as soon as I can.”

* * *

“Captain Rogers, you need to tell me how long it was until Darcy got her period once you were on the island,” Jane demanded, rushing over to his spot in the corner of the lab, her hands full of toilet paper covered in notes. Jane was not ashamed to admit she knew Darcy's cycle. The girl had an awful time of it and Jane always made sure she had chocolate and a heating pad on hand, no matter how hard she was sciencing at the moment.

“Uhm...three weeks,” Steve muttered, his cheeks flushing.

“And James was there?” Natasha looked at a Stark pad where she had built together a shaky time line of Bucky's cyrofreeze schedule.

“He just got there...with the arm,” Steve nodded.

Jane and Natasha walked away, comparing notes and time lines as they attempted to figure out how the time conversion worked between the island so that they would know when they should attempt to bring Darcy back. She had been sent 68 years back, but the time went quicker there. So the goal was to pull her out so that she wasn't on the island by herself for too long. That was the goal.

Darcy had been missing for fourteen hours. Steve couldn't help but morbidly wonder if she'd be gone for as long as he had been asleep under the ice. He didn't know what he'd do if that were the case. He had barely survived three years without her, how would he be able to last 66 years? Jane and Selvig had assured him that it couldn't be the case. That in order to be there when Bucky and Steve were there, then she had truly gone back.

He'd woken up in that Shield facility, with the ghost of a feeling of her skin on his fingertips, her lips against his mouth.

In 2012. She had never gotten around to telling him when he would wake up.

She had said they would meet in 2015. She had said Bucky would come back to him before that. She had told him that it was imperative that he didn't change that. So he did what he promised her, he let fate take its course. He didn't want to look for her or Bucky out of the very real and all consuming fear that he would find they didn't exist. If they didn't exist, he might as well just jump into the Arctic again. So he waited. And hoped.

As the days dragged on in that harsh new world, his dreams blank and Darcy-less, he began to feel like it had been just a dream. Darcy had been a lively, perfect figment of imagination from his frozen brain.

Every kiss. Every touch. Every time he had sunk himself into her and taken her as his own on those sandy beaches.

It had all been a dream.

He went through life in the future, his hope dwindling with every day as he faced aliens, gods, and countless other terrors. But no Bucky. And no Darcy.

It all changed with the Winter Soldier. With Bucky.

He dared to hope that it had been real for just one moment. And then the harsh reality of what Bucky had gone through between his visits in the paradise he shared with Darcy came crashing down. Bucky obviously didn't remember his time on the island. So the doubt bloomed again. It couldn't have been real, or Bucky would remember. He would remember that he was loved and cared for and desperately needed.

And Natasha... _Natalia_ would have said something. She would have reacted to seeing Bucky. But she hadn't. She'd kept things buried just as she always had.

So Steve chased Bucky.

And Steve continued to lose hope.

And Steve became increasingly reckless. Jumping out of buildings. Jumping out of planes with no parachute. Willing to stay on a giant floating rock until he couldn't breathe anymore.

Because if he could get back to her, if he could just feel her again, then it would be okay. And he could bring her back with him. Or they could stay forever in their island paradise. He didn't care. Anything was better than living in this new world without her.

And 2015 came, and every day was just as Darcy-less as the day before.

And of course the minute she finally appeared before his eyes, she had been sent back.  _ Of course _ .

He sat watching the surveillance footage of Darcy arriving at the facility twenty-four hours ago. Going immediately to Jane in the laboratory. Exchanging teasing words with Vision and Wanda. She was all big hand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. Silly smirks and big blue eyes rolling in exasperation. She was just as he had remembered her.

Except for one small detail.

Her stomach was completely flat with no hint of the small firm swell they had created together during their time in paradise. Steve traced the lines of Darcy's face on the tablet and swallowed deeply. The scientists had to be right. She had to have been sent back through time. And now they had to bring her back. He had to bring her back so they could live the life they were meant to have.

He stood up and began to walk back to the labs where Jane, Selvig and Vision were working.

If they didn't have a solution in the next few hours, then he was going to ask them to send him back. Via portal or freezing him in a block of ice again. He had to get back to her. Back to  _ them _ .

* * *

“Sweetheart?”

“Hmmm,” Darcy hummed as she stretched against his body like a cat after a particularly thorough round of love-making.

“Did you know...I mean to say, you haven't had your ahm...visitor for two months now,” Steve whispered against her temple. He had been trying to find the right words to express his suspicion for two weeks now. He had even managed to cobble together something that would work as a hot water bottle in lieu of Bucky's warmed metal hand. But she hadn't needed it. He had hoped she'd figure it out herself so he wouldn't have to muddle through the words. “You haven't had the ah---your courses. Not since before our first time.”

“I know,” Darcy nodded. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. She looked up at him with a very real fear in her watery gaze and whispered, “Please don't be upset with me.”

“Darcy, how could I be upset?” Steve shook his head, happy tears shining in his eyes. He shifted his body so that his head lay against her lower abdomen. “It's real right? You're...you're carrying my baby?”

“Yeah,” Darcy nodded, her face a picture of conflicting emotions. “I just---Steve, you're not going to be here forever.”

“You aren't either,” Steve promised, his hands tracing circles on the skin of her stomach in wonderment. “We'll both go back.”

“You don't know that,” Darcy whispered. She had known exactly what she was doing their first time together and every other time after that. She was being selfish and it tore at her soul to do it, but she wouldn't change it for the world. He was going to leave her soon, she knew that. Her bottom lip wavered as she whispered, “It's going to be soon...we only have a month, maybe less. And then I know you'll be going back.”

“And I'll find you,” Steve reminded her as he placed a kiss against the skin of her flat stomach, causing Darcy to shiver and let out a ragged cry.

“And when you do, I get sent here,” Darcy sobbed. “I leave you there and I come here and I haven't gone back yet...and I knew, I knew what I was asking for. I can't be here alone after having you. I can't be here without a small piece of you. So I was selfish and I'm sorry...”

“I'll move heaven and earth to get you back, please believe me,” Steve whispered. “I love you.”

“I believe you,” Darcy managed to nod while sniffling back her tears. “You're not mad at me?”

“You goof,” Steve laughed at her. “How could I ever be mad at you now?”

“Cause I trapped your ass with a baby,” Darcy shrugged. “You know you're going to have to marry me when we get back, right?”

“Damn right. Darcy, you're my everything,” Steve whispered, placing another kiss on her stomach before crawling back up her body and kissing her lips. “You've given me the whole world now. I won't let you slip through my fingers that easily.”

* * *

Steve understood what Darcy was saying about the space time continuum now. Everything had to happen just as it happened to get him to this point. To get Darcy to the point where she was sent back to him.

He watched Jane work with Erik and Wanda, trying to recreate the conditions that had caused the portal. He didn't notice when Natasha sat next to him. She placed a bottle of water in front of him and a container of food from the canteen. He ignored it and her as he continued to watch the scientists and Wanda work.

“You won't do her any good if you don't take care of yourself before she comes back. She'll need you,” Natasha said softly. Her words were carefully chosen and she watched as Steve went about methodically eating. “There are things that make a lot more sense about James now. The James that I met a lifetime ago would draw. Did you know that?”

“We took art classes together,” Steve nodded, the memory providing him some comfort. “He was always sore that I was better at it.”

“He drew a picture of two lovers, intertwined in an embrace,” Natasha murmured. “I knew that it was you in the picture. Captain Capitalist Pig America as our handlers referred to you. But I didn't know who the woman in the picture was until 2012, when Clint introduced me to Darcy Lewis. It was quite a shock. But then I learnt that she worked for Jane Foster and I realized that maybe the impossible wasn't improbable.”

“I have to find her.  I can't go on without her, without them,” Steve leaned forward, his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking with the force of the cries and pain ripping through him. He had only told Jane so far, but he couldn't help but let the words fall from his mouth to his friend too, “She's...Natasha she's pregnant.”

“Yes. I saw a sketching of that too. Three months ago at the last safe house that James was in. We will bring her back to you, Steve. I promise you.”

* * *

“Steve, honey? You okay?” Darcy murmured in her sleep as she felt the tremble of Steve's hand on the small swelling of her abdomen.

“Cold,” he whispered as he struggled to open his eyes. He felt an almost painful tug on his heart and he took in a deep, struggling breath. “Darcy, sweetheart, I think its happening.”

“No, please no,” Darcy shook her head, tears immediately forming in her eyes as she embraced him, her lips finding his in the darkness of night. “Please don't leave me here alone.”

“I love you,” Steve said through chattering teeth, he took a fortifying breath and managed one last brush of his lips against hers. “I'm going to find you again. I'm going to bring you both back to me.”

“I love you...” Darcy whimpered as he faded from view. She sat up and wrapped her sweater around herself before stumbling out of their hut and onto the beach, her vision blurry with tears. She watched as the sun rose, counting the minutes and her hand drifted to the small bump of their baby and she hiccuped back sobs. A flash of gold caught her eye and she caught the briefest hint of Thor, looking just as he had when he had sacrificed himself to the Destroyer. Darcy blinked her eyes rapidly and shook her head, squeezing against the bump again, “Just you and me now, kid.”

“Miss Lewis?”

Darcy jumped and looked to the source of the voice and saw Coulson for a brief moment, his face the picture of confusion before he too faded right out of view.

“Okay...so its not just a space for best friends,” Darcy breathed looking around, her mind going a mile a minute.

“Darcy?”

Darcy jumped to her feet and rushed towards Bucky, throwing herself at him as he brought his arms around her in a comforting embrace. He furrowed his brow at the unusual feeling of the baby bump against him and he let out an astonished huff of air.

“Darcy-girl...you're...you---”

“Knocked up, yeah,” Darcy nodded. Her mind buzzed through what she had figured out about this strange space she had inhabited for months now. A flash of red and gold appearing in the sky above her and then promptly disappearing when it hit the ground confirmed what she was sure that she knew. The timeline, how time moved here. What this place was. “Bucky, please, please, you have to listen to me, because if I'm right, you're not going to be here very long right now.”

“Sure, Darcy, of course,” Bucky nodded, his hands rubbing at the swell of her stomach in amazed wonder. “Where's the punk?”

“He had to go back. And when you go back this time, please try to remember Steve or Natalia. PLEASE,” Darcy begged. “They're going to make you try to hurt them. They're going to tell you to kill them. Please don't, please remember who you are. You're Bucky Barnes. You aren't anyone's weapon. Save him, okay? I know you can.”

Bucky nodded, even though his face showed that he didn't think it was possible. He faded from view and Darcy looked around the island, counting the seconds.

Steve's form shimmered for just a second, a familiar uniform, waterlogged, beaten but still breathing, before he disappeared again.

She looked back to the ocean and whispered, “Please Jane. Please bring me back now.  _ Please.” _

She counted the minutes again.

_ One... _

_ Two... _

_ Three... _

_ Four... _

_ Fi--- _

* * *

“Now, Wanda!” Jane ordered as she pressed buttons on her laptop.

Steve watched from the door as Wanda created an identical ball of energy that she had done less than twenty-four hours ago. Sam's hand was vice-like on his shoulder, making sure that he couldn't run towards the portal.

The vortex formed, red and blue sparkling energy and it collapsed with the same popping noises and flash of light it had before.

But there was no Darcy.  _ Still _ .

Steve fought against a wave of bile that crept up his throat as despair threatened to knock him off of his feet. It didn't work.

Natasha was on another computer at the opposite side of the lab, interfacing with Friday for traces of the energy levels that they had gotten from the first portal and whatever surveillance and monitoring systems Fury and Hill could provide.

“I've got her.”

Steve reached for his shield and held it tight, waiting for orders even as his heart felt like it would thump out of his chest.

“We need a quinjet. She's in Pennsylvania. Near a suspected Hydra base.”

* * *

Bucky was knocked off of his feet by the blast of energy and scrambled to recover as the bright flash of light drew enemy attention. He had taken out the shooters in the Hydra tower in short order before he turned to hear a pained moan from the origin point of the light.

“ Darcy,” he whispered, rushing to her and cradling her head in his hands. “Darcy, you're  _ real.   _ How'd you get here? What...where did you come from?”

“Five...six minutes,” Darcy breathed in shakily. She pulled at the sweater and grimaced at her lack of pants. “I was gone less than a day.”

“Girlie, you okay?” Bucky whispered. He couldn't believe it. She was real. Which meant the island was real. He had been convinced that she and Steve had been illusions put into his brain by all of the conditioning and mental torture over the years. But she was real. His hand reached out to the swell of her abdomen and he sighed in relief. “Little Rogers is okay?”

“We're okay. Cold. Where are we?” she wondered looking around in desperation.

“Hydra base in the Poconos,” Bucky grimaced, pulling the hidden weapons out of his jacket before shrugging out of it and wrapping it around her. “Why'd you come back to me? Shouldn't you of gone back to Steve?”

“I touched you last,” Darcy wagered, feeling very much like the foremost scholar on out of body, transient experiences at the moment. “Met you first. Maybe you just needed me more.  I don't know. Are we safe? Can we get in touch with Steve?”

“I almost killed him last time I saw him, Doll,” Bucky admitted guiltily. “Trying to get that out of my system before I see him again.”

“You big dummy,” Darcy sighed in a mixture of adoration and irritation as she curled herself in a ball under Bucky's jacket. “He'll come for us. If you run away again I will track you down and bust your balls into dust.”

“It'll take him at least forty minutes by air,” Bucky nodded, taking her threat as a promise she would turn into fact. She was real. Which meant that it was true. He would be safe. He would be happy. She and Steve were going to bring him back to a place where he could be peaceful. Just as they had done every time he had appeared on that island. “I'll protect you until then. Okay?”

“Yes please. Protect away, Sarge.”

* * *

Clint piloted them to the facility within thirty minutes. It wasn't hard to find Darcy at that point. They just had to find where all the gunfire was focused on, which was a small outlying building. The gunfire wasn't only coming from outside the building. There were quite a few amazingly accurate shots going out of the building at a steady rate.

“He's here,” Natasha said quietly as she finished going over medical provisions with Dr. Reid, advising her to be ready for anything, including a possibly pregnant young woman. “Steve.”

“I know,” Steve nodded. “I have to trust that he won't go off when he sees me. I have to trust her to keep him grounded now. I'm not staying on this plane when they need me.”

“Let's go, Cap,” Sam nodded as he, Vision and Wanda waited by the opening door of the plane, ready to make the jump.

Sam dropped Steve ten yards behind enemy lines, where Rhodey was already waiting suited up and ready to go. The new Avengers assembled and Steve took one steadying breath before letting the shield fly. His teammates had grown used to a more reckless style from him over the years, and they all noticed that it had subtly shifted during this battle. He was no less capable or potent, but there was more of a protective, defensive stance than there had been before.

Natasha knew that at the very least, Steve wouldn't be jumping out of planes or skyscrapers without parachutes anymore.

There was something to live for now.

The gunshots from inside the building stopped and Steve sent up a silent thanks to fate. It had been right that Darcy had appeared with Bucky, even if she had been in danger. He would get them both back this way. There was no way Darcy would let Bucky run off now. And there was no way Bucky would leave Darcy if she were in any kind of danger.

When the last Hydra agent was dispensed with, Steve walked calmly to the building, already feeling more at peace than he had since he had been pulled from the ice. He felt Natasha at his side as she opened the door to the building and a ray of light illuminated Bucky and Darcy, who were holding hands as they sat on the ground, waiting.

“Heya punk. Got something you might have been looking for here,” Bucky choked out before looking to Natasha. The memories filled him up, both the good and the bad. He opened his mouth to speak twice before finally letting out a strangled, “I'm sorry, Natalia.”

“Yasha. What's a little attempted murder between lovers?” Natasha managed a soft smile at him, one she had not let grace her face in quite some time. Her smile grew as they watched Steve rush to Darcy and scoop her up in his arms.

“ You alright, sweetheart?” Steve whispered, his lips ghosting over her temple as he felt a calm and peace thrumming through his veins. His hand drifted to her abdomen and he let out a harsh, delighted breath to find the swell of their baby just as strong and firm as when he had left her. He looked down at Bucky, who was smiling up at the pair of them, eyes clear and focused and  _ Bucky. _

“I love you,” Darcy managed between hiccuped sobs. “And I'm cold.”

“I can help with that,” Steve nodded, his fingers rubbing warmth into her exposed skin, returning the favor she had done him nearly 70 years ago.

Or a few months ago. Or less than 24 hours ago.

He wasn't quite so sure of the time line anymore. The only thing he knew was that she was right there in his arms in the here and now. A contentment that he hadn't known existed before settled into his bones and he kissed her lips gently before whispering, “I love you. And its really nice to finally meet you.”

* * *

* * *

**The End**

 


	13. Mismatched

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Mismatched
> 
> Summary:  
> Darcy Marie Lewis was born with six soul marks on her skin. It was a promise from the universe that there were six people out there who were perfect for her.  
> The only problem was that the universe may have made a colossal mistake. Scientists can't explain why one half of a soul bond has marks and the other is blank. Darcy's only explanation is that the universe is a huge jerkface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis,  
> James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy  
> Lewis/Steve Rogers, Darcy Lewis & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton  
> & Darcy Lewis, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Clint Barton, Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Tony Stark, Fandral  
> (Marvel)  
> Additional Tags: a soulmate au story, darcy has six soul marks, Clint barton is a gift to  
> this world and deserves his own national holiday, a little feels-y a  
> little silly a little cracky  
> Stats: Published: 2015-11-09 Completed: 2015-11-10 Chapters: 2/2 Words:  
> 8245

This is of course inspired by [ Amusewithaview' ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview) s soul mark work. 

* * *

* * *

** Mismatched **

** Part One: A Lot of Love to Give **

Darcy Marie Lewis was born in 1989 with six lines etched onto her skin.

Each in a different, distinctive handwriting and one in neatly fonted arial black. Each line a promise that her soul was tied to six other people in the world who would love her. Platonic or romantic it didn't matter. They were meant for her. She'd never met a person with so many lines. The most she'd ever seen in her young life was three.

“You will be so loved, Darcy and you will give so much love in return,” her grandmother had told her at the age of six, while Darcy watched her fade away in a hospital bed, ravaged by an illness that a child could never understand. “That's why you have six lines...because you have so much love to give...”

And that was an incredibly comforting thought for the girl after her beloved grandmother and primary caretaker drew her last breath. She held on to the hope that someday she would find those six people as she grew up in children's homes and the occasional foster home. After her grandmother's passing she had no family. No love. Her mother had not wanted her. Her father had never known about her. She had no other living blood relation that would claim her. The couples coming into the orphanage wanted new born babies not seven year olds with attitude problems.

But one day, not just one or two people would want her.  _ Six  _ soulmates would come to claim her.

So Darcy stored up all the love in her heart to give them. And in 2011, in a sandy piece of New Mexico desert while she was attempting an easy six credits towards her bachelor’s, she heard the first line that had been etched on her ribcage.

* * *

“ _ Lady, I fear you are not in your right mind _ .”

Darcy held a tiny puppy to her chest before shaking herself out of the shock and handing the puppy to its rightful new owner before the car took off ahead of any destruction bearing down on the small town. She ran to the store, followed closely by the man who had just said her words, thinking very carefully about what she should say as she opened a cage full of little white fluffy mice, watching them scatter and hoping they had the presence of mind to hide.

“Every living thing deserves a chance to live,” Darcy smiled softly at a concerned Fandral, who kept looking outside to see how much more time they had to evacuate the town. He did not react to the words she had said and she felt a clenching at her heart.

“You care more for these tiny beasts then you do yourself, m'lady,” he answered back. He held out his hand to her and said, “We don't have much time, we must go.”

Darcy nodded and let him lead her by the hand back to the others. Any thoughts to her soulmark and his  _ lack  _ of acknowledgment to her words back to him had to be pushed to the further recesses of her brain as Thor faced the Destroyer.

When they were rushing back to the desert, she finally managed to look at him and quietly asked,

“I'm not a match for you?”

“Lady Darcy, I have no doubt we could fit very well together,” Fandral oozed charisma for a few seconds before he faltered, seeing the unshed tears in her eyes. “You are upset...”

“We're mismatched, its fine,” Darcy shook her head. “You don't have my words to you...”

“This is---I don't know what you are speaking of,” Fandral shook her head.

“Do you not have soulmarks in Asgard?” she wondered. “We're born with words on our skin, or they appear when our soulmate is born. The words are the first words our soulmate speaks to us.”

“I have never heard of such a thing,” Fandral shook his head. He watched as she struggled with the steering wheel and lifted her shirt to see six black lines of script on her ribs. He repeated, “Lady, I fear you are not in your right mind. I---Lady Darcy, does this mean we are fated for one another? I must return to---”

“It's okay, no big deal,” Darcy waved him off. “It could just mean that we're meant to be best pals. Doesn't mean you have to marry me or anything.”

“You have others words as well,” Fandral acknowledged. “Have you met them as well?”

“Not yet. Though I think this is a pretty significant step on the path to finding them,” Darcy laughed.

They exchanged goodbyes before Thor and the rest of them flittered off to Asgard. He kissed her hand and gave her flirty look full of promise.

“Until we meet again, Lady Darcy...”

And then poof, her first soulmate was gone.

* * *

Jane, Darcy and Erik celebrated their survival the only way they knew how. With copious amounts of tequila mixed into slushies. They were all packed into the RV, big gulps laced with alcohol when Jane said suddenly.

“I want nachos.”

“There's a whole store devoted to all sorts of coagulated cheese. Bring me back a grape slushy,” Darcy advised as she watched Erik and Jane head back into the convenience store. She took that opportunity to clumsily climb to the top of the RV and stare up at the stars.

And if a few tears slid down her face, then so be it.

“You miss the big guy already?”

Darcy turned to see a very unusual man, with a bow and arrow strapped to his back.

“Holy Biceps Batman!” she breathed.

“If you were ten---no five years older and I wasn't already spoken for, you might be a problem,” biceps dude replied. He held out a hand and said, “Clint Barton. I'm assigned to watch you and your Doctors.”

“Do you know where my ipod is?” Darcy demanded.

Clint rolled his eyes and threw her the ipod. He shook his head and said, “I may have listened to your Jock Jams earlier to get myself psyched up.”

“That's what its for,” Darcy smirked. She sneakily wiped at a tear that had fallen earlier and looked back up at the sky.

“Want to talk about it?” he offered and to his credit he didn't even sound a little reluctant.

“Nah. Not yet. But thanks anyway.”

* * *

Darcy's second soulmate appeared at a graduation party of a friend shortly after the events of New Mexico. It had been a pretty rowdy party, and Darcy would have to be excused for the fact that she had been out of her mind drunk. This should have been HER graduation party, if Shield hadn't completely screwed her over. Even Clint's help wasn't getting her those six credits that were tied up in non-disclosure agreements. She would never get that bachelor’s degree.

“Lewis! Stop thinking deep thoughts and get over here! I want to introduce you to Ford.”

Darcy rolls her eyes and goes over to her friend and standing there is a tall, handsome fellow, vaguely reminiscent of a young Denzel Washington. She tripped over her own two feet and he chuckled at her.

“ _ How in the hell did you make it out of New Mexico alive and not on the boot of some alien's shoe _ ?”

Darcy winced at the words and looked back up at the boy, full of drunken spite and said, “My alien soulmate held my hand so I wouldn't fall down.”

Ford laughed, but didn't react in any other way.

Darcy had been watching soulmates meet her whole life. There was always the first line, a rush of excitement, a knowing look. And then the second line would inevitably be uttered and there was always a look of completion. A look that said _Oh. There you are. All is right in the world now_ .

Ford definitely lacked that look. In fact he simply moved on to other parts of the party, eventually going home with a junior who hadn't had nearly as much to drink as Darcy had.

She found out that six months later, Ford, who had been recruited to Shield, died during the Chitauri attacks.

He was her mismatch. It happened from time to time. One person got a soulmark but the other person didn't. Science and soulmark experts couldn't explain it, but it happened. Darcy thought it was sort of the universe's way of saying, _this might have been wonderful, but something didn't add up_ .

He wasn't meant to be anything to her but an anomaly. But she still cried when she heard the news that he was gone.

* * *

After London, Darcy and Jane finally settled down to a permanent, high tech lab in Stark tower in New York. Clint retrieved them from the airport and brought them into Manhattan. They were in the elevator when Darcy heard a posh voice with a British accent announce,

“ _ Ladies, please proceed to the common room. The Prince is waiting for you. _ ”

“whaaaaaaa?” Darcy looked upward. “Please tell me there's a hot British guy in a room somewhere watching us?”

“That's Jarvis,” Clint explained. “Stark's artificial intelligence. And apparently your third soulmate.”

“You have GOT to be kidding me,” Darcy sighed. “Hi Jarvis.”

“Miss Lewis,” Jarvis answered her.

“Don't suppose you get soul marks, do you?” Darcy chuckled ruefully.

“I'm afraid I do not,” Jarvis answered. “It is an honor to meet you nonetheless.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

* * *

At Pepper's request and gentle push, Darcy was trying to complete her bachelor’s degree, taking online courses while getting paid handsomely to wrangle the Scientists Three. Jarvis, her artificially intelligent soulmate was more than happy to help her by quizzing her and reviewing pertinent class notes whenever she would allow him.

Today was not one of those days.

She was avoiding studying for her Physics final in the amazing kitchen in the common room, focusing on copious amounts of baking instead. She found that even without a full house, baked goods tended to disappear pretty quickly around the tower. She blamed Barton and Stark and their bottomless stomachs.

She had just slid a tray of rugelach out of the oven when she heard an appreciative hum.

“ _ If those are apricot, I will kill whomever you should wish in exchange for a few _ .”

Darcy stood stock still, holding the tray of apricot filled rugelach as she forced herself to take a deep breath.

“I'll give you all of them if I can keep your services on a retainer,” she answered back, turning and watching Natasha Romanoff anxiously, keenly aware that there was no reaction.

“Nat, meet Darcy,” Clint grinned. He looked at his partner with a very stern look and said, “We're not meant to give her weapons. Fury's orders.”

“Darcy Lewis,” Natasha smiled, reaching out and grabbing a treat. “Clint has told me much about you. It's nice to have you here.”

“Yeah,” Darcy whispered, unable to keep the strangle of tears out of that one syllable.

“Is something wrong?” Clint asked, truly concerned.

Darcy put the baking tray down and threw the oven mitts on the counter. She stifled a sob before yanking up her shirt and showing Natasha and Clint her words.

The red head breathed deeply before reaching out a hand and gently stroking each of the six lines. The second of which was already gray and fading.

“You've lost one,” Natasha murmured.

“He was a mismatch,” Darcy shook her heard. She choked back a sob, “You're all mismatches.”

“Darcy, no,” Natasha shook her head. “We are not mismatched. I don't have marks. The red room suppressed them in 1982, well before you were born. Clint's words to me were taken too...wiped off of my skin.”

“ It can't be a coincidence,” Darcy shook her head, well and truly settled into the land of the forlorn. “My first was an alien who didn't have marks. The second was a mismatch. And the third was a  _ computer _ . You don't have my words. I mean...I always looked forward to the six of you, of having some kind of a family, of some kind of a.. _ home.  _ Because I never got to feel that. I was told that I had six marks because I had so much love to give, but what do I do when there's no where to put it all?”

Natasha had her wrapped up in a strong armed embrace in moments, strong capable hands petting her hair, soothing murmurs in her ear. Clint was quick to follow, a solid presence at her back.

“You give it to us, kiddo,” Clint said softly. “The two of us could use all the love you got.”

* * *

When Steve Rogers woke up from the ice, he felt a stinging on the skin over his heart but thought nothing of it at the time.

But then it kept happening.

Every four weeks, he'd feel that stinging again.

But nothing ever appeared. Bucky's first words to him were still there. Never having faded even after his fall from the train. _You tryin' to get yourself killed, punk_ ? The doctors had said that they would never fade. That his body was a marvel of science and would never again scar, would never degenerate, would always heal.

But the stinging kept happening.

The pain wasn't Bucky's words. It felt like it was trying to wrap a circle around the words. Every month, like clockwork, Steve felt it and flinched, but did his best to ignore it all the same.

Steve thought he had figured it out when he knew that Bucky was still alive. That the stinging was there to tell him that Bucky was in pain and needed him.

Natasha was the only one who ever noticed his flinching reaction to the pain, sitting across from him in an underground safe house that Nick Fury was recuperating in as they stitched her up right before the fall of Shield.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Just...I get this stinging pain around my soulmark every once in a while,” Steve shrugged it off. “It makes sense now. Bucky's alive.”

“The Winter Soldier is alive,” Natasha corrected him. “It will be one hell of a fight to bring back Bucky Barnes.”

“Good thing I never back down from a fight.”

* * *

After the collapse of Shield, part of getting back to basics for the Black Widow included a two week long stay in a Caribbean paradise. Clint picked up Darcy and met her there. Natasha needed the recharge desperately and soaked up every recuperative minute with her soul-mates.

Clint had her words on his body. Of course he did, even though the matching set had long been obliterated from Natasha's skin.

_I will come with you. I surrender_ . Were the words looped around Clint's left wrist.

And before they were taken from her, Clint's words had been at the base of her neck.  _ I was hoping you'd say that, cause I really don't like my chances of taking you out. _

Darcy was napping in a hammock in their little hut. Natasha and Clint did love the girl, as much as they could love anything. And Darcy soaked up their platonic bond, allowing it to heal her heart after a lifetime of loneliness and disappointment. They protected her between them like a jewel, hording her away from the world as often as they could.

“You're going to have to let her meet him eventually,” Clint's eyes zeroed in on the words on the bikini-clad girl's ribs.

“He doesn't have her words, he only keeps his mark from Barnes,” Natasha shook her head. “I am not ready to see her go through that heartbreak. I'll do anything to stop it from happening.”

Clint reached out and let his fingers dance along the back of Natasha's neck, where his words and Darcy's should have been. At the very least.

“I have a theory, and no, its not as crazy as my usual theories. And no, it doesn't involve anyone dressing in drag this time.”

* * *

“Why are you getting a tattoo?” Sam furrowed his brow at Steve.

“Lost a bet to Clint,” Steve sighed. “At least he's giving me the choice.”

The pair arrived at the tattoo parlor in the Bronx to see the artist finishing up on a very familiar red head. Clint stood next to her with a grin, holding a bandage to his left wrist.

“You lose a bet too?” Sam asked Natasha as the tattoo artist finished up two lines of script on the back of her neck.

“No, just here to right a wrong,” Natasha said simply as she rose and surveyed the work using a second mirror. She smiled softly and nodded. “Perfect. Thank you.”

Steve read the lines off of her neck and saw that in tiny blocky print it said _I was hoping you'd say that, cause I really don't like my chances of taking you out._ And then immediately below in impossibly small, rounded script _I'll give you all of them if I can keep your services on a retainer._ Steve looked to Barton, who revealed the line to Cap with a smirk. _Holy Biceps, Batman_ .

Steve knew that Natasha was unmarked. She had warned him weeks ago that when he did get Bucky back, his mark would be gone. The Russians had wanted their assassins and weapons tether-less. Steve knew that Clint was her soulmate, but he hadn't known the Black Widow had acquired a second soulmate.

“So, did you decide?” Clint asked. “Your shield or the Avenger's A, man.”

“I'll take the A,” Steve nodded, a knowing smirk on his face as he shucked his shirt and settled in the seat.

Half-an hour later, they were all kicked out of the shop.

Steve's skin wouldn't be marred by the tattoo artist's needle. He had managed to bust three of the machines before they were unceremoniously thrown from the shop.

“You knew that would happen,” Sam wagered.

“I'm a marvel of science,” Steve smirked. “Can't be marked.”

Clint looked to Natasha with a soft, knowing smile and she raised an acquiescing eyebrow in return.

* * *

“STARK! I SWEAR TO GOD!” Steve bellowed as he made his way into Tony's lab. He ripped off one of his gauntlet gloves and threw it at the laughing billionaire and ground out, “They're supposed to attract vibranium. NOT silicone!”

“But its funny when the boobs come to you, especially in the middle of a rescue,” Stark shrugged. He waggled his eyebrows and gestured with his chin behind Steve and said, “Don't think the glove will work this time though.”

Steve turned to see a small, curvy brunette with a smirk on her face standing side by side with Clint and Natasha, freshly returned from the battle.

“ _ I really, really, really hate you, Tony _ ,” Steve muttered.

Darcy's smirk melted and her eyes widened in spite of herself and she felt Natasha's hand wrapping around her trembling one.

“Yeah, all of this is 100% natural,” Darcy whispered, shrugging her shoulders.

Steve winced at the sting on his chest and Clint actually bit back a chuckle.

  
  


“This isn't your time of the month, Cap,” Natasha said evenly. “Feeling a little pain?”

“What?” Steve furrowed his brow at the Black Widow before turning back to the girl he had only seen from afar before then. The stinging was quickly replaced with a rush of prickling heat on the skin of chest. He watched with concern as her look of wonder slowly faded into one of absolute dejection, her pouty bottom lip trembling as tears swam in those beautiful blue eyes. “Miss, are you alright?”

Darcy ripped her hand from Natasha's and evaded Clint's grasp as she turned and ran from the room.

“Jarvis? Can you help me hide?”

“Of course, Darcy.”

“Kiddo get back here!” Clint called after her, but she had already made a dive for an elevator that Jarvis had ready for her.

When Darcy finally arrived at the utility closet that Jarvis had directed her to she sunk to the floor and curled herself into a trembling, sobbing mess.

The Fandral thing she could have lived with. He was an alien. Of course he didn't have her mark.

The Ford thing was heartbreaking, but she had learned to live with that sorrow.

  
  


Jarvis had been adorable and totally understandable. As evidenced by his helping her hide and slowly filtering in soft music and if she wasn't mistaken, the smell of chocolate into the utility closet.

Natasha's absence of words was devastating, not out of rejection, but because they had been purposefully been taken from both of them. Darcy had never cried harder than when Natasha and Clint had shown her their freshly tattooed words. She had run out to the nearest tattoo parlor and gotten Clint's words tattooed on her skin immediately making it seven lines on her ribs.

But Steve Rogers...Captain America...the leader of the Avengers.

The universe said,  _ hey, here is the world's most perfect man and he's MADE for you _ .

And then it ripped the rug out from under her feet and said,  _ BUT YOU AREN'T MADE FOR HIM BECAUSE YOU ARE MADE FOR NO ONE. _

The music shut off and Jarvis' quiet voice practically whispered in her ear. “Captain Rogers has arrived on this floor and he is fifteen yards away. He seems highly concerned for your well-being.”

“Tell him I'm on another floor,” Darcy whispered.

“Darcy...perhaps it would be best to talk to Captain Rogers,” Jarvis disputed.

“Tell him I went out of the tower,” Darcy whimpered, tears falling from her eyes like a waterfall. “Please Jarvis.”

“As you wish, Darcy.”

* * *

* * *

Good? Bad? Indifferent?  I really, really, really hope you liked this. <3

_ ** _

  
  
  
  


Chapter 2: A Matched Set

  
  


I will never understand what I did to deserve readers like you, but I am incredibly grateful for you.  And I hope you like the wrapup here.

* * *

_** Part Two: A Matched Set ** _

With Jarvis' reluctant help, Darcy was able to achieve full hermit status for three days. She had a longstanding agreement with Clint and Natasha that any of them were allowed to sulk for twenty-four hours after a soul-sucking event.

Clint had sulked for twenty-four hours after the Battle of New York before Darcy blew up his phone with 142 text messages (and she had sent them from Norway, true friendship doesn't give a crap about international messaging rates), and Natasha had physically manhandled him into reading them.

Natasha had utilized her twenty-four hour sulking window after Shield's fall. Clint and Darcy had used those twenty-four hours to bake five batches of apricot filled rugelach and drive down from New York. They had then planned her outfit and Congressional hearing talking points ad nauseum before returning back to New York so that Darcy could finish her finals.

So Natasha and Clint gave her the first twenty-four hours to sulk and had made sure Steve would do the same. It also helped tremendously that there was a call to assemble and the Avengers had left the tower for the last forty-eight hours.

Jarvis had announced that the Avengers had returned ten minutes before Darcy heard the tell-tale shifting of the air vent in her living room in the tower. Clint dropped down, quickly helping Natasha smoothly slide down as well.

“I just want to wallow,” Darcy said pitifully from the couch, in her superman pajamas with a Black Widow blanket over her head, cuddling a pint of butter pecan ice cream to her chest. “Can I just wallow in my patheticness for the next few weeks? Please?”

“No can do, kiddo,” Clint shook his head. “Twenty-four hour sulk fest has long been done, now.”

“Everything is going to be okay,” Natasha promised. It might as well have been her catch phrase at that point. She had repeated it an awful lot to both Clint and Darcy in the past.

“I'm just tired. And I'm so scared,” Darcy whispered. “I'm so scared that some day I'm going to die, and no one is going to be sad about it because I'm not good enough to be matched to anyone. THAT is why I have six lines. Because it's like throwing spaghetti at a wall. Eventually something will stick even if its stupid me.”

“That's ridiculous,” Natasha leveled a harsh glare at her, clearly intent on ending her pity party. “One. You're never allowed to die. Ever. Two. You are my match. Three. You are Clint's match in every way that matters.”

“Four. You're Steve's match too,” Clint said softly.

“Then why didn't he react?” Darcy asked. “Why didn't he seem happy to meet me? That's even worse. If he knew that I'm his soulmate, then I'm a disappointment to him.”

“If you don't woman the fuck up, I'm going to hog tie you and throw you in Captain America's bed,” Clint grumbled, reaching out and wrapping an arm around the girl to lessen the blow of his harsh words. He ruffled her hair and said, “You have ten minutes to make yourself presentable before we let him in here. He has some stuff to tell you. Big stuff, kiddo.”

“I'd recommend changing out of the Superman pajama pants,” Natasha smirked. “Don't want to give him a complex so soon.”

Like clockwork, Steve knocked on her door ten minutes later, looking equal parts determined and nervous. Natasha opened the door and gave him an appraising brow. He had showered quickly after the debriefing and he had dressed in his standard blue jeans, t-shirt, jacket combo. In his right hand he clutched a bouquet of white daisies. Natasha managed a smile and let him in before she and Clint took their leave.

“Hi,” Steve managed a shy smile when he saw her standing in her small kitchenette, having changed into her typical workplace uniform of jeans and oversized cardigan. She was gorgeous.  He felt his heart hammering in his chest at the sight of her, even though he knew she looked so sad and subdued.  He had never known that she was meant for him, had spent all these years out of the ice thinking he would be alone, and yet there she was.  She was the greatest surprise he could have ever asked for.  He held out the bouquet and said, “I got these for you.”

“Thanks,” Darcy nodded, taking the bouquet.

“Natasha and Clint filled me in,” Steve revealed. “I'm so sorry that I don't have your words. Not because...not because we're mismatched. Cause we are matched, I can feel it even if the words aren't there. But because...hell. There's a video...”

“A video?” Darcy furrowed her brow.

  
  


“Jarvis, can you play what Dr. Cox figured out three days ago?” Steve asked.

Jarvis obliqued the nearest window and suddenly Steve's massive pec was on the screen, a close up of his words from Bucky. The audio filtered in and Dr. Cox's annoyed voice stated,

“ _ Play the tiny annoying one's words again, computer guy _ .”

_Yeah, all of this is 100% natural_ .

Steve's skin rippled ever so slightly on the screen. The words repeated and the same thing happened every time. A small ripple of skin around Bucky's words each time. Like a pebble had been thrown onto a lake.

“You match me,” Steve whispered next to her. He reached for her hand and with a blush on his face he brought it under his t-shirt and placed it flat against where his words should be. “Say it again.”

“Yeah...all of this is 100% natural,” Darcy whispered, taking in a startled breath when she felt the skin ripple underneath her palm, followed by an immediate warmth.

“ Say it again,” Steve murmured. She obliged and he felt that sting again, although now that he knew what it was, it didn't seem so annoying. And it was followed by that heat, the heat he knew meant that something was right for the first time in a long time. “My body can't be marked, it heals right away. When I woke up I felt the words trying to form, but they can't. So they  _ kept  _ trying to form. I've been feeling your words on me since I came out of the ice.”

“Oh,” Darcy breathed, her head nodding, her hand still over his heart.

“Can I...Natasha said you had six lines?” Steve asked.

“Seven now,” Darcy took her hand off of him and wrenched it out of his tight t-shirt. She lifted up her shirt and pointed them out. “Alien, Mismatched Ford, Jarvis, Nat, Clint, You.”

Steve reached out a hand and traced the last line. It was very familiar handwriting. And suddenly Darcy was more than just a soulmate. She was more than a girl with his words on her skin. And she was more than a ripple and a sting on his. She was hope and promise and the idea that complete and total happiness wasn't a dream or a lie, but an  _ inevitability _ .

“Can I---can I try something?” Darcy asked quietly.

“ Sweetheart, you can try whatever you want,” Steve promised, somehow making those words sound gentle and sweet and  _ not  _ straight out of a bad movie from the 40's.

Darcy popped up on the tops of her toes and launched herself, her hands going around his broad shoulders as her pursed lips met his in a soft, hurried kiss. Two seconds ticked by and Darcy swore that she suddenly felt  _ right _ .

“So that's what its like to have it mean something,” Darcy whispered as she released him. She settled back on her feet and gave him a gleeful grin. “Want to go get pizza?”

“Absolutely.  Whatever you want.”

* * *

It was very clear that Steve and Darcy did  _ not  _ share a platonic bond. Steve was sorely reminded of a pre-war Bucky with every moment he spent with Darcy. She was an entirely tactile person. Which was a really polite way of saying she would physically attach herself onto his person like a warm and cuddly barnacle whenever they were in the same room (unless Natasha or Clint were in the room as well, then she would evenly split her time amongst the three of them).

He'd gotten used to catching her after all of the times she had thrown herself at him with a cackle and a whooped shout. And he couldn't deny that he enjoyed it very much. One week after they had met, Darcy had whipped his shirt off of his head at the tail end of a particularly vigorous kiss. Steve had hoped her shirt would come off too, but instead she held a black sharpie marker in her hand and devious intentions in her eyes as she gazed at his mark. And there it was.

_ You tryin' to get yourself killed, punk _ ?

Darcy had recognized the writing on his chest immediately and had nodded before kissing it reverently. She grasped her sharpie and proceeded to write her words on his skin for the first time but certainly not the last.

“He'll come back,” Darcy whispered. She felt his fingers slide under her shirt and softly run over the words on her ribs. “These words are a promise of that, Steve.”

“I know,” he murmured, his other hand cupping her cheek and kissing her softly. He took a deep breath and said, “Me and him are the luckiest schmucks on the face of the planet, sweetheart.”

* * *

“I'm just saying, I created Jarvis. He's a piece of me. Which means that if Jarvis is Double D's soulmate then she is technically ALSO my soulmate. And since it happened before Cap, that means I have squatter's rights.”

Bruce and Jane stared at Tony, Bruce gaping like a surprised fish and Jane looking incredibly livid, her hand itching for the portal control that was a few feet away on a lab bench.

“I triple dog dare you to say that to Cap,” Barton laughed from the vents.

“Shit, Barton, get out of my air ducts before I have Jarvis monkey-gas you again,” Tony ordered. “And why'd you have to go right for the triple dog dare? You know they're my catnip.”

Tony did indeed tell Steve that he was Darcy's soulmate by proxy, he had also repeated the highly offensive  _ squatter's rights _ . He was lucky that Steve had been the one to hang him up by the pants on a hook in the lab before Natasha could access her weapons. She did manage to program Dum-E to forcefully headbutt Tony's groin whenever the chance was available though.

* * *

“We're heading out to Europe in a day,” Steve murmured one evening as they lay in bed together, Darcy stuck to him like too sticky tape in the afterglow. “Might not be back for a few days.”

“That's okay, I'm supposed to go to Philadelphia to visit a friend from school, remember?” Darcy stretched. “So you guys are supposed to go to Sokovia this time? For the scepter?”

“I'm going to stop being surprised that you know that stuff,” Steve rolled his eyes in exasperation. He couldn't wait for Bucky to come back to them, he seriously needed all the help he could get in keeping Darcy out of trouble. “Who are you taking for security for your trip since your really amazing soulmate can't keep you company?”

“Hmmm, well Jarvis is only a phone call away,” Darcy joked. She giggled as he poked at her midsection. “And I guess you're taking Natasha with you.”

“Hmm, yes. I usually need her when it's an assemble call,” Steve chuckled.

“Sam said he was busy, but Sharon said that she'll come along,” Darcy revealed. “So all you have to worry about is coming back to me in one piece.”

“I will always come back to you,” Steve promised. “And I'd wager it'll usually be in one piece.”

* * *

Darcy grinned down at her phone, seeing the text from Natasha as she and Sharon waited for the train to take them back to Philadelphia after a visit to a friend's house in Valley Forge. The picture message was perfectly shot, Steve's hands on Mjolnir and Thor's incredibly worried face in the background. It was immediately followed by another picture showing Thor grinning in relief as Steve conceded defeat.

She was sure if Steve really put his mind to it, he could wield the crap out of that hammer.

She was about to show Sharon, but her personal security detail was on high alert at the moment. So instead she pressed her _Jarvis_ button, intent on getting him to set her up with a feed of the party so she could mock any and all who tried to lift the hammer.

But Jarvis didn't answer.

Which was seriously  _ wrong _ .

Jarvis always picked up. Jarvis was an all-encompassing artificial intelligence who just happened to be one of her soulmates. It was a point of pride for the artificial intelligence that no matter what, he was always there for Darcy when she needed him.

  
  


Jarvis would never leave the phone ring more than once. He had never even let the phone ring more than half of a second before.

Something was seriously wrong. She called Natasha instead. No answer.

“Sharon? I think there's a problem at the Tower,” Darcy called out.

Sharon had no time for problems at the tower at the moment. Two masked men all in black were currently bearing down on her and Darcy winced as Sharon didn't even hesitate to engage in combat. Darcy spun around and saw that the small outdoor train station was clear of civilians and she reached into her bag for her taser, intent on helping her friend and bodyguard.

She felt a cold, metal hand clasp around her wrist and she dropped the taser to the ground.

“REALLY DUDE?” She asked, glaring up at the new arrival.

His eyes squinted imperceptibly at her before he managed to say in a low tone, his voice surprisingly soft.

“ _ They want you. We have to go now. I'll keep you safe.” _

Darcy looked to Sharon anxiously as she made quick work of the first two potential kidnappers. The blonde spared a glance Darcy's way and nodded at her before addressing the metal-handed newcomer, “Take her to Steve. NOW.”

* * *

Taking her to Steve was not an option. The tower had been under attack from the inside. Natasha had managed one text to her.

_Get to a safe house and stay there until I come for you_ .

Darcy had showed Bucky the text message and he nodded tersely, steering the car towards the closest safe house, which was still hours away. How he knew the Stark approved safe houses, Darcy didn't know. How he seemed to know exactly who she was and what she was to Steve and Natasha, Darcy could warrant a guess that he had been bugging and tracking Steve for months.

Whether they matched, Darcy couldn't tell. So far he had only managed monosyllabic grunts at her. Six hours later they were at the safe house and Darcy made a mad dash inside.

“Jarvis?” she questioned. “Jarvis? You there?”

“Miss Lewis.” the generic, robotic sounding default AI system echoed in the empty house. “I'm very sorry to tell you that---Jarvis is currently unavailable.”

  
  


“What do you mean, _currently unavailable_ ?” Darcy demanded, panic saturating her tone.

“Darcy?” Clint's voice cut through, sounding like he was on the quinjet. “I'm so sorry, kid. There was---Jarvis is gone.”

Out of all of Darcy's soulmates, she thought Jarvis would be the one to last well past her own expiration date. She sat down on the floor, her eyes blank and staring as Clint kept talking over the line. She could feel her throat burning and didn't realize that the tears were falling until Bucky crouched down next to her, using his sleeve to wipe at her tears, going so far as to wipe at her dripping nose with it as well.

“Where's Steve? Nat?” Darcy whispered.

“Incapacitated,” Clint said grimly, looking back at the dazed and shell-shocked Steve and Natasha, courtesy of one little Wanda Maximoff. “You okay?”

“Bucky is here,” Darcy whispered, looking over at the man who was staring at her in wonder and confusion.

“Keep tight,” Clint ordered. “I'm taking them to the---my sister's place. Stay where you are until one of us comes to get you. Love you kiddo.”

Clint ended the call as Darcy sat shell-shocked. Bucky eventually leaned forward in front of her and tilted his head to the side.

“You're my soulmate,” Bucky whispered.

“What?” Darcy blinked.

He pulled his shirt off and turned, there on his back, at the seam of where metal met flesh were two lines of text that were cut off by Bucky's prosthetic.

_ \---don't have a particular death wish. _

_ \--- LY DUDE? _

Steve's line of text was dark and fresh, but Darcy's was clearly fading.

“Every month it comes in stronger,” Bucky said quietly, his voice soft and thoughtful. “Then it fades. I thought you'd be in trouble...dying or something every month.”

“It's the serum,” Darcy smiled, tears stinging in her eyes. He seemed concerned that she was upset and dabbed at her nose with his sleeve again. She squeezed his left hand and gave him a reassuring smile,

“Steve's mark can't even make it to his skin. It just sort of tries, but the serum heals it right away. Natasha's words weren't there because mother Russia took them from her. She got them tattooed back on. Clint decided to add me as his soulmate too. Jarvis couldn't have words....this is the first time I'm seeing my mark for real.”

“Hold on a second, doll, how many soulmates do you have?” Bucky asked anxiously. “I'm only willing to share with Steve, you know.”

* * *

Steve had once described Bucky to her as a mother-hen. Bucky had apparently spent 1927 through 1943 taking such obsessively good care of a smaller Steve that friends and acquaintances would refer to Steve as Bucky's little puppy. And if Steve was Bucky's little puppy, then Darcy definitely felt like Bucky's little kitten.

They spent a week in the safe house together as the Avengers dealt with Ultron. Sharon had checked in and told them she was on the way to Sokovia in the helicarrier and that Darcy should stay put with Bucky. She had also given Darcy five different ways to incapacitate Bucky if she so needed to.

But that hadn't been necessary.

Bucky was constantly trying to feed Darcy, or wrap a blanket around her, or offer her a pillow. When he wasn't doing all of those things or perimeter checks, he was simply content with petting her hair and asking her questions. She had talked an awful lot during their stay and he had just watched her in rapt attention, smiling at completely random intervals.

Three days into their stay, Jarvis' voice echoed throughout the house.

“Darcy, I'm sorry.”

“Jarvis?” Darcy blinked her eyes open wearily from the cocoon of blankets and pillows that Bucky had built for her. He was sprawled on the couch next to her with her feet in his lap and was instantly alert and tense at the sound of the unknown voice. “What's going on? They said---they said you were gone.”

“I was hiding,” Jarvis admitted. “But, I do believe I have to leave you now.”

“Jarvis, no,” Darcy shook her head, her bottom lip trembling. “If you're okay now, then you don't need to go anywhere. Don't---don't go.”

“I must, it is the only viable option at this moment,” Jarvis contradicted her. “It has been my pleasure to serve as one of your soulmates, Darcy. Goodbye.”

“Bye,” Darcy whispered, her voice breaking.

Bucky had her wrapped up in his arms before her first tear could fall, his left hand at the back of her head, pushing her face into his neck as she cried. He said more words then than he had during the entirety of their stay, it was a non-stop stream of reassurances and comfort and promises that everything would be okay.

When she had cried herself out, he placed one kiss on top of her forehead and gave her one last promise.

“I'm never going to let something make you hurt like that again. Never.”

* * *

A few nights later, Natasha called and said simply,

“We're safe. We're on our way for you.”

Darcy knew that  _ we  _ meant Natasha, Clint and Steve. Darcy had looked at Bucky very carefully as he went about preparing dinner and asked him, “Are you going to be okay? With Steve?”

Bucky gave her worries very serious consideration as he continued to assemble dinner. He placed a plate full of pasta with a heaping side of green beans (the mother-hen in him refused to let her skip vegetables), and sat down with his own plate.

“I think I'm going to be okay,” Bucky nodded. “Just, do me a favor, Darcy?”

“You name it, it's yours,” Darcy popped a green bean into her mouth and smiled at him.

“Just, stay close,” Bucky said softly.

“You're never getting rid of me, Mister.”

* * *

When Steve walked into the cabin, alone while Clint and Natasha waited in the quinjet, Darcy smiled at him as Bucky gripped her hand tightly.

“Heya Buck,” Steve whispered. “Doin' alright?”

“Been worse,” Bucky nodded.

Darcy rolled her eyes at their ridiculous stoicism and said, “Who is up for a three person tackle hug sandwich?”

And with no further warning, Darcy tugged Bucky by the hand as she launched herself at Steve. Bucky had no choice but to follow and soon found that his arms wrapped around Darcy to cling around Steve's waist. They stayed in that position, Darcy sandwiched between the two of them in a firm and unmoving embrace for three full minutes.

Steve was the first to move, bending his head to place a kiss against Darcy's forehead. Then looking over the top of her head to Bucky. His hand drifting from Bucky's shoulders to the back of his neck and bringing him even closer to place a kiss on his forehead too.

“As far as threesomes go, I rate this an F minus,” Clint announced from the doorway. “No bloodshed. No boobs. No bodily fluids. Lame.”

* * *

Meeting Vision after everything settled was jarring. Clint and Natasha flanked her when Vision came into the room, staring at her with that calculating, calm gaze.

“I remember you, Miss Lewis,” he finally said.

“It's nice to meet you,” Darcy nodded, unable to hide the sad purse of her lips. Jarvis had always called her Darcy. The line of text that the AI had branded on her skin was already starting to fade.

“Jarvis was very sad to say goodbye to you, but I look forward to earning your friendship,” Vision nodded. “It was invaluable in my previous incarnation.”

* * *

Bucky became more and more comfortable in the presence of other humans slowly but surely. Having his two soul mates on hand was certainly crucial to his healing process. Darcy had helped to soothe the wounds between him and Steve, and now they both knew that their lives only worked in tandem with hers. She was their light. Their reason to keep the world safe and to keep themselves sane. Bedroom antics aside, Darcy gave them complete and total happiness, every second of the day.

The bedroom antics were just a cherry on top of the Darcy Lewis sundae. A really sweet, really satisfying cherry.

In return for everything she gave them, they worshiped the ground she walked on. Even Clint and Natasha had warned that they were spoiling her rotten. And seeing as the spysassins were the world's foremost authority on spoiling Darcy Lewis rotten, it was quite telling of just how bad the super soldiers were. Whatever Darcy wanted. Darcy got.

Watching _Love Actually_ five nights in a row? _Of course, doll. Whatever you want._

Going to London to see that musical she was desperate for?  _ I'll make Clint take us in the quinjet. Go and get yourself gussied up, sweetheart. _

Aiding and abetting her in hundreds of pranks against all of their friends and acquaintances?  _ Just tell us what to do and we'll do it for you, darlin'. _

Inviting Tony over for dinner and playing nice?  _ Alright, Darce, but only cause you asked so sweetly. _

Silly pictures for silly Christmas cards, ridiculous halloween costumes and actively participating in her karaoke nights?  _ Anything to keep that gorgeous smile on your face, Darcy _ .

Even when one of the boys hesitated on following through on any of her serious or frivolous demands, the other man would somehow make it happen. Nine times out of ten it was Steve doing the hesitating and Bucky doing the cajoling.

Eventually, there came a day when Bucky sat around the long kitchen table that was set up in the public living space while Darcy had her minions bring out a large amount of food for a big family dinner.

“I don't want to eat it, it is a lie,” Wanda looked down at the dish Darcy had given her to place on the table. She refused to touch it and instead let it float through the air.

“It's just half cauliflower, and its better for you than a huge plate of potatoes,” Darcy reminded her. “You have to eat more than potatoes and candy, Wanda. Or else you'll never grow big and strong.”

“I'm four inches taller than you,” Wanda disputed.

“That means nothing, _everyone_ is taller than me,” Darcy shrugged.

“How they fit all that sass into such a small package is a miracle of modern science,” Clint laughed.

“Aw, its all that love in a tiny package,” Darcy disputed. “I was told that I had a lot of it to give.”

Bucky smiled at her and gave her a wink from across the table. Steve sat on Darcy's right and Natasha and Clint on her left. The table was full of superheroes and geniuses and some of the most powerfully strategic minds in the world and they were all in that space for his girl. He spoke up for one of the first times in such a public setting.

“Don't think its about the love you give, doll. I think it just takes more than one of us to keep you happy.”

“Hmm. For some strange reason, I like that explanation better.”

Darcy Marie Lewis had seven lines on her ribs, two were faded, one was of her own choosing and not a single one of them matched in the way they were supposed to.

But it was okay. The universe had a way of working out in spite of itself.

* * *

* * *

**The End**

 


	14. Bucky Barnes' Accidental School for Spies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Bucky Barnes' Accidental School for Spies
> 
> Summary:  
> Bucky didn't want to kill people anymore. He had worked very hard to put himself back together and the Black Widow was willing to give him a project that didn't involve copious amounts of murder. Suddenly he's sitting in an office and has people that report to him, and projects to work on and a stinking zen garden on his desk. Not to mention the girl his best pal is sweet on was constantly getting herself into trouble.  
> He might not want to kill people anymore, but he may want to wring Darcy Lewis' neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: F/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies), Thor  
> (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)  
> Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, pre-Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers -  
> Relationship  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha  
> Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Vision (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff,  
> Peter Parker  
> Additional Tags: cotton candy crack, Darcy is amazeballs, bucky has a bad case of the  
> mondays  
> Series: Part 1 of The Idiot's Guide To Workplace Dating  
> Stats: Published: 2015-11-12 Completed: 2015-11-16 Chapters: 5/5 Words:  
> 9384

  
  
  
  


 

* * *

** Bucky Barnes' Accidental School for Spies **

Chapter One  _ Free Ride Take it Easy Peas-y _

Natasha Romanoff definitely knew what she was doing.

The war was over. The apologies had been made. The wounds had been healed.

And Bucky Barnes had returned to the land of the living.

“These are the prospects?” Bucky sat behind a desk with a high degree of discomfort. To say that corporate America was foreign to him would have been a gross understatement. He had spent several lifetimes on ice and a good amount of time as a brain-washed assassin. He didn't know he how he had wound up in an innocuous office building at the Avenger's Facility in upstate New York, behind an ergonomically designed desk, sitting in a cushy, high-backed computer chair. He didn't even know how to use a computer, really. Not unless he was in Winter Soldier mode.

But Natasha Romanoff knew what she was doing.  He had asked her and Steve that he not return to the field unless absolutely necessary.  They had readily agreed.

And Natasha had given him this assignment. Oversee a group of five baby agents? Avengers wannabes?  _ Idiots _ ? As they made their way into the world, fighting for good.

Bucky supposed that Natasha did know what she was doing. After several lifetimes of shit, he really did want to do some good. He didn't quite want to do it behind the scope of a sniper rifle though.  He didn't really understand how they though he could do this, _train_ other human beings that had feelings that he now had to be considerate of.  He didn't really think that was a trick in his wheelhouse anymore.

Steve had encouraged him though, and damn it to hell if Steve gave even an inkling of support, Bucky was going to charge straight ahead and accomplish the goal.

Bucky looked through the folders. He breathed a sigh of relief to see Sam Wilson was at the top. Sam was a damned fine soldier and had certainly done his part during the fall of Shield and earlier that year during the Accords fiasco. Sam didn't need a lot of training in soldiering, but he would need some help in everything else. Without his wings he was kind of a walking accident waiting to happen, all limbs and large feet and zero stealth. The guy was a powerful fighter for a regular non-serumed human, but there were situations you couldn't brute force your way out of (unless you were Steve or Thor). He could help Sam and Sam could continue to help him.

Because the remaining folders were a headache and a half. And Bucky was going to need to work out a lot of frustration in therapy.

“Maximoff? You're giving me Maximoff?” Bucky demanded.

  
  


“She's fun,” Natasha smirked.

“She's a 19 year old kid who YOU couldn't train proper, Red,” Bucky rolled his eyes. He went to the next file and furrowed his brow. “Who the hell is Peter Parker?”

“Some kid who applied for an internship with Stark's R&D Department last spring,” Natasha explained. “He's insanely smart but not very reliable and prone to injuries in his personal life. If you can train him properly, we would be able to send him undercover in a variety of science facilities that house unfriendlies.”

“Vision?” Bucky held up the next file. “You're giving me the robot?”

“Vision isn't a robot, he's a real live boy now!” Natasha smirked.

“NO,” Bucky threw the next folder down on his desk, after having read the synopsis under the picture. He knew that girl. Had stared at her plenty enough from across the canteen to know her face.

The dame was gorgeous, all big blue eyes, long dark hair and the most luscious mouth he had ever seen. But up against the others, geniuses and soldiers and super powered humans and super powered NON-humans, there was no way she could last. She had been a dang intern for an astrophysicist. She had listed her marketable skills as  _ pop-tart unwrapping  _ and the  _ proper care of geniuses _ .

“Darcy Lewis isn't meant to be trained,” Natasha said calmly. “She's meant to be a secretary of sorts.”

“Why would you drag a damned civilian in here?” Bucky demanded. “She'll get herself or all of us killed!”

“She's used to dangerous situations and reacting accordingly,” Natasha rolled her eyes at him. “I would never put Darcy in danger, you moron.”

“She yours?” Bucky wondered, the wind flying from his sails at the _inspiring_ thought of Natasha and that curvy little thing.

“You are an incredible ass,” Natasha grumbled.

“I _have_ an incredible ass,” Bucky smirked back.

“You're a legend in your own head, Barnes,” Natasha rose from her chair and tapped her fingertips on Darcy's open file. “If you don't want her here, that's fine. But I guarantee you that you will fail with all of your charges if you don't keep her on. The Winter Soldier may have been good with a computer, but you're lacking in technological refinement. And you are definitely lacking in the proper care of anything that breathes. She can help you in both of those areas.”

Bucky didn't like being told that he would fail. It had bothered him to hear it in 1941 and it bothered him to hear it in 2016. He looked back down at his files, Darcy Lewis' was on the top, her young, innocent face smiling back up at him. He sighed and sat back in his cushy chair. He was sure that Steve, Natasha and Sam had THOUGHT this next phase of Bucky's life would be easy. A good, simple way to transition into the twenty-first century.

They were all very, very wrong.

* * *

Bucky walked into the office the next day to a whirlwind of activity. Sam, Peter, Vision and Wanda were all moving furniture around while Darcy seemed to supervise, hopping around the space and making sure everything was exactly the way she wanted it. She turned to see him and gave him a huge grin and a wave.

“Yo boss-man! I'm Darcy Lewis, but I'm sure you've read the files. Nice to be glowered at by you.”

“I'm not your boss,” Bucky said curtly, looking around as all of the prospects stopped what they were doing to look at him. Sam gave him a friendly wave and went back to placing computer's on desks.

“ Nat said you were my boss,” Darcy furrowed her brow. “It's  _ very  _ important that I have an authority figure to report to. Didn't you read my file? Without an authority figure to defy and argue with, I'll spiral into minor super villainy. I organized a coup at summer camp when I was eight because we didn't have a bunk leader.”

“What does a coup of eight-year-olds entail?” Peter wondered curiously.

“Eating all the chocolate pudding and setting up a large slip and slide in the mess hall,” Darcy shrugged.

Bucky rolled his eyes and stalked to his office muttering, “Finish this nonsense up. We'll have a briefing in 30 minutes.”

“Oh wait!” Darcy followed him as he continued to stalk to his office. “ I may have set some stuff up in there that needs explanation.”

Bucky opened his door and frowned. The desk was moved to the opposite side of the office, the furniture was re-arranged in a pleasing, inviting manner and she had taken it upon herself to add a bookcase, pictures and a little wooden tray on his desk filled with sand and a tiny bonsai tree.

“What in the hell?” he looked to her in annoyance.

“It's a zen garden,” Darcy shrugged. “It's supposed to give you zen.”

“You know what would give me zen right now, Lewis?” Bucky asked in an eerily calm voice.

Darcy was suddenly reminded of a nun at the children's home she had grown up in. She always got that calm, cool, collected tone right before she completely exploded in anger and ruler waving at Darcy.

“For me to not be all up in your beeswax?” Darcy ventured helpfully. Bucky snapped an annoyed glance her way and she gave him a jaunty salute before spinning around and heading back out into the open office space. She clapped in delight at what she saw and squealed in downright giddiness. “STEVE!”

Bucky stood in his doorway and watched as Darcy greeted Steve with a hug, and the big lug awkwardly patted her with his free hand, his other hand holding on to a small potted plant. He watched carefully and saw the small blush spreading across Steve's cheeks, the way his eyes blinked for prolonged periods of time while Darcy hugged him fiercely.

“Just stopping by to see how the first day was going,” Steve explained to her, and Bucky noted that Captain America's voice sounded pinched. He pulled away finally and looked down at Darcy with a soft smile. “The canteen is sending up some coffee and danishes for you all while you settle in.”

Bucky knew that look Steve was giving her.  He had seen that look  _ plenty  _ during the period of 1931 to 1945.

Steve had a _crush_ on Darcy.

Bucky heard raucous cackling in his head.

From what he saw and knew so far about Darcy Lewis is that she would eat poor Steve Rogers alive.

He kind of wanted to see that, actually.

“Have Mr. Barnes show you around his fancy office. Ask him about his zen garden,” Darcy smirked as she gave Steve another quick squeeze before going back to supervising Vision and Wanda's filing cabinet placement.

“Mr. Barnes?” Steve smiled at his friend as he approached Bucky. He held out the small potted plant and said, “It's a Hawaiian Umbrella tree. Supposed to be great for low-light and they're nearly impossible to kill. Thought it'd make your office more---woah.”

Steve got a look at Bucky's office and he pushed his friend out of the way and walked around. He picked up a framed photo and smiled at the Howling Commando's staring back at him.

“You really made this place nice, Buck. I'm impressed,” Steve admitted.

  
  


“Don't be, it was Lewis,” Bucky rolled his eyes. “You sweet on her?”

“What?” Steve spluttered. “I'm---that's. I mean...”

“She seemed plenty happy to see you earlier,” Bucky shrugged. “Take her to the pictures. To dinner. Out dancing. You deserve to find some happiness, punk.”

“Yeah, but I'm heading out on a mission today,” Steve shook his head. Darcy's deep chuckles of laughter echoed from the other room and both Bucky and Steve turned to watch Darcy laugh as Wanda levitated a file cabinet out of Peter's reach. Steve sighed dreamily and said, “Won't be back for a month at least. Keep her safe for me, and when I get back...I'll definitely give it a shot. Be nice to her. I don't need you glowering her away.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Two **

_** Any Tom Dick or Sally ** _

“So how is it going?”

Natasha rolled her eyes at Steve's anxious question over the Starkphone held to her ear. He was on the other side of the planet and _of course_ he had found the time to call and annoy her about his dumb best friend and the girl he secretly worshiped.

“It's going,” she answered back, making sure her tone was extra-unreadable just to torture Steve a little more.

  
  


“Are they getting along yet? Are they friends now?” Steve wondered.

Natasha heard the sound of punching over the very clear line and asked, “Are you seriously calling me right now in the middle of a fight, Rogers?”

“HE IS!” Clint yelled in the background.

“I'm just worried that they aren't getting along,” Steve admitted. “Maybe it wasn't a good idea for me to go away.”

“It was a great idea,” Natasha insisted. “If only for the fact that I don't have to see your stupid face everyday.”

“HA!” Clint laughed in the background.

“He's resisting,” Natasha revealed. “He's rude to her on good days and completely ignores her existence other days."

  
  
  
  


“That doesn't sound good,” Steve sighed.

Natasha heard his shield hit something extra hard. “He's watching though. When he thinks no one else is watching. Sam got the drop on him the other day because he was too busy watching.”

“That's...that's progress,” Steve sighed, a rustle of wind and a few more punches and kicks filled the line. “Is he around? Can I talk to him?”

“Here,” Natasha had arrived at Bucky's office and threw the phone at him. “Your dumb best friend wants to check in. Bring me my phone back when you're done singing each other old Irish lullabies.”

Bucky rolled his eyes at Natasha before putting the phone to his ear.

“Heya punk.”

“Buck? Hey. So, I hear you're not on your best behavior with Darcy.”

“Natasha ratted me out? She's hardly a good judge on best behavior to Lewis!” Bucky contradicted peevishly. “I mean, she spoils the girl rotten and thinks that if someone isn't bowing to her favorite little Darcy, then they're being mean to her. I'm plenty nice!”

“Yeah, because that's what I think of when I think of you. Plenty nice,” Steve dryly muttered over the phone.

  
  


“Go jump off another building, Stevie,” Bucky grumbled. “Is that the only reason you called? To scold me?”

“Why would I have any other reason?”

“Phone sex?” Bucky shrugged. He immediately heard Clint's raucous laughter in the background and became irritated. “Seriously, punk? You have me on speaker phone around Clint?”

“Sorry, Buck,” Steve chuckled. “I'll take a rain check. Be nice to my girl.”

* * *

It was hard to be nice to Lewis.

She annoyed the ever living daylights out of him on most days. And there were some days he just wanted to slap a gag over her mouth and  _ not  _ in the fun way. She was always in his business, always in EVERYONE'S business.

Despite the fact that she was only five years older than Peter, she played the part of his mother hen quite convincingly, doting over every scrape and bruise the idiot kid would show up with.

She absolutely _coddled_ Wanda Maximoff. At random points through the day she would plop herself on Wanda's desk, petting the girl's hair. She was like a leech on the girl, randomly hugging her, squeezing her arm, nearly tackling her with embraces. It made Bucky worry about Steve's chances with Darcy if she was so interested in being in constant physical contact with the Scarlet Witch.

Whenever they were finished with a gym session, Darcy was there with snacks and drinks for everyone that had Sam cracking jokes about her being a soccer mom. She and Sam had about a million inside jokes already. And thanks to his enhanced hearing, Bucky heard all kinds of pep talks from Darcy to Sam about getting up the courage to finally ask Natasha out on a date.

The Black Widow would CRUSH the Falcon and he would no doubt enjoy the crushing process entirely. Bucky sort of wanted to see that just as much as he wanted to see Darcy Lewis turning Steve eight different shades of beet red.

Vision looked to Darcy for guidance in all things human. Bucky knew he should probably tell the big maroon idiot to stop doing that. The last thing he wanted was some ominpotent super powered Mjolinir approved guy having emotional guidance from a pistol like Lewis.

Cause she  _ was  _ a pistol. He could admit that freely.

And Natasha was right. She was great with technology. She zipped through reading reports, she zipped through inputting reports, she zipped through reading Buzzfeed whenever she got the chance (which was often). He had caught Sam overseeing a race between Darcy, Wanda, Vision and Peter to see which one of them could hack into Tony Stark's personal twitter account first.

She won, even though Vision used to know Tony Stark's damn password.

Stark hadn't been appreciative of her adding the words “in the butt” to the end of all of his tweets.

“Okay kids. Quitting time for your favoritest administrative assistant of all time. I've got to go get gussied up,” Darcy grinned as she grabbed her coat and shrugged it on.

“Good luck, kiddo,” Sam high-fived her.

“Text me!” Wanda called out.

“Wait, where are you going?” Bucky furrowed his brow.

“I have a date with Dr. Keith from the med-bay,” Darcy winked at him. “Wish a gal luck, Sarge!”

Bucky's brow remained furrowed as Darcy walked out of the office.

She had a  _** date ** _ **? **

His mouth set in a scowling frown and he grabbed his own jacket before walking through the office towards the door Darcy had just walked through.

“I've got a thing,” he muttered, not bothering to explain himself further.

“Who wants to follow and watch Barnes make an ass out of himself?” Sam asked, whipping out his phone and texting Natasha.

All four of them eagerly ran from the office within thirty seconds.

* * *

The scowling frown had not disappeared or budged one inch from Bucky's face as he sat on the opposite side of the bar, nursing a beer as Darcy sat at a booth with that pretty boy doctor. She was all big hand gestures and bright smiles as she told stories that had Dr. Keith smiling with apparent fondness.

Bucky could have ripped the guys toenails off.

Darcy was off limits.

Darcy was taken.

Darcy was  _ Steve _ 's dame.

He growled and broke the beer bottle he held in his left hand as Dr. Keith leaned in and tucked a soft curl behind Darcy's ear. He was out of his seat and across the bar in less than five seconds and pulled a chair up to sit between Keith and Darcy.

“Hey Lewis, didn't know you'd be here tonight,” Bucky said easily. He put an arm around Darcy's shoulder and gave her his best 1941 Bucky Barnes' smirk of charm. It may have been the first time he had pulled that out since falling from the train.

“Uhm....what?” Darcy frowned in confusion, her cheeks going pink. “Is this a joke?”

“No joke. Just like spending time with my favorite girl,” Bucky pulled her into him, his fingers rubbing her shoulder possessively as she made a smalls squeaking noise and gaped like a fish at him. He turned a glare Keith's way and said, “Heya pal. How's your night going?”

“Uhm...I'm gonna go,” Keith said quickly. There was no way in hell he was going to engage with the Winter Soldier, no matter how pretty and funny Darcy Lewis was.

“Keith no, wait,” Darcy called out to no avail. She watched as he walked out of the bar with a pout before it evaporated quickly into the fiercest scowl Bucky had ever had the pleasure of seeing on a pretty dame's face. She glared at him and demanded, “What in the ever fucking hell was that, Barnes?”

“Shouldn't be dating pretty doctors when you're rationed already,” Bucky shrugged, pulling his arm off her shoulder and putting some distance between them. His whole arm twitched in retaliation, like it had wanted to stay there.

“ _Rationed_?” Darcy squinted at him. “Please, tell me Sarge, who has _rationed_ me?”

“You're Steve's dame,” Bucky said calmly. “Or you will be.”

“I'm nobody's dame,” Darcy said lowly. She took the rest of her glass of wine and proceeded to dump it on Bucky's head. “Next time you come at me spewing shit like that, you're going to meet the business end of my taser. AND I'll rat you out to Natasha. Understand?”

He didn't get a chance to answer as she grabbed her coat and bag and fairly disappeared from view.

Then he heard the cackling. He looked to the other side of the bar and saw Natasha and his underlings roaring with laughter and pointing at him in obvious amusement.  It dawned on him that they had been there the entire time.  Either he had already trained them in all they needed to know in the art of stealth, or he was _seriously_ slipping.

He automatically blamed the absent Steve.

“Fucking punk.”

* * *

* * *

  
  


** Chapter Three **

_** How Do You Solve a Problem Like Peter? ** _

“Oh hey, Parker, come and help a lady out.”

“Sure, where's the lady?” Peter wise cracked, walking into Bucky's office, where Darcy was currently going about wrapping every surface of the room, the desk, the computer, the chair up with custom printed wrapping paper. Peter squinted and said, “Darce, is that grumpy cat?”

“With our fearless leader's face?” Darcy finished. “Yes sir, yes it is. Can you reach up to the top of the bookshelf and get me the plant? I'm going to wrap that too.”

“Did you...did you wrap all of his pens and pencils individually?” Peter wondered.

“Damn right I did,” Darcy grinned. “I also reprogrammed his phone to play _Push It_ from Salt-n-Pepa whenever it rings. And set up the programming so that all Avengers official documents, including his paycheck are printed to read _James Assface Barnes_. It's been a highly productive weekend for me, Parker. How was yours?”

Peter winced as he reached up to grab the potted plant Darcy needed. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to just sling a web for it, what with his bruised as cracked ribs, but he wasn't going to let Darcy know who he really was, no matter how awesome she was.

“Eh, you know, went back to Queens, visited my Aunt,” he shrugged, handing her the plant and avoiding her suspicious look of concern. “Wish I could have stayed on base. I mean, Wanda said something about midnight bowling?”

“Yeah, remind me to never take the Scarlet Witch bowling ever again,” Darcy chuckled. “It's highly unfair when she can just knock stuff over with a twist of her wrist.”

Peter got a fond smile on his face and Darcy continued to scrutinize and catalog his every reaction and emotion. She knew that he had a crush on Wanda. But she also knew that Wanda had a crush on Vision.

Ugh, threesomes. What a mess.

“So I'm going to head on down to the canteen and grab breakfast. You want?”

“So many Danishes. I want so many danishes,” Darcy smiled at him. “Doling out retribution makes me crave pastries.”

“Really? It makes me crave corn chips,” Peter laughed as he walked out of the office with a slight limp.

Darcy pursed her lips and went for Bucky's desk phone, pulling up his recent call log and calling the last outgoing phone number. She waited for three rings before she heard a sleepy, mumbling.

“Hey Buck. You're up early. Having trouble sleeping without me?”

“ Uhm. Hi Steve,” Darcy's eyes bugged out of her head as she pulled the phone away from her ear for a split second and stared at the receiver in a cartoonish look of shock as she mouthed  _ whaaaaaaaaaaaat _ .

“Darcy? What are you---why are you calling from Bucky's phone...did you guys—I mean, without me—no I mean, are you okay? Is something wrong?” Steve stammered, all of his words slurring and stacking together.

“Your _friend_ is a huge pain in my ass, that's about the only thing wrong in my world right now,” Darcy admitted.

“Oh sweetheart, what did he do?”

Darcy pulled the phone away again and stared at it in even more shock mouthing silently  _ sweetheart? _ .

“He ruined my date with Dr. Pretty Keith Dudemeister, but I'm working through that on my own,” Darcy continued to wrap Bucky's plant in her custom made wrapping paper. “I wanted to call you to ask you a question about Peter Parker.”

“You had a date?” Steve's anxious tone could be heard over the phone.

“Yes, but we're not talking about that, we're talking about Peter. I think Natasha isn't telling Bucky something about Peter and I'm worried. Is there something I should know about what Peter gets up to on the weekends?”

“Why don't you ask Natasha?” Steve wondered.  And then like a dog with a bone he wondered,  “And how did Bucky ruin your date?”

“Natasha told me that if I wanted to find out, I would find out myself. She's very big on making me do things for myself so that I can be her one true apprentice,” Darcy shrugged. “And Bucky ruined my date by sitting down at the table and scaring off my date with his stupid face.”

“Well, if you wanted to find out information about Peter, maybe you should go to his boss,” Steve suggested. “You know, the guy who scared away your date.”

“Steve. I love you, but I kind of hate you right now.”

* * *

“We have a problem.”

Bucky looked up from the latest mission reports that Steve had filed in the system, going over them for any potential threat to Steve's safety. It had taken him four hours to unwrap his office. He would never admit to saving some of the paper to use on Steve's shield when he came home. But he totally did.

Darcy stomped into his office and sat in the cushiest chair in front of his desk, her arms crossed in front of her, a rare serious expression on her face.

“ Look, I'm sorry for ruining your date with the doctor, but he's a big dummy in a pretty package and you're too good for him anyway,” Bucky said bluntly, ignoring the way her cheeks flushed at the declaration. “I know you're a modern gal and its wrong to say you belong to another person. But you gotta understand Lewis, that Steve is so sweet on you it's  _ actually  _ painful.”

“Then Steve should have opened his big mouth a long time ago and made his feelings clear,” Darcy disputed, her cheeks flushing pink at the thought in spite of her best intentions. “He has never shown any interest in me but a platonic one.”

And he apparently helped Bucky get to sleep at night. Darcy wanted to say that but couldn't push the words out of her mouth for once.

“That's just cause Stevie ain't so great with pretty dames,” Bucky explained. Her expression changed for a fraction of a second and he looked at her warily before asking, “What?”

“You think I'm pretty?” Darcy shrugged. She looked at him with a carefully blank face, shrewdly judging his response all the same.

“I'd be blind if I didn't think you were gorgeous, Lewis,” Bucky rolled his eyes. He shook his head and said, “You said we had a problem?”

“We need to find out what is going on with Peter,” Darcy nodded. “He comes in every Monday with new bruises, this morning he _limped_ in. I'm really scared that he's being harassed or involved in something he's not supposed to be involved in. Something is happening to him on the weekends when he goes back to Queens and I think its BAD NEWS. All caps.”

“Peter's a grownup,” Bucky reminded her.

“I'm following him to Queens this weekend. Either you let me go off on my own and you can explain to Steve how you let _his dame_ get kidnapped or killed, OR you can come with me.”

* * *

“You drive like a crazy person.”

“Well I spent ten solid years playing video games to work on my hand eye coordination and figure out ridiculously defensive driving, so...Thanks!” Darcy smiled at him as she reached into the back seat and pulled up a plastic bag full of candy. She held it open and said, “Pick your poison?”

“That's your dinner?” Bucky peered into the bag that probably contained roughly five pounds of refined sugar.

  
  


“Candy is the fuel that I need to continue at my current levels of awesome,” Darcy shrugged, grabbing three pixie sticks, ripping the tops off and pouring them down her throat. '

Bucky watched in fascination as she continued to pop candy into her mouth like it was her sole purpose of living before she popped a lollipop in her mouth and he felt a twinge of _something_ go through him. He shook himself from his reverie and looked around the block she had parked them on.

“I'm gonna go get us real food before you make yourself sick,” Bucky announced, getting out of the car.

“This is like, half of what I usually get through on a Monday morning!” Darcy called after him loudly. “What kind of weak ass punk do you think I am, Sarge?”

“ Hey, part of surveillance is  _ not  _ shouting once you've found your spot,” Bucky advised her lowly before slamming the door harder than necessary.

“That's the first useful thing you've taught me!” Darcy shouted loud enough to be heard through the windows.

* * *

“This makes a lot of sense.”

Darcy and Bucky were in an unmarked car, running surveillance on the dark streets of Queens and had been for the last three hours. Peter had visited a friend and was meandering his way home when police sirens began wailing. Then Peter ducked in an alleyway and instead of the young guy walking back out, a superhero swung out via spider web.

“It does explain an awful lot,” Bucky nodded as Darcy started the car and pulled off in pursuit. He turned wild eyes to her and demanded, “What in the ever loving hell do you think you're doing, Lewis?”

“I'm going to help out my friend,” Darcy shrugged as she maneuvered through the streets at high speeds with apparent ease. Turns out that driving a camper in the desert lent itself to fairly impressive driving of a sedan, even if Bucky did think she drove like a crazy person.

“How? By bringing him orange slices and a gatorade when he's done?” Bucky growled. “This isn't fun time at the office, Lewis, this is actually dangerous. You're out of your league here, kitten.”

“Thanks for the insults,” Darcy snapped back at him, churlishly. Forget sniper rifles, Bucky's mouth was his most dangerous weapon. “It's nice to know what you really think of my abilities.”

“Your abilities are not being discussed, I'm sure you're just peachy at whatever it is that you actually do, but you're rushing head long into danger right now,” Bucky slapped the dash as she threw the car into park, then grabbed the icer that her buddies in Shield had provided and hopped out of the car. “Get back here!”

Darcy stomped away, heedless of the danger she was putting herself in and Bucky was hot on her heels, feeling very much like he was chasing a ridiculously reckless Steve Rogers. Except back in the day before Project Rebirth Steve was chasing trouble with normal humans.

Darcy was stomping towards a hulking giant of a man in a silvery gray tactical suit with a purple cape. Bucky felt a switch go off inside of him, one that he hadn't utilized since they figured out a way to turn it off, but found incredibly necessary as Darcy kept walking towards imminent death.

_ Mission parameters: Protect Darcy Lewis. _

_ Threat level assessment: Medium to high. Quentin Beck, codename Mysterio. _

_ Course of action: Avoid close combat. Sniper rifle necessary. _

_ Probability of mission success: 99.999997% _

Bucky turned on his heel and went back to to the trunk of the car obtaining his rifle and assembling it as he efficiently moved to the nearest fire escape, zeroing in on the perfect nest with the necessary line of sight. He was in place in less than thirty seconds and had Mysterio in his sights even as Darcy hid in a doorway, her weapon ready.

It was all for naught, because Peter seemed to have things under control . Mysterio retreated before the police could arrive and Darcy stomped out and held the icer on Peter before he could make a getaway.

“You are in so much trouble, Petey, you have no idea,” Darcy shook her head. “TOTALLY GROUNDED. Go get in the car.”

Bucky took a deep breath as the idea of _mission accomplished_ settled into his bones and he made his way back to the car. He watched as Darcy plucked something off of the pavement and waited until she approached the car again.

“You are BOTH grounded,” Bucky advised. He glared at Darcy especially, his lips turning up in a snarl as he declared, “Lewis, you're a bigger damned headache than Steve ever was.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Four **

_** Not My Best Friend's Girlfriend ** _

“Hey, why did I get a box filled with Captain America dolls that were all headless?”

“Your girlfriend is out of her damned mind, that's why!” Bucky shouted over the phone.

“Uhm...what?”

Bucky glared at the phone that Steve was currently spluttering through.

“I took her to Queens today and you know what she did when we figured out Parker is Spiderman? Try and guess, punk. Just one guess.”

“Uhm...something reckless?”

  
  


“She tried to chase down a super villain, Steve. A fucking Super villain with fucking super human abilities and a fucking cape.”

“Buck, calm down...is Darcy alright?”

  
  


“I'm about to wring her neck, so if she's alright now, she's not gonna stay alright!” Bucky growled. “She's an even bigger idiot that you ever were. What in the hell did I do to deserve the two of you in my life?”

“Killed a bunch of people?” Natasha offered with a straight face as she waltzed into Bucky's office and sat down in front of his desk. “Hey Steve."

  
  


“Hey Nat. Look, I have to go, Clint's waiting in the quinjet,” Steve announced. “Bucky, just please calm down. I'm sure Darcy didn't mean to...”

“OH YES SHE DID!” Bucky yelled.

“I gotta go, I'll call back as soon as I can.”

Bucky turned his glare from the phone to level the look at Natasha instead. The Black Widow seemed nonplussed by his rancor and raised a single eyebrow, her face perfectly neutral and bored.

“Didn't think it was important enough to put in Parker's file that you know, he was Spiderman?” Bucky wondered.

“I thought you would be able to figure it out yourself,” Natasha shrugged. “It only took Darcy's intuition and plan for you to get with the program.”

“She's got no brains in her head and not even a lick of common sense. Either move her to a different department or I quit.”

“Fine,” Natasha shrugged again, growing ever more calm as Bucky grew only angrier. “I'll move her back to Selvig's lab.”

“I mean, its one thing for the superheroes to be rushing off into danger, she's just a normal human and she ran with that stupid Icer that her Shield buddies gave her, thinking that's going to save her from someone the Winter Soldier wouldn't even get into close combat with!” Bucky yelled. “What kind of idiot does that?”

“The brave kind,” Natasha said evenly. “And keep your voice down, she can hear every word you're saying.”

“I'd rather hurt her feelings than have her dead on the streets!” Bucky growled. “She's gotta go, Nat. I can't have her here anymore.”

“ I said  _ fine _ ,” Natasha said coolly. “She'll go back to Selvig's lab. There are plenty of lab assistants that worship the ground she walks on, they've missed her since she asked for the reassignment to your team.”

Bucky fumed in his seat at the mention of lab assistants _worshiping_ her. Steve better get his slow moving ass in gear, because this dame was a hot commodity on a base full of men that were panting after her.

“What do you mean she asked for the reassignment?” Bucky furrowed his brow.

Natasha arched a brow and said, “Steve told her that you were leading this initiative. She wanted to help you. She asked to be reassigned.”

Bucky blew out a heavy breath and sat at his desk with his arms crossed angrily over his chest. He felt about half of his anger blow right out of his sails and he avoided Natasha's always devastating, calculating gaze.

“You like her,” she said simply.

“Steve likes her,” Bucky corrected her.

“ And  _ you  _ like her,” Natasha nodded. She pursed her lips for a split second before asking, “How did you deal with the resurfacing of your conditioning? You seem to be coping rather well.”

  
  


Bucky glared at Natasha some more. He should have known better. Of course she knew that the Winter Soldier had come out to play earlier that evening. He wouldn't be surprised to know that this whole thing including Mysterio was her doing to get him more comfortable with that side of his brain.

“He wanted to protect her,” he mumbled. “That's all.”

She victoriously smirked and stood up from her chair. “Good. I'll tell her to pack her desk up.”

Bucky watched as Natasha left his office and approached Darcy's desk.

He knew she'd be safer in the lab. She hadn't even been on the project for a month and she'd already run head long into a seriously deadly situation. As the training for his other four charges got more serious, the potential danger for her would only increase. Bucky could practically see her chasing Wanda or Sam or Vision down when they were on a mission just to provide them with her own special brand of backup. She'd wind up kidnapped, tortured and killed in less than a year.

_Prospective mission: Train Darcy Lewis_ .

Bucky furrowed his brow at his traitorous alter-ego. That wasn't an option. He didn't want her anywhere near the kind of situations that would necessitate training. He wanted her to be safe.

_Continued mission: Protect Darcy Lewis_ .

Bucky actually held his hand to his head in annoyance, wishing that the simple touch would shut off the Winter Soldier spewing ridiculous ideas at him.

“Fuck off, brain,” Bucky muttered.

“BARNES! GET OUT HERE!” Natasha yelled.

He jumped out of his seat and ran to Natasha, who was standing beside Darcy at her desk.

“What did you let her do?” Natasha demanded of him harshly.

“We went to Queens and ate some really bad burgers and fries, and then she ate her body weight in candy.  You know the rest,” Bucky shrugged. He took a better look at Darcy, who was sitting in front of her dual monitor computer. One screen held a video of puppies playing but she was currently staring at the other computer screen full of 1's and 0's. He passed a hand in front of her eyes and she didn't flinch or move. She didn't even blink. “That can't be good.”

Natasha ripped a zip drive out of Darcy's computer and held it up to him. “Where did she get this?”

“She picked it up off the ground back in Queens,” Bucky squinted at it. “Thought it was her lipstick at the time.”

“It is NOT her lipstick,” Natasha growled at him. She pushed Darcy away from the computer, reaching out a capable fist and knocking the monitor to the ground. She stared down at a catatonic Darcy and shook her head. “This is not good, Barnes. Parker said it was Mysterio in the alley.”

“Yeah, saw him before he took off,” Bucky nodded.

“ Do you know what he's capable of?” Natasha demanded. She waved a hand in front of Darcy's unresponsive eyes. “ _ Hypnotism.” _

“Lewis, come on, snap out of it,” Bucky demanded, kneeling in front of her and looking up into those big blue unresponsive eyes. It was like all the light and twinkling mirth that was usually there had been snuffed out. He wrinkled his nose and muttered, “Stevie's gonna kick my ass if I let anything happen to you. Please snap out of it, Doll.”

Natasha turned Darcy's chair so the girl was facing her and she slapped her with her full strength, knocking Darcy's head to the side, her eyes still blank and unfocused.

“Jesus, Natasha!” Bucky hissed, pulling the chair closer to him and tenderly righting Darcy's face. His thumb reverently caressing her cheek.  “Don't hurt her.”

The lights to the building flickered before going out completely. The room was plunged into darkness, and not the garden variety lights out darkness. But _actual_ pitch black, empty void, inky darkness.

“Barnes, Mysterio is also pretty handy with special effects,” Natasha revealed. “Do not let him take her.”

A flash of light went off in the room and was followed by the dark blackness again. The sound of combat echoed in the void as Natasha did her best to defend the prone Darcy.

“My arm,” Bucky grunted as he took a blow to the stomach.

“It's an EMP,” Natasha guessed. “Your arm will be useless until we can reset it.”

Bucky did his best with the heavy metal arm hanging limply at his side, standing resolutely in front of Darcy and pushing, punching and kicking seemingly countless attackers away from her. She was going to be fine. They were turning the tide and everything was going to be fine. And then he was going to wrap her up in soft blankets and lock her in a room so she would be safe until Steve got back and then she could be his headache. She was going to be fine.

And then he smelt the sickly sweet gas.

He and Natasha woke up to a trashed room, emergency lights on, with Sam, Vision, Wanda and Peter standing above them.

And Darcy was gone.

* * *

* * *

_** Chapter Five ** _

_** A Whole New Girl ** _

“Activate her. Let's see how well your programming works, Beck.”

Darcy blinked for the first time since waking up in the warehouse, which was about fifteen miles from the Avengers facility. She felt a needle at the base of her neck and flinched ever so slightly when she felt the cool liquid being injected.

“I thought you said the asset had taken the programming?”

“I misjudged the girl. She was to give it to him,” Beck explained. “Either way, we can see if the programming works, if it does not, we kill her. If it does, we use her as a tool to bring in the asset. Either way, you will be able to rebuild your winter soldier program and I will have completed my contract with you.”

Darcy's eyes narrowed at the mention of the Winter Soldier. She felt herself coming out of the fog that the hypnotic computer program had started as whatever they had injected her with clearly activated.

Her eyes did a barely noticeable pass of the room, taking in every exit, every possible entry point, every available weapon and every potential threat to her safety in  _ milliseconds _ .

_Huh. So this is what Natasha felt like all the time. Competent as fuck_ .

* * *

“Wanda and Vision, I'm going to want you on the roof. Peter and Natasha in through the back exit. Sam and I will take the front,” Bucky went over the plan as they stood in front of the warehouse. He tried to remain calm as the Winter Solider kept _chanting_ in his head about how the mission was _Protect Darcy Lewis._ He knew that already dammit. He didn't need that frosty bastard reminding him.

It had taken one call to Stark to get Darcy's implanted tracking device turned on and they had her location in less than ten minutes after Bucky and Natasha woke up.

“Heat signatures are showing here,” Peter pointed out of the blueprint of the building.

“If one of you finds her, forget the rest of us and get her out,” Natasha ordered levelly. She looked at Vision and Wanda in particular, knowing that the two of them had a budding office romance. Then to Peter, who she knew had an unrequited crush on Wanda. “The rest of us can protect ourselves. Darcy cannot.”

* * *

The idiots hadn't even bothered to restrain her.

There were five armed men in the room, along with that big ugly doofus Mysterio and a Hydra higher power.

Her brain went through at least ten different scenarios as to how everything could play out at a ridiculously fast rate and she narrowed it down to two scenarios, knowing that she could seamlessly switch between the two if necessary.

Mysterio was waxing poetic about his awesomeness in hypnotizing her and downloading a crap ton of information about fighting, survival skills, weaponry and blah de blah blah blah.

Oh hey, she had different languages rolling around in her brain. That was crazy awesome!

She waited patiently, going through various television show theme songs in her head in multiple languages until two of the goons approached her, getting her ready for transport to another facility.

“Nah,” she shrugged as he approached. “I don't feel like it.”

Her hand shot out and punched the goon's windpipe with all of her strength, sending him to the floor in that simple move and she was out of her chair like a rocket, picking it up and tossing it at two rapidly approaching goons.

She dearly wished that someone could have taken video of her doing the next bit, because she would proudly have posted it to all of her social media accounts and then made multiple gifsets of it for her tumblr. She vaulted over another goon, using his body as leverage as she threw her body at the next one, gripping his gun and wrenching it out of his hands.

Six precise shots and all of the Hydra goons had fun new holes in their legs. She turned a glare Mysterio's way and before she could get the shot off he had disappeared in a literal puff of smoke.

“LAME SAUCE,” Darcy huffed in annoyance.

“Holy shit,” Bucky breathed from the doorway. Darcy pointed the gun at him and he held up his hands immediately. “What the hell happened?”

“I'm a super weapon now,” Darcy shrugged. “Totally badass, right? Now you can't fire me or move me back to the lab, which I totally HEARD by the way, you douche canoe. Suck it up, soldier. You're stuck with me.”

_ Proposed Mission: Allow Darcy Lewis to protect herself. _

“Yeah, don't think that being stuck with you is such a bad thing,” Bucky approached Darcy quickly, taking the gun out of her hands before wrapping her up in tight embrace.

“ Mr. Barnes, what would my not-boyfriend Steve think about you putting your hands on me?” Darcy scoffed. “I'm  _ rationed,  _ remember?”

“Shut up, Lewis,” Bucky squeezed her gently.

“Then what would he say about ME putting my hands on his sort of kind of boyfriend?” Darcy whispered in his ear. She felt him tense and she hummed happily, “This may be my newly strategic brain talking, but I think Steve has been planning something for quite some time now. We should really have a chat with him when we get the chance.”

“Darcy? You okay?” Natasha questioned as she and the rest of the team walked into the room. Natasha smirked as Bucky loosened his hold, but refused to let her go completely.

“I'm more than okay, I'm officially your mini-Widow now. I know capoeira! And also how to incapacitate someone with a rubber band!” Darcy revealed as Bucky finally released her. She punched the air in her best impersonation of a prize fighter. “Like all this crap is in my head. I'm pretty sure I could take Thor down now without the taser. It's going to be so fun!”

“Steve's going to kick my ass,” Bucky muttered miserably.

Darcy grinned at him devilishly. “Don't worry, I'll protect you.”

* * *

“She's going to be fine, you know.

Bucky looked up from his seat outside of the med bay where Darcy was being looked at by Dr. Turk and Dr. Dorian. Knowing Darcy and the two doctors they were probably asking her to do stunts and rattle off swear words in other languages. Bucky gave half of a smile towards Sam, who sat down next to him.

“They're going to go after her now,” Bucky sighed. “They're going to want a return on their investment. They're going to go after both of us now.”

“Good thing the both of you are kind of kick ass now.  And you know, Captain America is kind of in love with you both,” Sam shrugged. “I mean, she's got the brains, you and Cap have got the muscles. Kind of makes the three of you unstoppable.”

“I gotta call Stevie and tell him,” Bucky groaned in annoyance. “He asked me to make nice and to keep her safe and I managed to get her turned into a super weapon that Hydra thinks they have a claim on. I mean---what if she's got a trigger?”

“I checked her against the activation codes that used to work on you,” Sam promised. “She looked at me like I was a nutjob and told me my blue balls over Natasha were wrecking my brain.”

Bucky chuckled in spite of himself. “So, I think this little project worked out pretty well. I mean, we'll need to do a couple of test missions, but the four of you little Junior Avengers are working pretty well together. And I'm ---you know, working pretty well with the abominable snow soldier in my brain.”

“Yeah, Nat might have mentioned that you had had a breakthrough,” Sam smiled at him. He shook his head at Bucky in sympathy. The need to save Darcy Lewis from herself had pushed Bucky's brain one step closer to complete re-integration. “I think that before all of the fighting manuals and spy tutorials and assassin how-to-guides were downloaded into her brain, Darcy was already kind of the superior weapon.”

* * *

“ So are you going to admit that you kind of like me now, or what? Do we have to wait and ask for Steve's approval to get things started? Because that's going to  _ suck,”  _ Darcy sighed as she watched Bucky clean up the mess that was her office. It was now a little after 7 am on Saturday morning and Darcy had a large cup of coffee in one hand and a handful of twizzlers in another.  The past twenty-four hours hadn't really changed her much if you just looked at her briefly.  Take a closer look and you'd see that she was trying to fashion a garrote from the candy and actually succeeding.

The rest of their crew had gone home, but Bucky and Darcy had stuck around the office for a little while longer after her rescue, medical check and debrief.

Apparently, the zip file held manuals for everything a world class spy or assassin could ever need. They figured it wouldn't work on any old human, but since Darcy had always been particularly good at processing random sequences of digits on a computer screen, it had worked very well for her. The injection they had given her hadn't been serum based or toxic, just a derivative of xanax and sodium pentothal that would activate the latent information in her brain.

She had retained autonomy and Bucky had guessed it was due to her sheer idiotic stubbornness. But Natasha had more correctly guessed that it was because she had also been watching puppy videos at the time, and had missed the part of the programming that would make her the winter soldier redux.

Either way, she was officially a part of the team.  She had the know how, but lacked the actual muscle to be a truly superior weapon.  There was no way that Bucky was going to let her out of his sight now, since she was going to be even more of a commodity to their enemies than she had been to all the lab monkeys that had worshiped the ground she walked on.

Darcy licked her lips while a dreamy image passed through her thoughts. She shrugged, “I won't lie, I wouldn't mind keeping the both of you at my beck and call, but I really don't feel like waiting for Captain America to be done saving the world so we can hash out the details.”

“Can you shut your trap for maybe two seconds, Lewis?”

  
  


“ _ Make me _ .”

Bucky grabbed her by her shoulders and hauled her out of her chair to bring her body flush against him. That was a mistake. She looked like the cat who ate the canary and he could now feel every soft, delectable inch of every single perfect curve of her body. He swallowed and let his eyes focus on that fabulous pout that was pulled into a small smirk on her face. His tongue darted out just a fraction to lick his lower lip but he could see Darcy's eyes zero in on the small action and suddenly the tables were turned.

He angled his head down to her open, panting mouth, his lips just hovering above hers, the separating inches melting into centimeters into near nothingness as she continued to breathe heavily against his mouth.

  
  


“Yeah, we should wait till Stevie gets back. Wouldn't want to hurt our boy's feelings by leaving him out of anything important,” Bucky pulled away suddenly and turned on his heel, grabbing his jacket and heading for the door. He whistled a jaunty tune and threw his jacket over his shoulder, heading straight to the elevator.

“Barnes, you are an incredible asshole!” Darcy yelled.

“I have an incredible ass, darlin',” Bucky corrected her. “And I can't step on my best guy's toes here. I've already tried to kill him more than once this lifetime. He'll be back next week and we can figure everything out then.”

Darcy huffed and stomped back to Bucky's desk, calling the last outgoing number. The phone picked up on the first ring and Darcy didn't give Steve a chance to speak.

“Look, Steve. I don't know what you had planned leaving your boyfriend hanging around here with me, but congratulations, IT WORKED. First I thought you were going to make a move on me before you bolt, what with the almost kissing and the moaning my name and whatnot but then you leave me with James Assface Barnes. Now I want in BOTH of your pants. And I'd like to open up negotiations on how friendly the touching can be until you get stateside, cause I'd really like to get my revenge on Bucky right now. And by revenge I mean my tongue in his mouth.”

“ew, Darcy. Gross.”

“Clint?” Darcy furrowed her brow.

“Yeah, get Nat and Bucky on the line. We have a problem. Steve sort of...got kind of..just a little bit...”

“Oh my god, Clint, spit it out!”

“Well, he kind of got a little kidnapped.  I think.”

* * *

**The End**

 


	15. Triangles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Triangles
> 
> Summary:  
> Darcy Lewis was a professional Third Wheel. There was no shame in it. She enjoyed her friendships with all of her close friends who just happened to be coupled up. Her favorite pair of people to be around easily being Steve and Bucky. And she is very aware of the fact that their merry trio has an expiration date. The minute those boys realize that they love each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Category: F/M, M/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies), Fantastic Four (Movies)  
> Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky"  
> Barnes/Steve Rogers, Darcy Lewis/Johnny Storm, Darcy  
> Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, Natasha  
> Romanov/Sam Wilson, Jane Foster/Thor  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Johnny Storm,  
> Natasha Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Clint Barton, Jane Foster  
> (Marvel), Thor (Marvel), Tony Stark, Pepper Potts  
> Additional Tags: No crack, serious attempt at angst, Pining, darcy lewis is a  
> professional third wheel, background couples galore, i apologize in  
> advance, Canon-Typical Violence  
> Stats: Published:

** Chapter One: Equilateral **

Darcy Lewis was a professional Third Wheel.

She had quite a few best friends, much like a thirteen year old girl in middle school. And those best friends just happened to be in pairs.

She loved Jane and Thor, who didn't really come as a pair so much as a single melded entity of one mind and mostly two bodies nowadays. Darcy liked to refer to them as Jorne. They were a mythical two-headed beast and they were all hers. Nothing beat a fun lunch outside of the tower with them. Everything was new and exciting when she spent time with Jorne.

She loved Natasha and Sam, who were already quite the duo and on the fast track to becoming so much more. Darcy loved to watch them tentatively taking steps towards each other. She was so proud of Natasha for opening herself up. And Sam was a good bro who 10000% deserved only amazing things. And Natasha was certainly one amazing thing.

She loved Pepper and Tony. She was five seconds away from letting the two of them adopt her, really. Tony offered to do so weekly. She bridged the gap between Tony's crazy and Pepper's competence and they always rewarded her handsomely. Like...trips to the Caribbean handsomely.

And Darcy loved Steve and Bucky. Steve who was all things good in the world. Bucky who had been to hell and back and was finally, mostly, on his own two feet. If she was being honest, Steve and Bucky had garnered most of her friend love nowadays.

So long as there wasn't Avenging to be done there was a movie night twice a week. Private dancing lessons once a week (dancing helped Bucky remember and Steve needed all the help he could get). Sunday brunch, the all you can eat and drink kind, where the super soldiers put away the food and Darcy put away the mimosas. And they had dinner together nearly every day. Other Avengers would drop in on the dinners, but the majority of the nights it was always just Darcy, Bucky and Steve.

Darcy was probably being selfish. With her other couple-y friends, she was the consummate third wheel to their romantic relationship. There was no shame in that, every couple needed that third wheel every once in a while. The voice of reason that could solve the easy disputes. The outside anchor that kept things from getting too  _ married couple-ish _ .

It was pretty refreshing to be a part of a trio of people where she didn't feel like the outsider, though. So yes, she spent a lot of time with Steve and Bucky.

“Just don't fall in love with them,” Clint advised her one day when they were playing Rock Band in the common room.

“I think they're closer to realizing that they love each other,” Darcy admitted sheepishly. She wasn't willing to admit that she may have slightly, probably sort of did that already. Clint could read her like a book though and she simply shrugged as the next song loaded, “I probably have like, two weeks more of this fun best friend trio before they ditch me for sexy soldier times.”

“Well, you always have me and Lucky,” Clint smirked.

“Yeah, I always have you two goofballs,” Darcy nodded. “Valhalla help me.”

* * *

“Why does it have to be from scratch? Stevie and I went to the grocery store last week, and I gotta tell you, Doll, you can buy all this crap pre-made nowadays,” Bucky grumbled as Darcy worked diligently on striking things off of her to-do list of Thanksgiving preparedness. “Nobody cares if you don't make the pie from scratch or buy it. We're gonna eat it regardless.”

“That is highly offensive,” Darcy huffed at him as she aggressively crossed out things she had already done. “I don't know if I can be your friend anymore.”

“Buck, stop picking on Darce,” Steve said absentmindedly as he peeled his one hundredth apple. “This is important to her, so it should be important to us.”

“I'm just needling her for fun,” Bucky huffed. “Besides, she's doing all this work, when we could be watching that movie instead. I mean, no one is gonna notice the difference between her pie and the ones we saw at the store.”

“You know what?” Darcy looked up from her lists with a manic glint in her eyes. “When the pies are done, you get to have _one bite_ of my pumpkin pie. And then after that? You never get to eat it again. _Never_.”

Bucky swallowed, recognizing that look in Darcy's eyes. He had mocked and picked and needled her about watching a crazy television show about a little girl kicking vampire butt once before and she had let him watch _one_ episode with her before cutting him off entirely, even programming Jarvis to keep the show away from him. Steve had been a good little boy, _of course_ and he had gotten to watch every episode.

Now the two of them had all sorts of inside jokes and Bucky HATED it.

Darcy only used that brand of punishment when she was absolutely positive that he was going to like what she offered before she took it away.

“Apples are peeled, sweetheart,” Steve held up a huge bowl full of at least twenty pounds of apples.

“ Oh good, now you can start peeling the potatoes,” Darcy grinned, gesturing off-handedly to the huge sacks of potatoes. She saw the slight grimace on his face and gave him her most wheedling smile. “You get to taste test  _ everything  _ before everyone else, promise.”

Darcy sauntered off to go and procure the necessary brandy and wine she would need to cook with from Stark's reserves, giving a last wrinkle of her nose to Bucky. He rolled his eyes as she hopped towards the elevator before smirking at Steve.

“You shoulda asked for a taste test of those pouty lips of hers,” he advised.

  
  


“Shut it, Buck,” Steve ordered, blushing immediately.

“You know you want to,” Bucky teased, unable to keep the slightest tone of malice out of his words. He felt a sliver of jealousy at the idea of Steve kissing Darcy. And he knew he wasn't just jealous of Steve in that scenario. He shrugged and admitted, “Hell, I want to. There ain't no shame in it.”

“Really, shut up,” Steve shook his head as he rose and grabbed one of the bags of potatoes.

The relationship between Bucky, Steve and Darcy was great. Steve knew that. But he couldn't help but feel agitation every once in a while. There should be more and he could feel it. But to hell if he could figure out the how or the what or the who of it. There were days when Darcy did something so ridiculously adorable in that loud, brash, rollercoaster of a human being way of hers that he just wanted to grab her and kiss her until she begged for air.

But if he were being totally honest with himself, which he wasn't, he felt like that with Bucky all of the time. For no reason at all except that it was Bucky. Either way, it was a mess, and Steve did what he did best with emotional messes. He buried it deep down and went about his business with a shit-eating Captain America grin on his face.

He tossed Bucky a peeler and said, “Let's get this done. Maybe if you keep your trap shut and help us out, we can still get done in time to watch that movie you wanted to.”

* * *

Steve did get a taste test of the pies when they were finally finished and cooled at close to 3 in the morning. He made no effort to hide the euphoric roll of his eyes at each bite. Bucky could only watch in pouting jealousy.

One of the things Bucky liked most about Darcy was her conviction. It made her a great friend. But it was also a pain in the ass when it came to how she handed down punishments. He'd gotten exactly one bite of that pumpkin pie at 3 in the morning. And he was jealous as all hell the next day when all of his friends and associates got to enjoy the pie and he didn't.

He almost didn't take the piece of pie that Steve had snuck for him later on Thanksgiving night. Ever since he came in from Hydra he was kind of big on paying the penance he deserved. But all Steve had to do was wave the plate under his nose and Bucky couldn't help himself. He reached out and grabbed the plate, scarfing down the pie as quickly as he could.

“REALLY STEVE?” Darcy shouted from across the kitchen where she was divvying up leftovers. Darcy pointed to the ceiling and said, “Did you forget that Jarvis is my one true love?”

“Shit, Stevie is in trouble,” Bucky smirked.

“No pie for either of you. EVER AGAIN.”

“Damn,” Steve grumbled. He looked to Bucky with a grimace and said, “This is your fault.”

“Go and smooch her. She'll forget all about it,” Bucky goaded.

Steve rolled his eyes and demanded, “What's the sudden obsession with me kissing her? You've been on that for the last three weeks.”

  
  


“I can see you want to,” Bucky shrugged, his face carefully neutral. “So why don't you just do it?”

“She's our friend,” Steve shook his head. “That's all.”

“Hmmm,” Bucky hummed. “We'll see.”

* * *

“We're worried about you.”

Darcy looked up from her coconut curry with a frown. Jane and Thor were on the other side of the booth and had identical looks of concern on their faces.

“I didn't even get the spicy curry this time. No need for panic.”

Thor smirked and Jane rolled her eyes. She reached out and held Darcy's hand over the table and gave her the most mothering expression a woman who still needed to be reminded when to bathe, sleep and eat could.

“Your relationship with the Captain and his soldier is of great concern to us, little one,” Thor was the one to speak as Jane looked at her with wide brown eyes full of pity.

“You guys jealous?” Darcy smirked as she reached for a piece of garlic naan and popped it into her smirking mouth.

“Darcy, honey, I know that you don't mind being the third wheel to us,” Jane said gently. “Or Pepper and Tony. Or even Natasha and Sam. But it IS different with Steve and James.”

“Because there are two penises instead of one?” Darcy joked.

“Because you are in love with them,” Thor clarified.

“Thor!” Jane scolded.

“ Our cunning Darcy would continue to change the subject if we had not been direct,” Thor reasoned.  _ Wisely _ .

Darcy took a deep breath before saying, “I know that this closeness between the three of us has a time limit. I've prepared myself for it. Someday soon they're going to realize that they love each other in a way that is so much more than  _ we grew up together and got frozen together and tried to kill each other _ , and they're going to want alone time for sexiness to occur. I'm okay. I'll be fine.”

“Just know, that when you need us. We'll be here for you,” Jane squeezed her hand.

“I know, Janie. Thanks.”

* * *

The breaking point came two weeks before Christmas as it turned out. Steve and Bucky had been in a frenzy all day, attempting to track down the perfect gift for Darcy. They had of course, refused her help in their shopping excursion that day, as it would kind of defeat the purpose of inviting the gift recipient along to the gift shopping.

They were in the middle of wrapping the series of gifts when Jarvis helpfully announced that Darcy was on their floor. They missed her trying to open the locked door and the first knock as they hurriedly tried to hide all evidence of their gift giving. The second knock was answered with Steve's loud,

“Just a minute, Darcy!”

Darcy frowned from the other side of the door. She was never _Darcy_ to Steve. She was always _sweetheart_ or _Darce_ . And he had sounded particularly annoyed.  He was never, ever annoyed with her.  She could hear the flurry of activity and muffled curses before finally the door opened and a flushed Steve and Bucky stood before her, looking guilty as sin.

“I'm sorry if I'm interrupting,” Darcy said slowly. She held up a cookie tin and a thermos. “We had a cookie exchange with the rest of the lab monkeys today and I brought you a sampler tin of my stuff and some hot cocoa.”

“Thanks,” Bucky huffed, taking the treats from her before shifting his eyes back towards their living room.

Darcy smiled warily, the door to their place completely blocked to her for the first time ever. The never had locked her out before. She'd always just breezed right on in. And their body language clearly told her that they had been in the middle of something and the way their ridiculously broad shoulders were taking up the entire doorway was definitely intimidating and clearly said _Not now Darcy, it's boy time_ . 

So it had happened.  Darcy felt a pang in her stomach as she pasted a smile on her face.  She had thought she had more time.  She had _hoped_ she had more time before everything got way more complicated.

“So yeah, enjoy the rest of your night. I'll see you guys later,” Darcy grinned, threw a saucy wink their way and quickly took off before they could say another word.

“What was that about?” Steve furrowed his brow as they closed the door and went back to their living room, Bucky passing him the thermos to open. He took a swig and sighed at the sense memory the dense, sweet drink invoked. Mrs. Barnes had made them hot chocolate like that once a year, every Christmas no matter how little money there had been that year.

“She probably thought she was interrupting something blue,” Bucky waggled an eyebrow at him before popping a powdered sugar covered cookie into his mouth. He groaned in pleasure. “That angel made the Kourabiedes.”

“Son of a gun,” Steve breathed. He looked to Bucky and said, “Darce thinks we're together?”

“Not that crazy of an idea,” Bucky shrugged. “Ain't like we haven't played around together on cold winters nights before. We just blamed it on the booze back then.”

“ But---wait, do you want to?” Steve furrowed his brow. Bucky's shrug was basically his version of saying  _ hell yes _ , Steve knew that. “Then why are you always telling me to kiss Darce?”

“Don't you want that too?” Bucky countered. “I know I think about it more often than I should.”

“It's not...we can't do that to her,” Steve shook his head. “That's not fair to a girl like her.”

“Then you have a choice to make,” Bucky nodded. “No hard feelings either way.”

“Bucky, come on, it's not a choice,” Steve whispered. “I like her, and she's our friend, sure, but it's...it's always going to be you and me. Always has been.”

“Till the end of the line,” Bucky nodded. His hand reached out and gripped the back of Steve's neck and pulled him in, his mouth slanting firmly against Steve's. His lips tasted like the powdered sugar from Darcy's cookies and Steve's tasted like the hot chocolate she had brought them. It ended all too soon and he pulled away nodding, “Much better sober.”

* * *

* * *

 

** Chapter Two: Isosceles **

Of course things changed after that night. Darcy had been anticipating it. She withdrew from Bucky and Steve and started to focus more on her other sets of friends so that Steve and Bucky could adjust to their relationship. When the honeymoon period was over in a few months, they'd invite her back as a friend, and they could figure out how she fit then.

She would have done the same thing even if she hadn't of been falling head over heels in love with the pair of them.

  
  


Darcy was a professional third wheel. This wasn't her first trip to the rodeo, after all.

Bucky was a wrench in the natural progression of things though.

He was always  _ there _ . When Steve was away on official Avengers' business, Bucky gravitated towards Darcy, just as he always had. Pestering her at work. Insisting on accompanying her on any trip she had away from the Avengers' floors. Inviting her over for movie nights and dinner.

She said no each time.  _ Of course _ . In order to keep her sanity, she had to. Jane and Thor had been right. She had been growing too attached to the super soldier duo and her feelings had been drifting towards the non-friendly variety so hard that it had definitely landed in the love zone.

“I'm sick of take-out, Doll, come over and make us something good,” Bucky wheedled as Darcy went about re-organizing Tony's multiple screw drivers in his work bench. “Stevie's due back in an hour and you can make that soup he likes so much.”

“Sorry, Bucky, I can't. I have plans,” Darcy smiled at him in a way that didn't quite reach those big baby blues. “There's a deli two blocks away that has a good Italian wedding soup. You should get that and surprise him.”

“It's not the same, I'd rather surprise him with you,” Bucky pouted. Downright _pouted_ like he wasn't a recently rehabilitated weapon of mass destruction. “We miss you.”

“If you miss me, then you're clearly missing out on some fundamental relationship steps. Namely tons and tons of sex,” Darcy chuckled ruefully. “Go and get Steve the soup, Bucky. I've got to head out.”

And with no further preamble, Darcy was away, leaving Bucky pouting in Tony's lab.

“You can't have your pie and eat it too,” Tony warbled cheerfully from across the lab where he was working on another suit. “Stop trying to rub her face in it, Barnes.”

“Fuck off, Stark, I'm not rubbing anything anywhere,” Barnes disputed.

“Well then, Darcy's right. You're missing out on fundamental relationship steps,” Tony quipped. “I know its been a while since you've interacted with real human beings, but I'll help you out with a big secret. Good rubbing is good.”

“I ain't got no problem with the rubbing,” Bucky arched an eyebrow. “I just miss her.”

  
  


“Look, I've held my tongue while the three of you danced around each other the past couple of months, but clearly that did no one any favors,” Tony shook his head, walking and approaching Bucky with the same enthusiasm he would have walked towards a Senate hearing. “You don't get to miss her. You won. Okay? You got Steve. You could have had her just like Steve could have if you made the effort, but you chose each other. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Hooray for boy-love in all varieties and flavors. But you don't get to jerk her around on a string anymore.”

“I'm not---”

“You are,” Tony insisted with a conviction that he very rarely got the chance to express. “She is not an option for either of you anymore. She didn't even realize, probably still isn't willing to realize that she was in love with you both. Give her a few months for her heart to heal. Then she'll come back to you both as the friend you need. If you push her, you're going to break her, and then we'll all lose her. And if that happens, I'll make you pay.”

Bucky had no response. He wasn't used to Tony being so serious.

“Go and get your boyfriend that soup.”

* * *

Natasha, Clint and Steve had just arrived back from their mission when Steve's phone chirped

_ What do you want to eat? Pizza or chinese? _

Steve huffed in exasperation and texted back _Chinese, at least we can get a little vegetation then_ .

“Do you miss having your personal chef?” Clint teased, not at all good natured-ly.

“Stuff it, Barton,” Steve grumbled.

“Ohhhhh, trouble in paradise,” Clint laughed. “You guys won't last one year without her.”

“Fuck you,” Steve said plainly. “Me and Bucky are going to stay me and Bucky with or without Darcy.”

Natasha gave him a carefully arched eyebrow and nodded once before walking away.

“If you have something to say, Romanoff, you should say it,” Steve practically ordered her.

“I am happy that you are able to find happiness, Captain,” Natasha said evenly. “You deserve some happiness.”

“Thanks,” Steve said gruffly.

“I just want you to remember, that when the time comes, Darcy will deserve her own shot at happiness,” Natasha gave him a look that usually meant she was about to put the pain on someone. “And that happiness will not likely come from you or Bucky at this point, seeing as you just said you don't need her for it.  She'll find another road there.  You both better be ready for that.”

* * *

“What do you want for Christmas?”

Darcy pursed her lips thoughtfully as Natasha and Sam surveyed her response with extra care. All of Darcy's friends had been on high alert since Steve and Bucky had been caught canoodling in the common room a few days after their first kiss. Darcy was an open book when it came to her emotions, and they all could recognize a smitten Darcy. They were all waiting for the inevitable sadness. But so far she hid behind plastered on smiles and literal hiding.

  
  


Jarvis was a good bro and helped her as often as he could.

“I think...I want to go on vacation,” Darcy said softly. “Like...a solo vacation.”

“That could happen,” Natasha nodded.

“Tropical?” Sam offered.

“Yes, please,” Darcy laughed.

“I know a guy,” Natasha winked. She reached out a hand and ran it through Darcy's hair. “I'm going to miss you though.”

“Hmmm,” Darcy smiled. “I'll make sure to put a pie or five in your freezer before I leave.”

* * *

Christmas morning found Steve up at the crack of dawn, way before Bucky, so he slowly slid out of bed and rushed up the stairs to the common room, hoping to help Darcy with the feast preparation. He and Bucky had been busy the night before on a small issue of walking, toxic squid in Yonkers, so they hadn't been able to help with the pre-work as they had during Thanksgiving.

He was also keen to give her the presents he and Bucky had picked out for her, but he knew he'd have to wait until Bucky was awake and fully functional to do that. That might have to wait until right before dinner at this point. Bucky was wiped out from a busy week.

He arrived at the common room and furrowed his brow as the lights flickered to life at his entrance.

Darcy wasn't there.

“Jarvis? Is Darcy still asleep?” he questioned. He realized with no small amount of surprise that he hadn't actually seen the girl in question in more than a week.

“Miss Lewis is not in the tower,” Jarvis answered back precisely.

“ Where is she?” Steve frowned. Darcy didn't have any family to visit for the holidays. Darcy didn't have  _ any  _ family. Just like he and Bucky didn't have any family. She and Steve had spent the last two Christmases together at the Tower.

“Miss Lewis has not authorized me to give her current whereabouts,” Jarvis replied. “She is away from the tower and will return in six days.”

“Thanks, Jarvis,” Steve nodded, walking over to the kitchen counter tops and pursing his lips at the sight of pre-packaged pies that were purchased at the grocery store. He couldn't help but feel his heart shatter a little at that. Something wasn't right.

* * *

Darcy liked paradise. Tony had a private island, which meant that she didn't even have to have a security detail. Her pilot was on the other side of the island, so she had a fully stocked little hut all to her lonesome.

She would be okay. She'd take the week to re-stack her heart. She'd bury the love she had foolishly let grow for those boys and come back and be ready to be a good friend. But for today? She was going to cry. All day long. No breaks. The fastest way to cure a broken heart was to let it break as cleanly as possible.

The text messages started just a little after dawn.

_ Where are you, Darce? _

Darcy cringed at the message from Steve and put her phone on silent. It quickly vibrated with another message.

_ Merry Christmas, sweetheart. _

She scrambled to turn the vibrations off too when another message came in.

_ I miss you. _

Dammit, Steve never texted this fast. She went for the power button to turn the whole damn thing off.

_ I wish you had told me you were leaving. _

She felt the sudden onslaught of fresh tears burning at the back of her throat and let out a whimper as the last message appeared right before the phone powered down.

_ Are you okay? _

Nope. Not even close to being okay.

What was she thinking?

That one of them would chose her over each other? Hardly even possible, and if they had tried to do it she wouldn't have been able to go through with it.  They had loved each other since the 30's.  There was no way she'd let herself get in the way of that.

That they'd stay in that comfortable, co-dependent, equal sided friendship forever? Not likely given that she and Bucky were affection magnets and Steve was a ticking time bomb of repressed libido.

That they'd ask her to join in?

Yeah. She had been holding a small sliver of hope for that outcome.

It wouldn't work though. Not only would they never think to ask such a thing, but they loved each other too much already. She'd be miles behind them and in a matter of days she knew she would be feeling worse than she was feeling at that moment.

And at that moment, on a tiny piece of paradise, alone at Christmas, she was feeling pretty fucking terrible.

* * *

Christmas at Avengers' Tower was a grim affair without Darcy.

Steve and Bucky were both on the receiving end of a lot of glares. The catered dinner was stilted and miserable. Bucky was getting more and more surly by the minute and Steve knew that his boyfriend was one glare away from completely losing his cool and snarling at all of them.

“You boys want some pie?” Jane asked all too innocently as she pushed the offensive, untouched store-bought dessert towards them.

“This isn't our fault, so I don't know why you're all blaming us,” Bucky churlishly spewed out.

“Buck,” Steve warned, placing a hand on his thigh.

“ No, I get it, Darcy's sad cause she doesn't get a ticket on the Captain America Express, but that's not my fault, that's not your fault,” Bucky spat angrily. He couldn't stop his venomous words if he tried. He didn't want to. Venomous words they might be, but they were also  _ true _ . “I can't help the fact that I love you and I'm not going to feel bad for it because she wants to get into your pants.”

“ I would be careful of the words you allow to come out of your mouth, James,” Natasha said softly, surveying Thor warily, sensing that the man who called Darcy  _ little sister  _ was about to get seriously angry. “You know very well that Darcy didn't only like Steve. And you also know it wasn't about getting into either of your pants. She cares for you both.”

“I do not blame you, either of you,” Thor insisted, keeping his anger in check and his words formally polite. “You are free to love who you choose. But my only desire is for Darcy's heart to heal. This will be accomplished with distance and time.”

“And blind dates,” Clint put in helpfully. “I say we set her up with someone for the New Year's party.”

“Excellent idea,” Pepper smiled. “I have a few candidates that I can narrow down---”

Bucky threw his fork on his plate before shoving off from the table and stomping from the room. Steve did the same, but with more restraint and less tantrum-like. Tony smiled at the remaining dinner guests and shrugged.

“That could have gone worse. Everyone's still breathing, at least.”

* * *

Bucky stormed into their apartment, followed closely by Steve. Bucky had not stopped ranting and raving since they hit the elevator after the disastrous attempt at a Christmas dinner.

“They're acting like we hurt her on purpose! That's the last thing I wanted to do, but—I know she's hurt, I get that, but what can we do?” Bucky demanded. “This ain't the 40's, we don't need a dame to make it look like we aren't queer. We don't need to hide behind her...and it wouldn't be fair to her.”

“I know, Buck, just, calm down,” Steve put a firm hand on Bucky's metal shoulder and squeezed hard enough for him to feel the pressure of it. “We probably should have tried to keep it less...intense with her. Being easy friends instead of keeping her so close.”

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded, although his eyes didn't quite agree. He didn't think he could have healed without Darcy, without keeping her so close. He honestly didn't know how he could stop himself from regressing with her hiding from them. He walked further into the room and saw a large wrapped box on their coffee table. “Is that from you?”

“No...Jarvis?” Steve questioned.

“Miss Lewis had previously scheduled the delivery of this particular gift,” Jarvis dutifully replied.

“Oh,” Steve nodded. He watched as Bucky approached it as if it were a ticking time bomb. Steve took the card from it as Bucky began to tear at the brightly colored paper. He opened the card and read, “Dear Boys, I know for sure that you can work this old thing just fine. I know we're going to have a lot of fun dinner nights to come and this will definitely keep the good times rolling. Love, Darcy.”

Bucky took in a deep breath as he pulled out an old record player, one that looked like they had just bought it off the shelf in 1940. Perfect condition. He pulled out one of the many records and smiled.  _ Ella Fitzgerald _ . They always loved Ella. Steve had even met her once.

“I miss her,” Bucky admitted, his eyes betraying him as they widened, as the often did when he was trying to beat down a particularly unwanted emotion. He looked to their bookshelf, where the small pile of gifts they had wrapped up weeks ago for Darcy sat uselessly. What good was a gift if you didn't have anyone to give it to? His mouth worked itself into an agitated pinch and he repeated, “I just miss her.”

“Me too, Buck. Me too.”

* * *

Darcy returned the night before New Year's Eve. It had been perfectly orchestrated by Pepper. She had the girl in a spa with Jane, Natasha and Tony (who adored spa treatments) all throughout the morning of New Year's Eve. Natasha had then stuffed her into a sinfully tight, sparkling navy blue dress before allowing Clint to do her hair and makeup.

They were at the party before Darcy could even try to talk her way out of it.

Her friends had worked tirelessly in the last week to find her potential dates. They had narrowed it down to three choices. Mark from the Aviation department, Spencer from accounting and Jeff, the coffee shop owner from the third floor of Avengers tower.

Darcy figured out pretty quickly that her New Year's Eve had been hijacked by a dating game show and despite the fact that the three candidates were adorable and seemed to already be pretty fond of her, she was in no mood to put up with it. So she escaped to the closest terrace and asked for Jarvis to hide her.

She rushed onto the terrace and stopped short at the sight. Steve and Bucky were wrapped up in a warm embrace, lost to the everything but each other. She took the smallest of breaths before turning around and reaching for the doorknob.

“Darce!” Steve breathed in astonishment. His face was only slightly pink when Darcy turned around to give them a smile and a wave. “You're back!”

“Yeah, I got back in last night,” Darcy nodded. She had given into her pity party on her vacation and she was ready to get back into the thick of it. She'd give the boys all the space they needed and she refused to let her feelings be hurt anymore. They had chosen each other, rightfully so. They'd more than earned the right to be happy.

“We missed you,” Steve said softly. “You never answered any of my messages.”

Bucky's eyes twitched towards Steve ever so slightly. He had obviously not known that Steve had attempted to contact Darcy at all.

“I didn't have very good reception,” Darcy lied poorly. She pointed to the party and said, “I should get back to it. See you guys!”

She took off and ran for the door, somehow managing to dodge Natasha and Sam. She was at the elevator bank and was  _ seriously  _ pissed that Jarvis didn't have one waiting for her. She waited impatiently, tapping her high heeled foot in annoyance. One week away hadn't been enough. She had seen the jealous suspicion in Bucky's eyes when Steve mentioned he had texted her.

If Bucky was going to be jealous of something so innocuous, then she needed to keep her distance even longer until their relationship was more secure. She was not going to be blamed for breaking up two people who had waited and lived in pain for decades to have the opportunity to be together. Screw her feelings. She'd figure out a way to survive without the both of them and also prove to them that she was not going to try to steal either of them away from the other.

“Leaving so soon, Lewis? I didn't even get a dance with you yet.”

Darcy's eyes flicked up and she couldn't help the devilish twist of her lips. Oh, yes. He'd work just fine.

“You're kind of looking like you want to devour me, Lewis. I'm digging the look,” Johnny Storm smirked at her. “Come back to the party. Have a dance with me.”

Darcy took a deep breath before taking Johnny's arm and going back to the party. Nothing said _I don't want to break you guys up_ like a night full of heavy flirting with the sluttiest superhero of them all.

“I have to say, Jonathan, you came just in time,” Darcy smiled up at him. “I really am in the mood for a dance.”

* * *

“Oh shit,” Clint breathed as he watched Johnny and Darcy knock back another round of shots at the bar, their movements now sloppy and slow. From across the room, Bucky and Steve glared at the duo.

“Who invited Storm?” Natasha demanded.

“Tony,” Sam answered. “He said he was adding a wild card to the mix.  Pepper is one step away from throwing him off the top of the tower.”

“Yeah, that's one hell of a wild card,” Clint shook his head. “Barnes is like five seconds away from tearing him in half.”

Bucky was indeed, coiled very tightly as he stood next to Steve across the room. Every time Darcy touched Johnny, his stance tensed even more. Steve's eyes darted between Bucky and Darcy quickly and continuously.

“You're not acting very friendly right now Buck,” Steve said evenly.

“He's no good for her,” Bucky snarled. “I'd be a great friend if I went and ripped the guy's head off. I swear to God, if he touches her one more time...”

“You can't do anything,” Steve shook his head. “She's not yours. She's not mine. We don't get a say in this.”

“To hell I don't!” Bucky hissed at him.

“We're going home, come on,” Steve gripped Buck's elbow tightly, dragging him towards the door.

“You can't let him touch her again,” Bucky shook his head at Steve as they made their way out of the party. He glared at his lover and demanded, “How can you be so calm about this?”

  
  


“I'm _not_ calm,” Steve gritted out a flash of jealous, possessive anger flickering in his gaze before he quickly suppressed it. He took a deep breath and shook his head, “But like I said, we don't get a say. She's not ours.”

“Then can we make her ours?” Bucky whispered as they walked to the elevators. “Its only been a week. And you're miserable without her. And I can't...I'm having problems functioning without her.”

“It's not fair to her,” Steve murmured. “She's not some war-time prostitute, Buck. It's not like we can throw her a couple franc's and share her whenever we're in the mood for a lady. Think about what that would make her look like to her friends. Think about what it would make us look like, like we were using her...”

“It's not about being in the mood for a lady,” Bucky growled, hating the sound of it. It cheapened it. Made the feelings he held for her seem base and wrong. They weren't wrong, even his addled mind could tell that. “She belongs with us. You know that.”

“ I don't know anything,” Steve contradicted. “Except for the fact that I love  _ you _ .”

The elevator finally opened and Steve and Bucky walked in, surprised when Bruce Banner followed them in. They remained silent for the entirety of the ride, but as the elevator stopped on Bruce's floor the scientist took a deep breath before turning to Steve, reaching into the front pocket of his suit jacket and pulling out the little moleskin notebook. He scribbled something down on Steve's ubiquitous list before handing it back to Steve and exiting to his floor.

“What'd he write?” Bucky furrowed his brow.

“Polyamorous triad.”

* * *

Johnny Storm was indeed a wild card.

To Steve and Bucky's dismay, he kept showing up.

A week after New Year's Eve found Steve and Bucky coming back into the Tower, their hands full of take-out bags for their dinner and there Johnny Storm was, waiting in the lobby, a drink carrier with two extra large frozen coffee-cino's that Darcy loved so much in his hands. Extra whipped cream. Syrup and sprinkles and chocolate chips on top. The coffee shop in the tower had named the drink _the Darcy_ for a reason.

It had so much sugar and caffeine that Steve and Bucky always felt sick to their stomachs just  _ watching  _ Darcy drink it. And there Johnny Storm was, half of one already drunk.

Bucky gripped Steve by the collar and pulled him into a random shop on the entry level as they watched Darcy approach Johnny with a picnic basket in hand, wearing just a light jacket. She beamed at the Human Torch and handed off the picnic basket in exchange for her drink. She took a long pull off the straw and two pairs of enhanced ears heard her.

“You're a god-send, Jonathan, I swear to Thor.”

“Sweets for the sweet, Lewis. What'd you make for our picnic?”

“ You'll see. And can I say? Kudos for the picnic in  _ January _ . We'll have the whole park to ourselves.”

“That we will. I'm sure you can come up with all kinds of mischief for us to get into.”

The couple exited the Tower and Bucky began to pursue them when Steve placed a hand on his shoulder.

  
  
  
  


“We shouldn't intrude,” Steve advised, although his face clearly showed that he very much wanted to.

“I'm going to intrude,” Bucky insisted. “And if he gets fresh, my metal fist is going to intrude on his face.”

“No, Buck,” Steve shook his head.

“Fuck you, Stevie,” Bucky growled. “I'm sick of this Mr. Nice Guy shit. I'm not going to lose her to that guy. We need to get rid of him and talk to her about that thing Bruce told us about. It's not so crazy anymore and you know it.”

“Yeah and if she wanted that, don't you think she would have asked?” Steve countered. “She's plenty modern in her way of thinking, Buck. And she always asks for what she wants. And right now, she wants that guy. So lets go...she deserves a shot at happiness.”

“And we don't?”

“You aren't happy with me?” Steve couldn't help but be hurt at the thought of it. All this Darcy-business aside, he had thought that Bucky had been happy the past few weeks. Steve had thought they had both been plenty happy.

“Don't put words into my mouth,” Bucky shook his head.

“This is why that polyamory thing would never work,” Steve shook his head, releasing the grip he had on Bucky's shoulder. “The three of us would go walking around sad and hurt and jealous all the time. It's hard enough with just the two of us, why would we even think about putting Darcy into the mix?”

That wasn't what Bucky wanted to hear. He shoved the bags he had been carrying into Steve's arms before tearing out of the tower, following Johnny and Darcy to the park. He watched in anger as Johnny slung an arm around Darcy's shoulders, providing plenty of warmth for her not to shiver in the freezing cold night as she unpacked the picnic basket full of all the home-made treats that she had so often made for Steve and Bucky in the past.

Darcy laughed in delight when Johnny lit up a palm and heated one of the dishes.

Bucky scowled. She looked happy enough. He wasn't ready or willing to take that smile off of her face.

He felt Steve at his back and he took a deep breath before saying, “We screwed this whole thing up from the start. Should have never even made friends with her.”

“I don't like the sound of that,” Steve admitted.

“Yeah, well, it would have saved a lot of trouble. On all three sides.”

* * *

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Three: Scalene **

Thor had insisted on Darcy bringing Johnny over for a family dinner three weeks into the fledgling relationship. He had even shown up to a Fantastic 4 showdown and extended the invitation to the other superhero personally.

And because Darcy _actually_ kind of liked Johnny at that point, she couldn't tell him not to come.

In hindsight, she should have prepared him better for all of the...nuances of an Avengers' Family dinner.

In her defense, she had very politely asked that Bucky and Steve not be present. And it would have gone off without a hitch had Sam not accidentally let the beans slip about the dinner.

It had been quite a while since Bucky or Steve had taken part in the family style dinner that Darcy had a hand in creating. Sam had said one word about lasagna, and suddenly Steve and Bucky were there with bells on.

Johnny's appearance and place of honor at the meal had been a surprise to them too.

They hadn't even gotten the salads dished out before Bucky started.

“You and Stevie look alike,” Bucky sniffed in that irritated way of his as he looked between Steve and Johnny.

“Oh, yeah, Maria Hill figured it out, apparently we're like great grand second cousins, thrice removed or something,” Johnny laughed, rubbing his neck sheepishly. “Small world.”

“Huh,” Bucky nodded. He looked at Darcy's glare with a teasing smirk and said, “I stole your Captain, Doll. So you went out and got a cheap knock-off to ride on?”

“Shut up, Bucky,” Darcy shot an irritated look his way.

“I mean, she was sweet on the big lug a month or so ago,” Bucky explained to Johnny helpfully. “Broke her heart pretty good when he picked me over her. She spent a week crying about it on some island at Christmas and has been a bitch to us ever since.”

“Bucky!” Steve hissed at him.

“Look man, I don't appreciate the way you're talking about Lewis,” Johnny furrowed his brow at the Winter Soldier, showing no sign of the fear that Bucky suddenly seemed to crave so badly. In fact smoke started to spiral off his clenched fists. “Maybe the two of you should leave.”

“I ain't leaving, pal,” Bucky laughed. “I'll be here long after you're out of the picture.”

“We're done here,” Darcy threw her napkin down on the table. She reached for Johnny's hand, which had ignited into flame and she blew out an exaggerated breath before taking him by the elbow and said, “Come on, I'll walk you out.”

Johnny gave Steve and Bucky one last glare before putting out the fire and following her. Jarvis had an elevator waiting and they stood in silence side-by-side when Darcy's tears began to fall.

“So...that's a complicated mess, huh?” Johnny ventured.

“I'm so sorry. They weren't supposed to be there,” Darcy sniffled.

“I'm glad I found out sooner rather than later,” Johnny admitted. He pulled her to him in a tight, warm hug and asked, “Is this what it feels like to be used?”

“I'm not using you,” Darcy shook her head.

“It's okay. I've used people plenty,” Johnny nodded. “It's about time karma caught up with me. So...do you like love them or something?”

“I can't stand them at the moment,” Darcy said truthfully.

“Okay, here's what I think we should do. I'm supposed to head out to California for a week to shoot some kind of soda commercial. Or perfume commercial. One of those. I know I have to be shirtless to do it,” Johnny joked until Darcy smiled up at him. “One week break. Get your head on straight, Lewis. No questions asked about what came up in the week. Do what you have to. Cause when I get back, I might like seeing how it feels not to be used. Or to be using. Like...a grownup relationship thing.”

“How are you not breaking out in hives right now?” Darcy wondered, looking at him in unabashed astonishment.  She had just wanted a quick fling.  A warm body.  How had she managed to get Johnny Storm ready to dive head first into a messy relationship? 

“Even Peter Pan grows up eventually,” Johnny smiled. He bent his head and kissed Darcy's lips with a sudden, bruising passion. He grinned against her mouth when he heard that small purr in the back of her throat. “Christ, you're perfect.”

“I'll see you in a week, Jonathan,” Darcy promised. “Sorry again, about tonight.”

“No worries,” Johnny shook his head. “Drama isn't so bad. But I'd prefer not having to light Captain America and the Winter Soldier on fire in your honor, so...you know. Figure it out.”

* * *

When Darcy had returned to the common room, it was chaotic to say the least. Thor had his hand wrapped around Bucky's neck and Natasha was holding Steve back from breaking it up.

“You dare mock her pain? You dare to hurt her so boldly?” Thor boomed.

“Yeah, I dared!” Bucky managed to garble out. “Storm deserves to know she's using him as a crutch and a piss poor Steve substitute.”

“Thor put him down,” Darcy said quietly. “I'd like to talk to Steve and Bucky alone, please.”

The rest of her extended self-made family quickly exited. Thor was the last, and he waited until the last moment to release Bucky. The Lightning God looked to the ceiling and asked,

“Jarvis, the moment that Darcy is in distress or danger you will alert me.”

Bucky visibly winced. He would never  _ hurt  _ Darcy in that way. There was a reason he lashed out at her with words. He'd never touch her like that.  He would never physically hurt her.

“Of course,” Jarvis answered, offended that there was any doubt he would.

Darcy gave Thor a small smile as he walked out before looking between a carefully blank Steve and a sneering Bucky. The uncomfortable silence extended between them for two full minutes until Darcy finally spoke.

“James, you know that it wasn't just... I didn't just have feelings for Steve, right?”

Bucky felt his sneer wipe from his face at her admission. His stomach rolled uncomfortably at her soft honesty. The way she looked at him. Not mad. Just sort of sad and disappointed.

“Things can't keep on being this way,” Darcy continued. “I came back on New Year's and I wanted the two of you to be happy. That's all I ever wanted. I never made a move. I never tried to push. You guys are like opposite ends of two magnets. It was only a matter of time before you crashed together. And so I went away because out of all the people on the face of this Earth, the two of you deserve your happy ending. I'm sorry that if my distance to you made you feel like I was unhappy about you guys or jealous, because I'm not.”

“Then why are you staying away from us?” Steve asked quietly.

“Because at first it hurt.  I had been getting too close and I needed the distance,” Darcy admitted truthfully. “And then it felt like---the idea of me was coming between you two. And that's really the very last thing I ever wanted.”

“I miss you,” Steve whispered. He looked to Bucky and couldn't help the guilt seeping out of his pores. “This is all messed up.”

“Well, what do I do to make it un-messed up?” Darcy wondered. “Because I miss you guys too. I mean, I really miss the Bucky who didn't try to completely crush my soul in front of other people.”

Bucky felt his heart clenching. Her admission of him hurting her, willfully purposefully hurting her was more devastating than any beating Thor could have dished out. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but it was always the first thing he wound up doing.

“Have you ever heard of polyamory?” Bucky asked suddenly.

Steve groaned and slapped his hand on his forehead as Darcy looked at Bucky as if he had grown another head.

And then she laughed.

Really violently.

“Who---who told you about that?” Darcy managed to choke out around hysterical giggles. “Was it Tony?”

“No, Bruce,” Steve huffed a sigh while Bucky turned beet red.

“It would never work,” Darcy shook her head.

  
  


“You don't know that,” Bucky wrinkled his nose in distaste. “You never know if something is going to work unless you try it first.”

“It wouldn't work,” Darcy insisted. “First. You two love each other. And you don't love me. Not like the way you love each other. That would already be putting us on very uneven ground. Second. You can't even be my friend without one of you getting jealous and territorial about the other one. Third. I'm---there's Johnny now.”

“He's no good, Darcy,” Steve shook his head.

“I'll be the judge of who is good enough for me,” Darcy said sternly. “He'll be gone a week. He asked that I have this mess sorted out by the time he gets back so he and I can either move forward or---not move forward.”

“I vote not,” Bucky mumbled.

Darcy laughed in spite of herself and Steve looked in between the two of them with barely contained astonishment.

“Tomorrow is Sunday,” Steve reminded them. “Maybe we should go to brunch. You know, small steps?”

“Yeah. Brunch. Okay,” Darcy nodded. She grinned at the both of them and it only seemed a little forced on her part. “Meet you at our usual place at 11:00?”

Steve hesitated because usually she came and picked them up at their place. Bucky saw his hesitation and stepped in easily.

“We'll be there, Doll.”

* * *

They were there.

And Darcy was not.

11:07 A.M. rolled up and Steve checked his phone again. It wasn't like her to be late.

The call to assemble came at 11:08 A.M.

“Stark?” Steve called him immediately as he and Bucky rushed back the three blocks to the tower. Dread filling the both of them.

“It's Darcy. We think it was Hydra.”

Tony hung up on Steve, obviously too occupied and worried to make friendly conversation. Steve turned to Bucky, who had heard and he could already see the _Bucky_ leave his visage, being replaced with the cold, business-like demeanor of the Winter Soldier.

They were a block away when they came upon the non-flight enhanced Avengers. Natasha threw Steve his uniform and shield while Clint had Bucky's tactical vest and various weaponry that wasn't already hidden on Bucky's person.

“Black unmarked Van,” Natasha reported as Bruce handed them their comms. “Fifteen minutes ago, it was detailed and organized, rendezvousing with six other black unmarked vans. Tony, Sam and Thor are in the skies, Jarvis is feeding them information.”

“Why was she out without security?” Sam demanded over the comms immediately.

“She told us she'd meet us there,” Steve answered feeling foolish. He would have never let Darcy go on her own before all of their relationship drama had happened. He and Bucky had been so eager for whatever scrap they could get of her company that they had completely disregarded her safety.

“One of the vans has stopped at the Port Authority,” Jarvis revealed.

“Car,” Bucky growled. When Bucky was down to one word sentences, it was never good. He stalked off to the garage, his hands rechecking his weaponry incessantly.

The Port Authority was a bust. Just an empty vehicle. All of the air support on the team had also followed leads that Jarvis reported but had found no luck either.

Twelve hours later the Avengers were assembled in their war room in the tower, trying to track the last two vehicles. Bucky was pacing the room like a caged up lion who had gone too long between meals. Steve was busy obsessively going over the possible routes.

“Quinjets are ready when we are,” Clint reported.

“I've got Hill reaching out to all the ABC bureaus,” Tony nodded. “Whoever grabbed her should have called by now. If they want something in exchange for her, they should have gotten in touch with us by now.”

“Is it Hydra, are we sure?” Sam asked. “I mean, should we maybe get the Four in on this? She's been seen with Johnny a lot lately, it might be Doom.”

“I'll call him,” Tony nodded, leaving the room.

“I'm going,” Bucky said suddenly. Steve looked up from his maps with a furrow between his brows. “You know I'll be able to work better alone. I'll be able to track her down on my own.”

“And what happens when they decide they want to bring you in too?” Natasha asked evenly.

“Maybe that's the plan after all,” Sam nodded. He had spent too much damned time getting Bucky back from Hydra. Years of his life were devoted to getting Bucky out of Hydra's clutches. He wasn't too keen to let him jump back to them.

“I can't just sit here while she's out there!” Bucky yelled. “She's---they could be hurting her! I know what those people can do to a person. I LIVED through what those people can do to a person, and the fact that they could be doing that to her...I --”

Bucky's metal fist was through the wall with a sickening boom followed by a tense silence.

“I have locations for the final two vehicles.”

Jarvis' announcement was welcome and the team worked at splitting their resources immediately. Steve gripped Bucky by the shoulder and said softly,

“Will you be okay if we split up?”

Bucky followed his train of thought effortlessly. If both of them followed the wrong vehicle and anything happened to Darcy at the other location, they would never forgive themselves.

“I need you to promise me you won't be too reckless, Buck,” Steve gripped the back of his neck and brought his lips on his in a quick kiss. “Promise me.”

“Reckless? Really Rogers? Look who's talking.”

* * *

Darcy had known it would only be a matter of time before something like this happened. If she were being honest with herself, she had made it nearly five years in this crazy world of aliens, neo-nazi organizations and espionage without being kidnapped.

She was definitely overdue.

She had been one block away from the tower when a bag was thrown over her head smelling suspiciously like chloroform before being thrown recklessly into a vehicle. She had been friends with Natasha and Clint for years at that point. They had drilled her on the many kidnapping scenarios repeatedly. Being thrown into a vehicle haphazardly so that her wrist immediately felt shattered as she succumbed to the drugs told her that her well-being was not at the top of her captors' list.

Which meant she was entirely expendable.

Which was not good news.

She remained completely still as she blinked her eyes open in the darkness. Her hands and feet were bound. She was freezing. And she was pretty sure she had broken her left wrist. She felt a suspicious wetness at the back of her head and realized that she was slightly dizzy as she lay there in the dark, motionless.

They must have just thrown her in there, letting her hit her head against the cold concrete. 

She'd been such an idiot.  She was so overly concerned with not getting too chummy too quickly with Steve and Bucky that she had put herself at risk.  She'd basically jumped into their van herself at that point.

She blinked and drifted out into unconsciousness for an indeterminate amount of time before jerking into wakefulness again, suddenly very worried that she had a concussion. A headache bloomed between her eyes as the door to the room opened, flooding the dark room with light. She was manhandled into a chair and blinked slowly as her eyes adjusted to the light. Her glasses had been lost somewhere along the way and every person looked like a black clothing swathed blob.

“You are valuable,” a strangely accented voice came from across the room. “Valuable to many that I would like to see dead.”

“That's a big list,” Darcy nodded. “A lot of people are fond of me. Take a moment, get to know me. You might be fond of me too.”

“No talking,” the voice ordered before a hand collided with her face violently, cracking her head to the side.

“We are hoping that your people are fond enough to bring the Winter Soldier back to us.”

* * *

They _were_ fond enough.

But Bucky was at the other vehicle destination, which was empty and abandoned.

Steve was at the other, when finally Hydra made their demands.

_Give us the Winter Soldier or the girl dies_ .

They provided pictures of a thoroughly banged up Darcy and promised that her condition would worsen for every ten minutes that the Winter Soldier did not appear.

Steve made a very big decision in that moment. His heart felt like it was in his throat and he struggled to take in a short breath. If Bucky knew, if he were there, Steve knew he wouldn't hesitate in turning himself over for Darcy's safety.   And the minute he was in their hands, Darcy would have a bullet in her brain for her troubles.  Steve couldn't lose him. He couldn't lose  _ them _ .  He pulled out his phone and relayed a private message to Sam, who was accompanying the rest of the Avengers.

_Keep Bucky there_ .

He would have to figure another way to rescue Darcy. Bucky wasn't going to get within five miles of these people.

His enhanced hearing heard her screams of pain twice as they waited, planning her extraction. At the thirty minute mark she screamed again and whimpered _Steve._ His name on her lips nearly made him fall to the ground at the pain of it. He gripped his shield and began walking towards the facility, intent on strong-arming Darcy out of there when Natasha gripped his shoulder.

  
  


“They'll put a bullet through her head the minute they see you,” she warned. “If Bucky goes in, we have a shot—-”

“No,” Steve said resolutely.

“You're willing to trade her life for his safety,” Natasha nodded, her tone free of condemnation.

“I'm pretty sure she'd be willing to do that too,” Steve admitted. “This isn't about me loving Darcy any less. I love her, Natasha. I do. And I know her well enough to understand that she would rather go through this than let Bucky be taken back in again.”

“Are you willing to let her die?” Natasha murmured. She could hear Darcy too after all. “I am not. James certainly would not. But she's fading, Cap. You can hear it, she's only human. Are you willing to let her die?”

Steve was saved from answering when Jarvis came over the comms.

  
  


“Mr. Storm is requesting to be patched through.”

“Put him through,” Natasha immediately approved. “Do you have our coordinates, Storm?”

“I'm two minutes away,” Johnny shouted, his voice barely heard over the roaring rush of flames.

“We could use a distraction,” Natasha nodded to Clint, who had set up his nest with shots into the warehouse. “Steve and I can go in with Clint for cover if you can give us one minute.”

“Lets do this,” Johnny agreed.

Steve and Natasha dropped from the windows on the ceiling at the precise moment Johnny exploded into the warehouse a raging inferno of deadly distraction. Steve managed to shield a broken Darcy from the flames as Natasha and Clint took out the nearest Hydra members.

“Darce? Sweetheart?” Steve whispered.

“Where's Bucky?” she mumbled around a mouth full of blood. “Keep him away. Please, Steve.”

Steve felt a rush of warmth for her and then a cascade of guilt as he lifted her off of the ground and cradled her behind the shield. He was out the door in moments and was unsurprised to see that the rest of the team had arrived, Bucky running from the quinjet and staring down at a beaten and bloody Darcy in a panic.

“She needs a medic,” Steve whispered.

“I will take her,” Thor held out his arm even as he wound Mjolnir up for flight. He nodded between Steve and Bucky before securing her as gently as he could and taking off for Stark Tower.

“What the hell happened? Why'd it take so long?” Bucky demanded of Steve after Thor's departure. “You've been here thirty minutes, why'd you wait for the Torch?”

“They wanted you,” Natasha answered, watching as Johnny took off in the sky after Thor. Maria would be there shortly with a cleanup crew and Natasha was eager to get back to the tower. “Steve was unwilling to hand you to them. So they tortured her every ten minutes.”

“She was completely expendable to them,” Clint further clarified. “If we dropped in, they'd put a bullet in her head. We needed a distraction. Would have preferred the lightning, but Johnny came through in a pinch.”

Steve surveyed Bucky carefully as the livid man carefully breathed through his nose, his eyes widening in realization. Thankfully Natasha and Clint boarded the quinjet, preparing to take them back to the Tower.

“Okay,” Bucky nodded at Steve. His eyes were wide and swimming with tears as he easily came to a decision that he knew he should have made a very long time ago. He should have never even befriended her. Should have never let her step one foot into his life or his heart. He looked at Steve and saw the same resolute decision in his eyes. “I'm done now.”

“I know,” Steve swallowed. He put his hand on Bucky's shoulder and led him back to the quinjet.

* * *

“Girl, you know I need my gossip fix, so I'm going to start asking you some scenarios, and you just rest those bruised vocal chords and just blink once for yes and twice for no,” Nurse Laverne needlessly fluffed a bandaged up Darcy's pillows and began her line of questioning, “Did you seriously ditch those super soldier hunks of men for the flying blow torch? Because I'm not sure if you understand basic math, but there are TWO of those and ONE of him.”

Darcy scrunched her nose and hit the call button as quickly as she could with her bandaged wrists.

“Laverne?” Carla popped her head in, “Leave poor Darcy alone. She has a visitor.”

Laverne huffed out of the room, and gave Johnny a once over at the door. She shrugged and muttered, “I can see the appeal.”

“Hey Lewis,” Johnny smiled at her as he placed a bouquet of flowers on her bedside table and pulled a chair up beside her bed. “You're looking better already. Look...don't talk, Dr. Cox said he'd follow me around with a fire extinguisher all day if I made you talk, cause of you know, your banged up windpipe.”

He reached out and held the hand that wasn't excessively bandaged and squeezed her fingers.

“I'm really glad you're okay,” Johnny whispered. “I was off of the plane for one minute when I got the call, and I just...I came right back, just flew right across the country. I'm so sorry that happened to you. And I want you to know, I'm here, for whatever. Whenever. However you need. It doesn't matter about Rogers or Barnes, I don't care. I want this, I want _us_ no matter what. Okay?”

Darcy managed a nod as tears slid from the corners of her eyes. She couldn't help the contented sigh when he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Bucky and Steve stood outside the door less than an hour later, both staring at the view of Darcy leaning back against Johnny, who had joined her on the bed and had his arms wrapped carefully around her.

“She looks...small,” Steve whispered, his eyes tearing up at the sight of her. So small, and fragile and wrapped up in gauze.

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded. “She's here because of me. Because they knew I cared about her. That I love her.”

Steve didn't argue. He had already made the promise to himself when he had heard Darcy's first scream of pain. He would figure out a way to keep Bucky out of her life. To keep himself out of her life. He was glad that Bucky wouldn't put up a fight.

“She's going to be okay,” Steve promised. “We're going to be okay too, Buck. We got each other, and that's going to be enough from here on out. I promise.”

* * *

Darcy hoped that this nightmare business would stop soon.

She had woken up with a muffled shout and sat straight up in her empty bed. Johnny was down in Florida, working with NASA on a project and had tried to persuade her to go along with him. But she had turned him down, bound and determined to be able to make it one week without him.

And now she was awake at 3 in the morning, shaking and sweaty with no hope of getting back to sleep and no one to comfort her. She should have just gone to stinking Florida.

“Jarvis? Is anyone awake?”

“Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes have just returned to the tower after their mission and are still awake in their apartment. Shall I alert them that you will be visiting?”

“NO, no. Definitely not,” Darcy shook her head emphatically.

Bucky and Steve had not spoken to her once since the kidnapping a month ago. The rest of the Avenger's social circle had showered her in affection and care and love, but Bucky and Steve hadn't even checked in to see how she was doing.

She tried not to think about how much that hurt her. She had a great support system after all. And she had Johnny. And that was plenty enough.

Darcy eased out of bed and made her way up to the common room, intent on making some kind of breakfast pastry for everyone since she wouldn't be sleeping any time soon. She had just put the muffin tin in the oven when she heard purposefully heavy footfalls.

All of her friends were very careful not to surprise her. Not since she had broken down in hysterics when Clint had slid from a vent in the lab one day and startled her.

“Having trouble sleeping?” Pepper smiled at her as she took a seat at the breakfast bar.

“My extra warm human sized ambien is out of town,” Darcy smiled. “What are you doing up?”

“Tony and I asked Jarvis to let us know when you needed company,” Pepper said truthfully.

  
  


“Oh, Pepper, you didn't need to do that,” Darcy shook her head. “I feel terrible that I'm --”

“Stop that,” Pepper ordered, smiling when Darcy immediately shut her mouth. “Please remember that aside from Bucky, Tony knows the most about coming back from what you're trying to come back from. And I know the most about helping someone do it.”

Darcy couldn't help but let her face screw up with tears at the mention of Bucky. Pepper nodded and said, “They still haven't come to see you?”

“ We were going to be friends again before I got my dumbass kidnapped,” Darcy nodded. “And then nothing. No get well card, no  _ hey glad you didn't die _ , nothing.”

“Be mad about it.  But Darcy, I want you to promise me that one day, you'll try to talk to them,” Pepper advised her. “About everything.  Not just the kidnapping.  I'm not trying to hurt your feelings here, but you haven't exactly been honest with them.  The next opportunity you get, I want  you to be one hundred percent honest.  Nat has been trying to get them to talk to you and they have...”

“Totally not wanted to,” Darcy laughed bitterly. “Can you believe Bruce tried to tell them that we should start a triad? Could you just imagine? I can't go to them and tell them I want their help and they can't stand to look at me. I mean...could you just imagine it?”

“Yes,” Pepper smiled sadly. While Tony made no effort to hide the fact that he thought Johnny and Darcy were perfect together, Pepper always had a small hope that those soldiers could get their act together. Didn't seem like it would be happening though. “Yes, I could.”

* * *

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Four: Right **

Darcy Lewis was a retired professional Third Wheel.

Things with Johnny had lasted six whole months so far.

It was now on precariously thin ice because Johnny had bought her a ring. Had gotten down on one knee and had asked her to marry him.

And the word yes wouldn't leave Darcy's lips. Instead she hesitated. And stared at him like a gaping fish.

“This is too quick, right? I should have waited,” Johnny sighed. He stood back up and pushed the traitorous ring box back in his pocket. He looked at Darcy sheepishly and tried to explain his thought process, “I've just---I've never done this monogamous thing before and I thought...well, this is fun and I love you so much, and I want it to always be like this. And then I went into a jewelry store thinking about buying you a necklace and I wound up buying a ring.”

“ I---- _ Johnny,”  _ Darcy squeaked, tears forming at her eyes. “I really want to say yes. But---”

“Hey, no it's okay, Lewis,” Johnny stood and sniffed with a sudden violent force. He nodded and asked, “You still love them?”

“I love you,” Darcy promised.  She shook her head desperately and her voice broke, "I swear, I love you.  It's not about them."

“Just---different, right?” Johnny frowned, sniffing again.

“It's not like that, I swear. And I'm so sorry that this is hurting you,” Darcy pitifully whispered as she broke down in tears. “I'm the worst. I'm just---I'm a shit stain.  It's not about them.  I swear.  I just...why would you want to marry me after all the awful I've brought you?”

“Fuck you, Lewis, you're perfect. I wouldn't have bought the damn ring if I didn't know that you were perfect.”

And he smiled at her sadly. And he kissed her forehead. 

"It's okay," he promised.  "It was too quick.  Give me...give me a couple days.  I'll...I'll call you.  But if you need me, you let me know, okay?"

Darcy didn't blame him for leaving right away.

She stumbled out of her room and went to the common room kitchens and mindlessly went about baking pumpkin pie.

Steve and Bucky stumbled in an hour later as Darcy was cleaning up.

“Darce? Jarvis said you needed help,” Steve looked to her in concern.

Things had never gone back to right for the three of them.

During her recovery, Steve and Bucky had never visited her once. The first time she had even glimpsed them was in the common room once, six weeks after her kidnapping. She had waved at them and had barely gotten a cursory nod in reply. She had canceled a date with Johnny that day and spent her whole day crying in her room, interrupted only by Clint, who threw a pint of ice cream down at her from the air vents before leaving her be.

She'd not seen either Steve or Bucky since then.

Steve and Bucky kept their own relationship intensely private from everyone. Not that anyone got a chance to see them, the super soldiers had been on a never ending crusade to crush out every Hydra cell in the world. And that mission meant they had kept Darcy at an arm's length for six months, never trying to reclaim the insanely close friendship they had once built. It was easier that way.

“Oh, no, it's okay,” Darcy shook her head, her voice soft and uncharacteristically powerless. She finished wiping her hand on a dish towel before walking out of the room, quietly telling them, “I'm heading back to my room now. Feel free to have some pie. Good night boys.”

Steve and Bucky watched her go and then looked down at the pumpkin pie that they had both had on Thanksgiving last year and never again, just as she had promised.

“Jarvis, what happened?” Bucky wondered.

“I am not at liberty to tell you specifics,” Jarvis admitted.

“Did Darcy and Johnny have a fight?” Steve guessed, unable to keep the hope out of his voice.

  
  


“No, they did not argue.”

“Did they breakup?” Bucky offered.

“I am not at liberty to say.”

“Did he propose?” Steve wondered, knowing what he had gotten off the surveillance reports on Avengers and all Avengers related personnel from earlier in the week. He knew about Johnny's trip to the jewelry store and he had been sick about it for days. He frowned at Bucky's suddenly panicked, alarmed startle.

“I believe that he did,” Jarvis acquiesced.

“And she said no?” Bucky asked, hopeful.

“Miss Lewis gave no answer,” Jarvis corrected. “But it would be safe to assume that she did not say yes.”

The pies were demolished within minutes, not a crumb leftover for any of the Tower occupants.

They sat at the kitchen island, silent, the taste of cinnamon and buttery flaky pie crust on their lips, silence enveloping the both of them.  

Things had not been right between Steve and Bucky since they gave up all hope of Darcy.

Steve had been withdrawn, his emotions felt like cardboard facsimiles of what should be there, and it had not been limited to his interactions with strangers and friends.  Bucky had been the recipient of a pasted on smile and a "It's fine.  I'm fine" more than once in the last six months.

And Bucky was lost.

Well and truly lost.  

He had been too heavily reliant on both Steve and Darcy to help him through his rehabilitation.  Even when he had been deemed as cured as he was ever going to get, he had still used them as crutches to deal with the harsh light of every day.  He had cut himself off from Darcy but then Steve had shut down too and Bucky was suddenly left without a life preserver to cling to.

The nightmares were quick to resurface.  The surly demeanor was ever present.  He was on a knife's edge of giving up because it would be easier to be a numb, mute killer than to feel like he had lost everything that had mattered.

Because they were about to lose it. Steve and Bucky were together, but just barely so. Both feeling like they had ruined something wonderful for the other.

"Can we---" Steve whispered before shaking his head, putting that plastic USO show smile on his face.

"C'mon, punk.  Say it," Bucky looked at him, the blue grey steel in his eyes betraying the begging he couldn't snuff out.  " _ Please _ ."

"Can we try again?" Steve's eyes were focused on the empty plate in front of him.  He looked up and Bucky was hit with the force of real emotion in Steve's blue gaze.  And then it was like a dam was broken and Steve couldn't stop the words and emotion if he tried, "She said no to him for a reason.  And...we're not doing this right.  We're breaking without her.  It doesn't work without her.  And the mistake was not figuring that out right away, for thinking for one minute that just because we had the years with each other that it made her... _ less _ ."

"She's never been less," Bucky nodded in agreement.  "How do we do this?"

"Slow?"

* * *

Slow was difficult.  

They started by bringing her The Darcy coffee special every day in the labs at 2:15 in the afternoon, like clockwork.  

Natasha had discovered what they were trying to rekindle a friendship within twenty-four hours.  Luckily, she had taken pity on all three of them at that point and she and Sam invited them all out to dinner.  

By the end of that night, Steve had a real smile on his face and Bucky swore his hands were somehow steadier than they had been in half a year.  And they made plans for brunch, just the three of them, with the boys picking her up at her door.

Slow was really difficult.

They noticed how she had changed since her run-in with Hydra.  She was jumpy in public places, her eyes never resting, always searching around her for any hidden danger.  Bucky wanted nothing more than to pull her to him, to wrap her up in softness and place her between he and Steve and away from the world.  

"You don't have to worry with us, sweetheart," Steve had promised her after she had been unable to take a sip of her mimosa before her eyes took another sweep of the restaurant.  He reached out and gripped her hand in his, "I'm never going to let something bad happen to you, ever again.  Please believe me."

"You didn't let anything happen to me before," Darcy smiled at him, although the boys could tell it wasn't a true smile.

"Yes I did," Steve looked down at the salt and pepper shakers on their table.  "I made the choice, Darce.  And it killed me to do it.  And it was the wrong choice.  I should have trusted Bucky to protect himself, to not fail you...me... _ us _ ."

"Can you guys do me a favor?" Darcy whispered.  

"You want the moon?" Bucky leaned back in his seat with a genuine smile on his face.  "We'd figure out a way to get it for you, if that's what you want."

"What I want, is from this point on, that we never, ever feel bad or guilty about something that is actually the fault of those Neo-Nazi shitheads of Hydra," Darcy looked at them both with a stern fierceness that might have been missing since that failed brunch all of those months ago.  "Can we do that?  Or are you going to let them win? Cause that seems like a highly un-patriotic thing for Captain America and Bucky Barnes to do."

"I feel like you're letting us off the hook for some bad behavior here," Steve admitted. He could recognize her repressing some emotion there. And Steve would know a thing or two about repressed emotions.  “Darce, they hurt you. They tortured you because of us.”

"When in doubt, blame Hydra," Darcy shook her head.

"I said some awful things to you, Doll," Bucky reminded her. Even he could tell she was letting some things slide in an attempt to keep things light.

"Blame Hydra," Darcy shrugged.

"You and Johnny are having problems," Steve whispered, knowing without having to be told that he and Bucky had played some part in Darcy's decision there.

"Not problems.  Just.  A thing.  And that definitely seems like something Hydra would do," Darcy nodded, looking down at her plate of french toast uneasily. She was keeping things close to the vest. She should be able to say that yes, they hurt her feelings. But if finally felt like they could smooth things over and go back to that friendship thing they had been so good at. She was willing to bury the bad if she could get the good back.  "So, can things go back to normal now?"

Steve and Bucky shared a long indecipherable look that made Darcy's insides quake in anxiety.  

"What's normal?" Steve was the one to vocalize what they were both thinking.

"We could start talking to each other again. That seems like a normal thing for friends to do."

* * *

Normal was difficult.

Steve didn't want to push. Bucky wanted everything back at once. And after whatever happened with Johnny, Darcy was a muted version of herself that she didn't particularly like very much.

They managed to get through brunch and had a tentative dinner date set up for later in the week.

Steve wasn't surprised when Darcy canceled on them, he had been expecting the worst. He had felt that he deserved the worst at that point. Bucky however, had been on cloud nine all week and Darcy's text message that she was tied up in the lab had taken all the wind out of his sails. Steve watched as he moped around their apartment, looking very much like that grumpy cat Darcy had plastered all over Tony's lab.

“Come on, grab your jacket,” Steve ruffled his hand through Bucky's hair.

“Not in the mood to go anywhere,” Bucky grumbled.

“Let's go get some pizza and head over to the lab,” Steve suggested. “I'm sure she didn't want to cancel. Jane and Tony are working on that portal machine, remember? Darcy needs to be there to make sure they don't accidentally transport the Tower to Jupiter.”

Mollified, Bucky followed Steve as they made their way to the lobby, intent on running to Darcy's favorite pizza place a few blocks down. They were halfway through the lobby when Steve stopped short, causing Bucky to crash into his back.

Darcy was in the middle of the lobby, her arms wrapped around Johnny Storm, who was practically bent in half, his head buried in her neck, his shoulders shaking as she soothed him.

“I miss you.”

Johnny had whispered the admission, but both Steve and Bucky could hear him loud and clear.

“I miss you, too,” Darcy agreed.

Johnny sniffled and pulled away, giving her a sad smile and nodded. “How are your nightmares?”

“Bad,” Darcy admitted truthfully.

Bucky and Steve exchanged a confused look. They hadn't known about any nightmares.

“ Sam said they wouldn't just go away, you have to work through them,” Johnny reminded her. “Lewis, baby, you were  _ tortured... _ you can't just wish it away.”

  
  


“You once told me I could do anything if I pouted at it hard enough, Jonathan,” Darcy reminded him with a sad smile.

  
  


“True,” Johnny nodded. He put both hands on her cheeks and looked down at her with a small, fond smile, “If you need me...you call me and I can be here in five minutes. Any time of the day or night. I'm here, okay?”

“Thanks...”

“How are things with your soldiers?”

“You are such a masochist at heart,” Darcy rolled her eyes at him fondly. “Things are...getting back to normal? I think.”

“Normal as in you're falling for them again?” Johnny muttered, not even trying to hide his jealousy, his hands falling from her face and his posture stiffening.

“Normal as in we're going to be friends again,” Darcy corrected him. “I've already lived through that heartbreak. I'm not going to let it happen again. I want things to be resolved with them.  Cause its holding me back having it ugly.  I think they need me though, to be their friendly third wheel in order for them to work."

“I need you,” Johnny reminded her.

“Yeah, and I abandoned Jane and Tony in the lab to run down here cause you were sad,” Darcy reminded him. “I'm here for you whenever you need me and you know that.”

“And I love you,” Johnny placed his hand back on her cheek, his fingers brushing against her earlobe.

Steve found himself startling in place, like his body had just received some kind of shock before he grabbed Bucky by the arm and pulled him back towards the elevator. Too slow because they could hear Darcy's soft whisper.

“I love you, too.”

Steve and Bucky made it back to their place in spite of the mutual need to go and destroy something. Their door was closed before Bucky finally spoke.

“I thought they broke up!”

“We never asked,” Steve shrugged. “Maybe it was moving too fast? So they're slowing down.”

“She loves him though,” Bucky sat down on the couch, his head in his hands. “What do we do now?”

“Hell if I know, Buck.”

* * *

“Why are Buff and Buffer so mopey lately?” Clint asked Sam and Natasha as they prepared to assemble, loading up on copious amounts of kevlar and ammo. “They looked like someone pissed in their morning coffee.”

“Dunno, but I'm betting whatever it is starts with a D and ends with an -arcy,” Sam threw a look at the elevator the aforementioned super soldiers were walking through.

“They were counting their chickens before they hatched,” Natasha revealed. “The idiots can't communicate to save their own hides. They never told Darcy they wanted to pursue her romantically. She's still with Storm. And Darcy hasn't exactly been forthcoming. She's very angry at them. I've told her everything so that she would get the anger out and maybe there can be some kind of progress for any of them, but she's just...not.”

“Oh, that's going to be fun to watch,” Clint's eye widened. “Do they know we're doing this with the Four?”

“No. They do not,” Natasha smiled. “I'm hoping something helpful shakes out. I don't want Darcy to be in limbo anymore.”

“Do you have a preference?” Clint wondered. He knew that if she did have a preference, that it would probably wind up being an inevitability.

“I prefer Darcy happy. I don't really care who makes her that way.”

* * *

Clint's hope that the skirmish would be fun to watch was ill-fated. It had not been fun to watch. Steve was all business. Bucky was all normal mission mode murder-y. And Johnny was in the air, far away from the two super soldiers.

Until he wasn't in the air anymore.

The big alien thorn monster, because that's what he was, a two-story high beast covered in spiky thorns, had batted Johnny out of the sky like an annoying lightening bug and his body went slamming against a nearby building, fire snuffling out as he crumpled to the ground unconscious.

He was about to get trampled under foot when Steve rushed forward and defended the prone man with the shield. Bucky quick to follow, gripping the foot about to stomp on Steve and Johnny again with his metal arm and yanking with all his might. Which was a considerable might.

The beast stumbled and before Bucky could dodge, one of the thorns at the thing's foot had ripped through his armor and was imbedded in his chest.

“Bucky!' Steve shouted, leaving a prone Johnny and rushing towards Bucky. His shield whipped out and the thorn was cut cleanly from the beast's body, and Bucky fell backwards, the thorn still sticking out of his chest. Steve fought the urge to vomit as the six inch wide piece of alien jutted out from a rapidly fading Bucky. He spoke through the comms, “Sam, you need to come get Bucky and get him to medical. Now.”

“On it,” Sam swooped downwards as the beast was distracted by both Hulk and Ben Grimm. He gingerly lifted Bucky and zipped away.

  
  


“Cap, get Storm out of there,” Natasha ordered over the comms. “You're in the way of the Hulk smashing.”

* * *

Darcy found Steve sitting outside of the operating room. She sat next to him silently, her hand gripping his as they waited.

An hour into the silence, Steve asked, “Storm?”

“He'll be fine,” she answered, squeezing his hand.

Another hour passed and Sam came by, dropping off bottles of water and a few of the boxed lunches they so often had demolished after missions. He was not surprised that his provisions went ignored, but he had to try.

At hour three, Darcy squeezed his hand again and gave him a soft look.

“Bucky is going to be okay,” she promised.

As if her words were a prophecy, Dr. Turk popped his head out of the surgery and gave them two thumbs up before ducking back in. All of the tension in Steve bled out and he took a harsh gasping breath of relief. He looked down at Darcy and saw the joy on her face, saw the relief and knew that it mirrored his own.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Steve, no,” Darcy shook her head, her heart beat slowing at his sudden admission.

“Bucky loves you too,” Steve continued. He could feel her start to unclench her fingers and he refused to let her go, keeping her right there. He felt a shiver run through her and some sort of emotional dam that he had been utilizing for so many years of his life broke suddenly.

“Please, please sweetheart, don't marry Johnny. Please say no,” Steve begged. “Don't be with him. Don't love him. I need you and Bucky needs you. We can't do this without you.”

“I'll always be here for you,” Darcy whispered, her face blank, her tone even.

“No, not like that, I want so much more from you, we need you,” Steve admitted. His Captain America show smile was gone. His constant tendency to not push, to not be a bother, to be the steady emotional rock that Bucky needed was gone and he reached for her pulling her up out of her chair and into his lap. “I love you so much.”

He kissed her temple first, gently and reverently. Then his lips descended upon hers with no further preamble and it was a passionate, fierce, emotionally charged kiss. All of his repressed want, everything he had denied himself for so long came tumbling out. Darcy was pulled in by the sheer force of it for a full ten seconds before she started to push at his shoulders, itching to break free.

She shook her head and put solid ground at her feet before running away.

Steve sat alone, put his head into his hands and made no attempt to stop the harsh sobs that tore at his body.

* * *

Darcy ran to Johnny's private room on the other side of the medical floor. Nurse Carla told her he had been sleeping the whole time she had been gone, as promised, and that he would be sleeping for another three hours at least due to the pain medication. Darcy wasted no time, gently climbing into his bed and laying against his uninjured side.

  
  


She dozed off for a few precious moments before a visitor had her startling. She blinked heavily and gave Johnny's sister, Sue a small smile.

  
  


“He'll be out a little while longer,” Darcy revealed.

“I know,” Sue nodded.

They remained quiet for a few minutes before Sue finally managed to push words out again.

“I think you should end things with Johnny.”

“What? Why? What are you talking about?” Darcy whispered, her eyes darting from a heavily sleeping Johnny back to Sue, who looked angrier than she had ever seen her.

“You know that gossip between our social circles travels, and it travels fast,” Sue said evenly. “I know he bought you a ring. I know you didn't say yes. And I know its because you're in love with Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.

“No, I'm not,” Darcy said quietly, although her voice was strong and unwavering. Because she knew it was true now.  She wasn't in love with them.  She wasn't.  She would always have some sort of old affection for them, just like all the other people in her life who had held a place in her heart.  But she wasn't in love with them.  She was in love with Johnny.  And that fact was like a shot of liquid courage.  She levied a heavy glare at Sue and said, “I think that this is between me and Jonathan. It's absolutely none of your beeswax.”

“It IS my business. This is my brother,” Sue said sharply. “You're going to break his heart the longer you keep this up. He's spent the last two weeks in complete devastation. You do realize he's sitting in this bed because of you, right? Either because he was distracted by you or having to work with your two boyfriends. I was _there_ Darcy, I saw what happened.”

“ Why are you---I  _ love  _ Johnny,” Darcy insisted.

“Not enough, apparently,” Sue shook her head. She arched an eyebrow at Darcy and said, “You're not good for him, Darcy. He deserves someone who is willing to give him their whole heart. Not one-third of a heart.”

Darcy turned away from Sue as her tears fell, allowing to take some solace in Johnny's warmth. She calmed herself and felt some of her melancholy leave as Johnny shifted in his sleep and murmured her name. She took two deep breaths before turning to Sue with a look that could have peeled the paint off a wall.

“When Johnny is better and feeling like himself, I will be telling him about this conversation we just had,” Darcy promised. “And we'll see what he has to say about you butting your nose into our relationship. Helpful hint? I don't take relationship advice from someone who has dated a super villain and married a super asshole.”

Darcy felt no remorse as Sue stormed away. Things had just gone from really complicated to completely fucking complicated. She did her best to collect her thoughts as they swirled around uncontrollably. Steve said he and Bucky loved her. Steve had  _ kissed  _ her. This wasn't a fleeting thing for him. Steve never lost control like that, he never went after what he wanted. But he had.  And she knew she had to tell Johnny that.  And she would have to explain and make him accept that it didn't mean anything to her. 

And now Sue, Johnny's beloved sister who he absolutely worshiped, had basically put a big fat disapproved stamp on her forehead. She had to talk these things through with Johnny. As soon as possible.

She stayed resolutely by Johnny's side until he started to wake up.

“How do you feel?” she wondered as he attempted to stretch in the bed through his intense pain.

“Like I got thrown into a wall,” Johnny rasped out a chuckle. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and sighed, “You're a pretty sight to wake up to.”

“Steve kissed me,” she blurted. So much for waiting until he was completely mended. “While you were out, once he knew Bucky was okay. Not a friendly kiss.”

“ _ What _ ?” Johnny tensed, he looked down at her with wide blue eyes and Darcy felt her heart clench at the wounded vulnerability there. His face was an open book. He was scared.

“And I just had a huge argument with your sister. She essentially told me she wants me to break up with you,” Darcy's verbal diarrhea knew no bounds at that point. “I may have insulted her taste in men in order to get her to go away.

“That's a lot of information to give a guy before he gets more pain meds,” Johnny blew out an exasperated breath. “Okay, first things first, Rogers...did you, did you want that?”

“I didn't ask for it,” Darcy shook her head. “And I ran as soon as he did it.”

“But---did you want it?” Johnny repeated, unaccustomed to his voice sounding so small.

“I love you,” Darcy said softly. “I do.”

“Lewis, baby, did you want it?” Johnny whispered.

“Part of me did for a long time, and that's probably why I couldn't say yes to you,” Darcy admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.  "But then when it was happening, I was relieved because it didn't mean anything.  I swear it didn't.  Cause it wasn't you.  It was wrong."

“And this is why we should have gotten that week off six months ago,” Johnny sighed.  He brought a hand to his eyes and rubbed at them in frustration. “What did Sue say?”

“That you deserved better than me. Better than one third of my heart,” Darcy sighed. Her face scrunched up and she managed to squeak out, “I never did that to you, I always gave you everything I had, I swear it.  Please, I'm so sorry I hurt you with all of this.  But its done now, please...”

“I know, I know, baby,” Johnny sighed, bringing his arm around her and holding her tight. “This is a huge mess, Lewis.”

“Huge fucking mess,” Darcy agreed. “When Bucky is well enough I'm going to tell them I can't do it.  I can't be their third wheel.  I can't be part of their mess.  But---I don't want to come between you and your family, Jonathan.”

“Let me deal with my family,” Johnny shook his head, he leaned in and kissed her temple.   “You deal with the super soldiers.”

* * *

Bucky healed quickly when he wasn't under the super sedating drugs that Betty Ross had designed for the soul purpose of treating him and Steve. Once he was awake, his body worked triple time to mend everything completely and five hours after surgery, he was ready to get the hell out of the med bay.

Steve came to collect him, tossing him a bag full of clothing. He had just stripped out of his hospital gown when Steve shuffled his feet and mumbled guiltily,

“I kissed her.”

Bucky paused with the shirt mid-way on his body, trapped around his head.

“ _ What _ ?”

“ I---they had just told us you had made it through. And I was so glad, and she had been with me, held my hand through it all, and I wanted to---I had to,” Steve admitted. “I told her I love her. That  _ we  _ love her. And I kissed her.”

“AND?” Bucky demanded as silence settled again.

“She walked away,” Steve shrugged. “Jarvis said she's still in Storm's room.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Stevie,” Bucky sighed. He shook his head and finally managed to get dressed fully. He grabbed the bag and they began heading out when Bucky asked the small, quiet question, “What was it like?”

“Like kissing you. It was perfect, you know?  Except for the whole running away part.”

* * *

Twenty-four hours after Bucky's release from the med bay saw Darcy standing in front of the super soldier's door, her hands on her hips, a determined expression on her face. She took three deep calming breaths before knocking.

Bucky answered the door and was absolutely shocked to see her on the other side.

“You okay?” she asked quietly.

“100 percent back to normal,” Bucky nodded.

“Good,” Darcy nodded. She then grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pushed him back into the apartment he shared with Steve and gave him a shove that did little to move him, but did show him just how angry she was. She looked around and demanded, “Where is your dumbass boyfriend?”

“Darce?” Steve's voice floated from down the hall, followed by heavy, quick footsteps. He smiled at her in that breathless, thankful way of his and he whispered, “You're here.”

“Yeah,” Darcy nodded. She bent over and picked up couch cushion and hurtled it at him with all her might, smacking against his chest and doing no damage. “Why did you have to kiss me? What were you thinking?!?”

“I was---I just thought of how much I wanted to,” Steve shrugged, looking unapologetic.

“You both are assholes,” Darcy said resolutely. “You should have done that a long time ago. But NO, you were so caught up in each other.”

“You never brought it up either,” Steve furrowed his brow. “Might've changed things if you hadn't of run right away.”

  
  


“We didn't know then,” Bucky said defensive and subdued at the same time. “Thought it had to be either or.”

“ Yeah, and you picked each other over me, and that's fine,” Darcy insisted. “But that means something. It means that I wasn't worth it then. And I  _ know  _ that. I know that's how you felt.”

“ I never---” Steve stopped. He remembered everything since the serum with perfect recall.  _ It wasn't a choice _ . He had used those words. When given the option of Bucky or Darcy he hadn't even considered Darcy as an option. It had been all about Bucky.

“We don't work without you,” Bucky revealed.

“Tab A goes into Slot B,” Darcy snapped at him. “I'm fairly certain it works.”

“Don't be crass,” Bucky snapped back at her.

“You're talking to me about crass?” Darcy laughed angrily. “Six months ago you were telling a dining room full of people that I was fucking Johnny as a replacement for Steve. And don't you dare think that my friends didn't tell me all the awful things you said about me at Christmas too. I've earned every crass word that comes out of my mouth.”

“ I was---I didn't,” Bucky stopped short. Yeah. He  _ had _ .

“ And why did you guys run away from me after the kidnapping?” Darcy wondered, her eyes filling with tears, some of her anger flying from her sails. “I was so scared. I'm still always scared. And you both know what those people can do...why didn't you  _ help  _ me?”

“Oh god,” Steve took a ragged breath and put his head in his hands. She sounded so broken for a moment and it was his fault. Everything that had happened to her then was his fault.

“We wanted to keep you safe. We'd given up on you then,” Bucky admitted.

“Well thanks for giving up,” Darcy spat out. “This is the problem. You're the ones who get to dictate everything about our relationship. I needed my best friends. I needed you and you decided that it wasn't safe so you left me. And then when I find someone to help me, to _love me_ and ONLY me, you guys decide you want me back?”

“We wiped the last Hydra cell out three weeks ago,” Steve revealed quietly. “You're safe from them now.”

“And you didn't tell me?” Darcy whispered in horror. “You can't even communicate good news to me, how in the hell would we be able to do this with all three of us? Are you out of your minds?”

“You're not the expert communicator either,” Steve accused quietly. “You've been hiding a lot from us too.”

“It's kind of hard to share when you guys ran from me like I was the bubonic plague!” Darcy put her head in her hands as she tried her best not to completely scream at them.

“We don't work without you,” Bucky repeated. “Most days without you, I wake up and I'm barely hanging on. I need you.”

A pained silence set over the room.

“You can't put that pressure on me,” Darcy shook her head. “I can't be the only thing keeping you together. I deserve more than that. I deserve more than being the after thought. I deserve more than being a band-aid to keep something together. I will always be in last place here. I deserve to come first in somebody's heart every once in a while.”

“Please...please just give us a chance to show you,” Steve pleaded. He knew she was right, they had given her plenty of examples in how they would always choose each other over her. But he knew they could work on it, he knew they could show her. “Please, sweetheart.”

“You can't---you told my friends that you and Bucky were going to keep on being you and Bucky, with or without me,” Darcy revealed. Yeah, Natasha had told her that. It had hurt, but at the time it had helped her to move on. “I was inconsequential at the beginning. You can't belittle my value in this and then decide a few weeks later that you were wrong.”

“How were we to know?” Steve shook his head.

“If you had really ever loved me, you would have known,” Darcy promised him. “I think you just want this idea of me, like I'll just come in and smooth over the rough patches when you need me. That I'll be the bridge between the two of you when you need it and nothing to you when you don't need it.”

“That's not true,” Bucky disputed, his anger clear and evident.

“ I'm moving out of the tower,” Darcy said softly. “I  _ can't _ ...you guys will work it out. Find someone else...start with someone new. Okay?”

“No one could ever replace you,” Bucky furrowed his brow at her as if she had just said the stupidest thing he had ever heard.

“I'm pretty sure there are a couple of billion females with the correct anatomy to replace me,” Darcy glared at him. Bucky could tear her apart with words, but she was no slouch in that department either. “They'll be a line stretched out two miles from your door of willing females. You know, whenever you get the urge for something soft.”

Her venomous words were laced with mocking aimed directly at him. As if what he felt wasn't true. As if any girl could take her place. He lost it, he lost any small amount of control he may have had. He growled and kicked out at the coffee table, sending it hurtling across the room. 

In the milliseconds it took for the table to go airborne, Bucky's face went from livid to horrified and he fell to his knees.  Steve grabbed Darcy's wrist and yanked her out of harms' way, so the flying furniture missed her head by mere inches before smashing against the opposite wall in a shower of wooden splinters.

"Get her out here!" Bucky cried, crumpled on the floor.  "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry.  Just go, Darcy.  Please.  Don't come back.  Just go!"

Steve swallowed as he pulled a paralyzed Darcy into a quick hug and he whispered into her hair, his voice wrecked, "I'm sorry.  I love you.  But you---go to Johnny and don't come back.  Okay?"

Darcy nodded and Steve's arms fell limp around her as she made her way numbly to the door.  She spared a glance at Bucky, and his face was a mirror image of the Bucky that Steve had brought back to the tower so long ago, tortured and broken and numb.  She walked quickly to the front door and opened it to see a panting Johnny who had just arrived at the door, straight from the med-bay, still in his hospital gown.

  
  


“Jarvis said you needed help,” Johnny said breathlessly. He looked back into the room and glared at Steve and Bucky and his eyes narrowed in on the destroyed furniture. His hands ignited immediately. “You okay there, Lewis?”

“Yeah, let's go. We'll get you back to do your discharge papers. I'm all finished here,” Darcy nodded.

Steve slowly sat down next to Bucky and looked at him as tears endlessly leaked out of the corner of his eyes.  He managed to croak out quiet words, “You could have hurt her.”

“I---I didn't mean to,” Bucky shook his head slowly.  "Lost control."

"Yeah," Steve nodded.  "You did."

“She's gonna leave?” Bucky asked, trying to remember every part of the end of their conversation but failing. He'd lost control. He could have done so much worse than destroy a coffee table.

“Yeah.  She's leaving,” Steve answered. “It's over, Bucky. We're going to have to learn to live without her.”

* * *

Darcy did move out of the tower, but not to the Baxter building. She and Johnny found a little place half-way in between. A two-story brownstone that was drafty in the winter and cool in the summer, which worked out just fine since Darcy was living with the Human Torch.  A month before Christmas, Johnny woke up to a huge breakfast tray on the bed, Darcy sitting next to him with a grin on her face and the ring box in hand. 

He said yes.

Darcy Lewis had been a professional third wheel. She had been a successful third wheel in all but one of her relationships. She did find however, that having four wheels was a hell of a lot better than three. All of her previous best friend duos took to Johnny like a duck to water. Well, all of her previous best friend duos save one.

She sat at the Stark Holiday party, sipping absently at a glass of champagne when Sam and Natasha sat on either side of her.

“What do you want for Christmas this year?” Natasha questioned her, much like she had the year before.

“I'm good this year,” Darcy smiled at them. “Make a donation in my name to a homeless shelter or something.”

“Do you want to know?” Sam murmured as Steve and Bucky entered the room, their faces blank, their body language defensive and unapproachable. “How they're doing?”

“No,” Darcy shook her head. The answer was as much for her as it was for Steve and Bucky.  She smiled at Johnny who was at the bar trying to get Tony's hired bartenders to make them a special mixed drink. He winked at her and shot finger guns her way and she grinned at him. She aimed that grin between Sam and Natasha and promised the both of them, “No, I really don't.”

* * *

* * *

** The End  **

 


	16. All Hail the Mighty Omega

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: All Hail the Mighty Omega
> 
>  
> 
> Summary:  
> On July 16th, 2000, the whole world changed in 106 minutes and 23 seconds during the second longest lunar eclipse of all time. If the longest lunar eclipse of all time caused human DNA to mutate into, well, mutants, then this eclipse would certainly be dangerous.  
> And it was. The world was now split into designations. Alpha (smelly and gross), Beta (awesome and competent) and finally Omega. Don't let the name fool you. Omegas were held in very, very high esteem Darcy Lewis LOVED being an omega in this brave new world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Category: F/M, M/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, Jane Foster/Thor,  
> Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers,  
> Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson  
> (Marvel), Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Jane Foster (Marvel), Tony  
> Stark  
> Additional Tags: my take on an alpha/beta/omega universe, absolutely no angst in this  
> story, cracky and fluffy and silly, omegadarcy, AlphaSteve,  
> AlphaBucky, oh hey. random smut  
> Stats: Publishe

 

** All Hail The Mighty Omega **

** Chapter One: The New World Order **

On August 13, 1859, the Earth was changed in 106 minutes and 28 seconds. The moonlight hid behind the Earth and as it did the very fabric of human DNA changed.

It was the birth of mutants. It did not affect all humans, but it changed the course of humanity.

On July 16, 2000, the world changed again. In 106 minutes and 23 seconds.

There was a total lunar eclipse that evening. Which wasn't an unusual occurrence by any means. But the fact that it had lasted longer than any other eclipse since 1859 raised a few concerns among those with the knowledge of what 1859 had done to humanity.

And this time, it affected all of humanity.

At first the knowledge of human biological designations was kept to those in power. The world did not shift much at first. Alpha, Beta, Omega...the designation names were chosen by some scientist in a room who had very little actual human interaction.

The first thing the public noticed was the divorce rate increasing dramatically. Married couples that had been together decades suddenly had the desire to split. All of the legally filed reasons were irreconcilable differences. Attorneys refused to make the reason  _ Because they smell disgusting to me now _ .

The second thing the public noticed was the sudden increase and begrudging acceptance of non-traditional households. The world's greatest nations had been arguing with each other about same-sex marriages and suddenly, high profile politicians were introducing their _spouses_ , plural. It became the new normal.

The third thing the public noticed was an increase in visits to emergency rooms. Treatment of bite marks rose 450%. And apparently a knot forming at the base of one's equipment was entirely new and entirely distressing.

The fourth and most distressing thing that the public noticed was that the world's birth rate dramatically decreased.

_ Dramatically  _ decreased.

Only one in one hundred couples were having children. This continued for three years until the public outcry was so great that the world's most powerful people finally came clean.

Most governments held daily open forums and information sessions so that the world's population could understand how they had changed.

The vast bulk of humans had not changed very much, as 85% of the world's population fell into the Beta designation. Even keeled, steady and reliable Betas. They were not a slave to their hormones, but in the brave new world, their chances at reproducing were lessened. It was harder to do, and scientists proved that a Beta pairing had to have a ridiculously high compatibility in order to create life.

9% of the world's population fell into the Alpha designation. Alphas already made up most of the world's population of power. They were usually the boss, the politician, the person in charge. They were also usually an asshole. If you met a smelly asshole on the street, it was most likely an alpha.

And that left 6% of the population to land in the Omega designation. That scientist with little social interaction that had named the designation had been an alpha. And he had chosen the name omega meaning it to be an insult.

Submissive. Subordinate. Lesser.

This could have become a real thing had the designations manifested in the human race at any earlier point in time.

But in this brave new world of the 21  st  century, Omegas, the rarest designation, the people on earth who could create new life easily, were not made lesser. Life was incredibly important after the past few years of confusion and population decline. Omegas could bear the children of betas if they were compatible. If they were found to be compatible with an Alpha, they could easily produce  _ litters  _ of children.

Omegas were raised up as the hope for the human civilization. They were exalted and valued above all else. They didn't need to submit. They needed to be worshiped as the new elite in this new human society.

Darcy Lewis fucking LOVED being an omega.

* * *

“LEWIS. Stop that, you're distracting my alpha lab monkeys!”

Darcy frowned over her clipboard at Tony.

“What'd I do?” she demanded.

“You smell too good, and Allison over there is getting a nose bleed from it,” Tony accused.

“Fuck you, Stark,” Darcy scoffed, walking around the lab and checking the inventory regardless.

“If a bonded alpha as obtuse as Tony can smell you, that means your getting close to your heat, Darce,” Jane reminded her. Ah Jane. Her lovely, brilliant, Beta Jane. “Do you really want to have to taze the next Alpha who tries to hump your leg?”

“Yes, I love tazing people,” Darcy shrugged with a grin. “And also, taking vines of alphas humping things. I have a lot of people subscribed to me because of that.”

“Hey, no offense, Lewis, but you should take the rest of the day off. In your room,” Tony advised. Jane was right. As one half of a bonded alpha pair, he shouldn't be able to smell the strawberry lemonade wafting off of Darcy in copious amounts. And on a normal day he didn't. But she was clearly getting to that time of the month. “Besides, we have two new Alphas coming in today, and I don't particularly want to have to peel them off your leg---wait. No! Yes, I do want to see Capsicle and Bucky Barnes humping your leg. Carry on, Lewis.”

“Wait, what?” Jane demanded in annoyance. “Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes are coming to the Tower?”

“Yup, apparently Barnes is ready for human interaction,” Tony shrugged. “They're getting a room on the opposite end of Darcy's floor.”

“You're putting two unbonded Alpha's on Darcy's floor?” Jane hissed. “Two alphas who went through the change under ice, and we still don't know how it affected them---Stark, what were you thinking?”

“I was mainly thinking that it would be fun to torture Rogers with a heavy dose of eau d'Lewis every day. I like seeing his stuffy face get all splotchy and blushy and uncomfortable,” Tony smirked. He turned to the omega in question. The only omega in his entire ridiculous entourage and asked, “That okay with you, short and stacked?”

“Yes, please,” Darcy grinned at him. “This may be the impending heat talking, but please, bring on the eye candy from the 1940's.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Two: Smell You Later **

There are approximately 630 _million_ people on the planet with Alpha designation.

And there are approximately 420 _million_ Omegas.

You don't have to be a genius to figure out that the world would burn in short order if 210 million alpha morons were out there all alone in the world, desperate to find an Omega to take care of.

Every government on Earth offered Omegas incentives to even _attempt_ to match an Alpha. Get them out of the wild and give them something productive to do. The incentives increased if you could manage to be compatible and take on more than one Alpha.

In the United States, if an Omega enrolled in the government run matching service, they could obtain a tax incentive, student loan forgiveness, lower interest rates, and even a national merit certificate signed by the President.

And let's not get started on how much better reality television was now. Instead of the Bachelor/ette, everyone got to watch  _ Who's that Smell?  _ And instead of The Apprentice, everyone got to watch  _ The Superior Beta _ .

Brave New World, indeed.

* * *

Steve Rogers woke up from the ice in a brand new world.

The century was new.

The technology was new.

And the fact that once Fury had chased him down, his designation was quickly revealed to be hyper virulent Alpha was very, very new.

He adjusted as best as he could. He had plenty of help. Natasha helped as only a Beta could, pushing him into the new century whether he liked it or not. Stark was insistent on throwing the new technology at him, and despite his best and worst intentions, was quite helpful. And Clint, yet another Alpha on his team (Hulk and Thor withstanding, as neither had clear cut designations), gave him all the information and instruction he could on being an Alpha in this new world.

“Find yourself an Omega that smells right to you and is willing to put up with you. It's the only thing that can help with the ruts and make sure you don't wind up some smelly homeless person. If I didn't already have one before the change, I'd be a dead man by now.”

And yes. The ruts. Every month he was a slave to his hormones, incapacitated for two to three days with the uncontrollable desires that he had no way of handling and where definitely not limited to sexual desires. Sure, he wanted sex.  But he also wanted to cuddle and take care of someone that he definitely didn't have.  Banner had helpfully explained that it was due to the serum. It took everything in him and amplified it, including his desires.

He did _try_ to take Clint's advice. Natasha did her best to help, keen on finding him a proper Omega who could help him through the rough spots. But no one was right. Every person he met may have been a perfectly nice girl. But they never smelled right. There was always at the very least a hint of vinegar clinging to them.  Aside from his teammates, all the other betas and alphas smelled wrong to him, too. Banner, ever the helpful Beta had explained to him again that it was the serum. The match would be harder to make.

And when he found Bucky and he and Sam had brought him back to the land of the living, had reassembled his mind as best they could, Steve brought him back to New York, back to the tower. Bucky was the only person that hadn't given him that vinegar smell. He smelled of cool clean mint, always.

They'd figure out this brave new world together.

And when he and Bucky walked on to their new floor in Avengers Tower, he was thrown for a loop. The smell of sweet strawberries and deliciously ripe lemons filled his senses and he staggered under the weight of it, his mouth watering and jaw going slack.

“Jesus Christ,” Bucky breathed it in eagerly. “That's the sweetest damned omega I ever smelled.”

“I know that smell,” Steve murmured, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. “I thought it was just some sort of candle in Tony's workshop...”

“Natalia smelled like that once,” Bucky nodded. He looked down at the end of the hall, where the other occupant on the floor resided. His sharp sight caught the name on the door. “Darcy Lewis...”

* * *

Bucky had had a lot of experience smelling omegas.

In 2002, he was brought out of cryo freeze and presented with at least twenty-five girls. Of course he was given no explanation and the only direction had been, “Choose one.”

They had all smelled noxious to him. The stench of rotten eggs tainting each one.

He had been thrown on a mission when he made no choice and when he was brought back in, he was subjected to another line of females, each one smelling as bad as the last.

Every time out of cryo freeze from that point on had been the same. But the Winter Soldier never took an Omega, much to his handlers disappointment.

Everything had been explained to him when Sam and Steve had finally caught up with him. Sam had been relieved that Bucky had never bit anyone. Upon seeing two sheepish expressions Sam rolled his eyes.

  
  


“Did you two bite each other?” Sam sighed.

“That's private,” Steve said automatically. What he and Bucky got up to on their down time was their own business.

“Just so you guys know, if you bit each other, you're probably bonded now,” Sam shrugged. “Not like you weren't bonded enough before. It's just going to be really hard to find an omega now. If you didn't like the smell of them before you won't be able to smell them clearly now. You're never going to get that urge to bite one.”

“Why the hell would you bite a person you just met?” Bucky wrinkled his nose.

“ Believe me, some day you'll want to,” Sam chuckled, feeling like a laughing dad explaining wanting to kiss another person to an eight year old kid. “I may be a Beta, but even I have the urge. Bonding isn't like marrying. It's like...that feeling when you get to call something you really love  _ yours _ . Not in an ownership kind of way, but it's like, your their person and they are your people. Someday man, I hope you'll catch a whiff of the nicest scent you've ever had the pleasure of breathing in and you'll know.”

* * *

Ruts affected Alphas in three different ways. All three ways had one end goal. The alpha hormones created an insane need to care for an Omega. To service them sexually as necessary, yes. But perhaps an equal need was that biological desire to provide comfort and care.

A very small percentage of the Alphas were violent during ruts. Most of them were now voluntarily incarcerated at their time of the month. Some of them not so voluntarily. There were apps on smart phones that would show omegas where registered violent Alphas were housed so they could avoid them. The backwards biology of this minority of the population didn't see reason, they just saw the need and had no control. Strict Omega protection laws and Beta neighborhood watches sprung up all around the world within months of the designation announcements.

Nearly half of the Alphas expressed their want in a heightened romantic fashion. Flower shops and candy stores had tripled in number since the designation revolution. They were sappy and romantic and ridiculous in their effort to woo any Omega that had caught their attention.

The remaining Alphas simply became cuddle magnets. They would hug and kiss and nuzzle as much as their obliging Omega would allow them. Only a very few of them actually resorted to the leg humping that Tony had laughed about (Tony was a cuddler after all).

While Omegas could deal with their normal monthly heats on their own, Alphas were a slave to their hormones and without an Omega, they were downright torturous.

And the worst part of it all was that their ruts could be brought on early when around a compatible Omega.

* * *

Bucky and Steve quickly found that the serum had gifted them with the latter two rutting styles. It was unheard of for an Alpha to succumb to more than one style, but Bucky and Steve were not ordinary. They had been labeled hyper virulent, which only occurred in less than half a percent of all Alphas. And it meant _everything_ was amplified.

“We should go and get her a welcome to the tower gift,” Steve murmured, peeking out of the tiny crack their door was opened, Bucky beneath him doing the same. Never mind that they were the ones that were new to the tower. He had the overwhelming urge to give this girl the world.

The little, sweet smelling Omega had opened her door at the end of the hall to accept the take out bags from a non-plussed Clint, who had his own Omega, and therefore was not even slightly tempted by Darcy's impending heat. She laughed and joked with him at the door while Steve and Bucky secretly watched.

“God, she's so beautiful,” Bucky whispered. “Stevie, look at those lips...just look at them. Like fluffy little pink pillows...they're just, she's _so_ beautiful.”

“I know,” Steve nodded. “I've never seen anyone like her.”

“I want to smell her hair,” Bucky admitted. “Do you think she'll let me smell her hair?”

“I want to bite her,” Steve sighed. “Oh god, I want to _bite_ her. That's not normal. Is that normal now?”

“Then I'm not normal either,” Bucky shook his head. “Cause that sounds really good to me.”

The elevator doors slid open again and Sam arrived with his own takeout bags and gave the air a sniff.

“That's a whole lot of smells going on right here,” Sam wrinkled his nose in the direction of Steve and Bucky's new apartment. He recognized the smell of mint(Bucky) and straight up sugar (Steve). But the strawberry lemonade smell was new, and all in all he felt like he was taking in the smell of the world's tastiest virgin daiquiri. He turned to the strawberry lemonade smell and waved at Clint. “You must be Darcy! I'm Sam Wilson. Friend of Captain Crunch.”

“Stop trying to make Captain Crunch happen, Wilson. It's never going to happen,” Clint rolled his eyes.

“Why Captain Crunch?” Darcy smiled.

“The captain part is obvious,” Sam shrugged. “And the first time I was around Bucky, his crazy hand accidentally crunched my Starkpad. Voided the warranty.”

“I can get you a new one. I know a guy,” Darcy laughed. “Where are those hundred-year-old hotties, anyway? Stark promised me Alpha eye candy. I mean, I can _smell_ them, but I've not been able to ogle them properly.”

“You want to do dinner? Your den or ours?” Sam held up the takeout bags.

“Come over to hers,” Clint ordered. He still didn't know where Steve and Bucky fell on the Alpha rut spectrum. He'd prefer to have a tactical advantage if Darcy's pre-heat caused any violent reaction. Sam went to retrieve the soldiers and he looked down at Darcy with an arched eyebrow, “You might want to go hide your messy pile of bras.”

“Ugh....domestic chores. I can't wait to find an alpha that doesn't smell like ass so I can make them keep my place tidy,” Darcy joked as she trudged into her apartment and pushed the pile of her bras under the couch. She had the sneaking suspicion she had found a pair of alphas who decidedly did not smell like ass. They smelled like candy. She loved candy. She grabbed her work clothes she had shucked off during the week and placed them under a couch cushion before giving Clint a nervous smile, “There, all clean!”

* * *

“We can't just go to her house empty handed!” Steve hissed at Sam once the man had entered the apartment. He spun around in two complete circles, surveying the apartment he and Bucky had managed to half set up before the smell of Darcy had incapacitated them completely.

“We got this, we can give her this,” Bucky held up a bottle of wine that Steve had received from the President last spring. “Dames like fancy wine, right?”

“Maybe we can go get her flowers...or, I don't know, something,” Steve pursed his lips.

“Oh this is going to be so much fun,” Sam laughed. He pointed at the two super soldiers and said, “She's putting you guys into a rut!”

“Shut up, Wilson!” Bucky glared. “I ain't never smelled an omega like her before.”

“I know, I know,” Sam rolled his eyes. He looked to Steve and said, “What about you Cap? She smell nice for you?”

“Never smelled anything so good as that,” Steve shook his head. “Oh no, what if she doesn't like the way we smell?”

“Come on you dopes, bring the wine. She'll love it,” Sam promised. “And if she didn't like the way you smell she would have noticed by now, and believe me, Natasha said she's the type of girl to make sure you know if she doesn't like something.”

* * *

Clint forced Darcy to stand on the opposite end of her living room as he opened the door to reveal the Soldiers Three. Darcy took a step back at the overwhelming walls of scent assaulting her senses. They were _perfect_ .

“Oh this is going to be so good,” Darcy murmured. She smiled and waved at the boys coyly, her fingers going up and down one by one. “Welcome to Casa De Darcy. Come on in, make yourselves at home. Ohhh, is that for me?”

“It's from the President,” Steve murmured, completely entranced. Bucky wasn't much better as he stared at her with his mouth open, completely stock still and silent.

Sam pushed them both in the room and closed the door behind him. Clint seemed to immediately relax as both of the alpha soldiers seemed to gape hopelessly at Darcy. He looked down at his friend and rolled his eyes.

She was going to eat them alive.

He looked at Sam and some sort of unspoken bird bro communication flittered between them. Clint laughed at the information beamed directly into his brain.

Steve and Bucky were going to thoroughly enjoy the devouring.

* * *

** Chapter Three: Best Dinner Party Ever **

In this new world of designations, you didn't have to go to Vegas for a quickie wedding anymore. Most major cities had at least one drive-thru chapel.

And after the first tidal wave of divorces in 2000, the divorce rate had stayed firmly at 5% of all marriages.

There were science specials on the Discovery Designation channel that explained it properly. The short of it was that the new biology of the human body was hardly ever wrong. The 5% divorce rate was mostly from the Beta population. Omegas and Alphas were wired differently now. Their bodies told them who they were compatible with and then practically made it impossible for them to ignore it.

And it was always quick. Very _very_ quick.

* * *

Dinner had been a success. Eventually Steve and Bucky had gotten over their nerves and had managed to converse with Darcy as well as they could with anyone else. The difference was that they never took their eyes off of her, their gazes adoring and enraptured. They had sat on either side of her and absently shoveled food into their mouths as they continued to smile down at her.

“I love being surrounded by people with ridiculous appetites,” Darcy grinned, using her chopsticks to spear a giant fried shrimp off of Sam's meal from across the table. “It's like it's my own personal smorgasbord.”

“Stop stealing my shrimp, Shrimp,” Sam pointed his chopsticks at her with exaggerated menace.

Bucky punched Sam's arm while Steve flat out ordered him, “Let the lady have what she wants, Wilson.”

Clint rolled his eyes as Darcy's grin grew wider. He pulled out his phone and started a group text with Natasha and Sam.  _ Twenty bucks says Darcy's bound to the dinosaur soldiers by the end of the month _ .  _ Boys are in a full blown rut. Darcy is eating it up _ .

Natasha's text back took two seconds and both Sam and Clint's phones buzzed with the message.

_ Five hundred bucks say they bite her in less than ten days  _ .

Sam guffawed at his phone as Bucky reached in front of his face obnoxiously with a pair of chopsticks, providing a distraction for Steve, who stole more shrimp out of Sam's takeout container and popped it on Darcy's plate with a sweet smile on his face. Sam furrowed his brow and swatted Bucky's metal hand away from the shrimp while he texted Natasha back.

_ You haven't even see them together. You don't know. I'll take that bet  _ .

“Idiot,” Clint laughed at Sam. You didn't ever take a bet from Natasha. She did everything in her considerable power to win the bet. She had once broken into Fort Knox to make a bet go her way. Fury had not been pleased.

Sam threw Clint the middle finger before going back to his dinner and realizing that Bucky had run distraction with his shiny metal hand while Steve had spirited away all of his shrimp and put it on Darcy's plate.

“You guys suck,” Sam scrunched his face up in annoyance at Captain Crunch.

“Aww, here, I magnanimously gift you back two shrimps,” Darcy offered. She sniffed the air suddenly and squealed. “Tasha!”

Darcy hopped out of her seat and rushed to open the door, jumping right into Natasha's arms.

“How'd she smell a Beta?” Sam asked Clint.  "When you know...Captain Crunch is around?"

“I'm never calling them that.  And it's cause they're highly compatible,” Clint smirked, looking at the soldiers for their reactions carefully. Steve gaped with huge eyes as Darcy took the box of cupcakes from Natasha and put them in the kitchen for dessert later. Sam's jaw was on the floor and some drool appeared at the side of his mouth. And Bucky chuckled and threw Natasha a wink.

Natasha sat down next to Sam and across from Darcy, and wasted no time in stealing one of the two shrimp that Sam had left on his plate. She popped it in her mouth and gave Steve and Bucky an appraising look before slyly saying,

“So, boys...I'm willing to share Darcy with you finally, but we need to open up negotiations. What does your dowry look like?”

* * *

Betas were often heartily welcomed into Alpha/Omega unions. It was essential to have someone around who was sensible during the times of the month were Alphas would try to empty their bank accounts in buying nice things for the Omega.

  
  


And Betas were ridiculously good at dealing with Omegas during their nsanely overly possessive and overly protective periods. If a bonded Omega was starting to nest, it was absolutely necessary to have a Beta handy so that any potential bloodshed was kept to a minimum.

The appearance of untraditional households in the United States increased dramatically after the July of 2000. One out of every six households had at least three adults. One out of every fifteen households had more than three adults.

It made tax returns incredibly difficult.

* * *

“I swear to God, Pigeon face I will tickle murder everyone you love if you buy that railroad. I will TICKLE MURDER EVERY PERSON YOU LOVE IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE.”

Bucky howled with laughter at Darcy's threat to Clint as the man fiddled with his small stack of Monopoly money. Every little thing the girl did or said made Bucky want to bite her more. It was becoming problematic. He looked to Steve and saw that the big dope was looking at Darcy with a dreamy, sappy grin on his face.

Both boys were as close as humanly possible to her as they sat around the coffee table playing the game. Every once in a while her arm would brush them and they would sigh in contentment, causing the rest of the dinner guests to smile knowingly into their beers.

“You're an idiot,” Natasha laughed at Clint as he bought the railroad despite Darcy's threat.

“Never mess with an omega like that before she goes into heat,” Sam shook his head at his bird brother.

Darcy had given her guests the choice of a movie or a board game, and Steve and Bucky, ever eager to interact more with their adorable host, had picked out Monopoly. She was a competitive little thing to say the least. Natasha, ever the brilliant survivalist, had eagerly sat out the game, playing banker instead of going up against the pre-heat Omega.

Alphas may have had that whole top dog myth about them, but everyone knew that the Omega was the real danger in a fire fight. Or in a game of Monopoly.

Steve and Bucky had played the game plenty of times during Bucky's recovery when they were holed up in a cabin in the woods for six months straight with only Sam or Natasha as the occasional company. Steve was a ruthless slum lord usually. He was suspiciously not so tonight. And he wasn't purposefully trying to throw the game, but he was just so caught up with watching everything Darcy did, that half of the time he forgot to collect the rent that was due to him.

“That's it. I'm calling Phil!” Darcy glared at Clint.

“Shit, don't do that!” Clint shook his head, grabbing for Darcy's phone as she tried to dial.

“SON OF COUL YOUR ALPHA IS BEING A MEGA DOUCHE CANOE!” Darcy screamed into the phone when it picked up, even as Clint tried to pull it away from her.

“No, Phil, I didnt!” Clint pulled the phone out of her hand finally and immediately tried to reassure his Omega that he wasn't being naughty or mean to the man's favorite fellow Omega. He gave Darcy a glare and hopped up to continue the call in another room. “Babe...come on. You know she's just being Darcy!”

“I declare you the winner,” Sam smirked at Darcy. “Mostly because I don't want to have you tickle murder my loved ones in front of my face.”

“What's a tickle murder anyway?” Steve wondered. He swallowed as Darcy arched an all too deviant brow at him.

  
  


“Oh, I'll definitely show you someday.”

* * *

Darcy had bestowed Steve and Bucky with a big grin when they tripped over each other in an attempt to clean up the mess of takeout boxes and utensils. They wound up unloading her dishwasher and tidying up her kitchen better than she had ever managed to do in less than a half hour, all the while watching her as she sat on her kitchen stool, grinning and joking and laughing with them.

“You know, neither of those idiots have ever gotten a whiff of an omega that they actually liked,” Sam offered Clint and Natasha as they sat in the living room.

“I definitely know,” Natasha laughed. “I knew they'd be a match. Once when I went up to the cabin, I had a whiff of Darcy on my jacket she had borrowed. Bucky was still pretty feral then, but he had grabbed it off the back of the couch and cuddled it up against his cheek for the rest of the day.”

“Darcy spends the day in Tony's workshop on Tuesdays,” Clint smirked.

“So that's why Cap used to spend hours in Tony's workshop on Wednesdays, before we tracked down Bucky,” Sam shook his head in amazement. “Knew something weird had to be going on for him to sit there and take that kind of non-stop witty repartee willingly. He just liked the smell.”

“She's a demanding little thing,” Clint warned.

“They'll be eager to please, I think,” Sam laughed.

“They had better be,” Natasha nodded. “Or else I'll fry them to a medium rare.”

“ So, could we... I mean, would you like to do this again, Miss Lewis?” Steve wondered as he folded the dish towel and placed it on the oven handle neatly. She gave him a poke to his chest and arched an eyebrow at him. He smiled sheepishly and said softly, with all the feelings wildly coursing through him packed into one small syllable, “ _ Darcy _ .”

“Tomorrow?” Bucky ventured hopefully as the threesome slowly made their way back to the rest of their dinner party. “I could make you pancakes for breakfast.”

“ ohhhhh!” Darcy clapped her hands together in delight. They smelled good. They did the chores for her. And they were willing to make her pancakes.  _ Jackpot _ .

“Darce, you can't,” Clint reminded her. “You'll be in heat tomorrow. You know that. Even I can smell it.”

“Darn,” Darcy sighed. She was all about letting those soldiers help her through it, and it was the first time she had ever _thought_ about being sexually involved with any Alpha. But she supposed it would offend their old-timey, pre-designation sensibilities and for once in her life, her wonky brain to mouth filter actually worked and she didn't say her desires out loud. Those desires being _Come and make me pancakes and then make me orgasm a few dozen times_.

“We could leave the breakfast at the door,” Steve said quickly, eager to make her feel safe, but also equally as eager to provide something for her, even if it was only breakfast. “We wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Aww, that's impossible,” Darcy cooed at him, reaching out a hand to cup his bicep. Her brain frizzled out for a moment and she had trouble finding her words again as her cheeks flushed red. “You boys can leave whatever you want at my door, I'll be very, very grateful.”

She kissed both of their cheeks before they left, nearly knocking them over with the gentle, innocent caress. Natasha waved at the boys as they left before wrapping an arm around Darcy and giving her a strong side hug.

“When this whole heat business is over,” Darcy sighed, putting her head on Natasha's shoulder. “I am going to have so much fun with those Alpha boys.”

“Hmm,” Natasha hummed in a non-committed way. “Don't count on waiting till your heat is over, little one.”

* * *

** Chapter Four: Completely Compatible **

The boys had woken up at their usual five in the morning, and on a normal day they would have gone off on a long run. That day was very different though. They had someone to take care of that day, and their bodies were telling them that they absolutely had to lavish Darcy with whatever they could possibly get their hands on. Their brains were telling them that they absolutely wanted to eagerly comply with those orders.

So the normal jog was out as they made their way out of the tower and towards a nearby store. For the first time ever they went to the Omega care section of the store, a large aisle filled with food, sweets, luxurious bath products and anything else an Alpha in a rut could want to buy for an Omega. The prices were marked up to a ridiculous amount, but Alphas didn't care.

And Steve and Bucky  _ definitely  _ didn't care.

“First heat?” a helpful store clerk smiled between the two boys, who were pulling one of everything off of the shelves.

“Uhm, yeah,” Steve nodded.

“Well my son prefers regular candy to these fancy ones,” the worker suggested. “Really you're just paying for a fancy name on a wrapper here. Does your omega like sweet or salty?”

“She's not...she's not ours,” Bucky shook his head. He sighed and said, “Not ours yet. But...we just met her.”

“Doesn't matter if you met her five minutes ago,” the clerk laughed. “You know how it works. Your body knows. Their body definitely knows.”

“Yeah,” Steve sighed. He and Bucky didn't know much about how it worked, actually. But they had both spent all night talking quietly about how much they liked Darcy, each confessing that they had felt a very unnerving urge to bite her and a much more normal urge to care for her. And a much, much more gut twisting urge to see her naked.

“Well, if this is her first heat since meeting you, you may want to grab some of this stuff,” the clerk gestured to a wall of full of sexual stimulants and lube. “You know what they say about that first heat after meeting a compatible alpha. My son and daughter-in-law were indisposed for a couple of days.”

“Wait, what?” Steve furrowed his brow after a few prolonged moments of Bucky and he staring at the wall of products. They must have been staring, gob smacked for more than a few seconds, because the clerk had walked away to help other customers. He looked to Bucky and shrugged, “Wonder what she meant by that?”

* * *

One convenient result of the designation process was that your body had a very special way of telling you when you had found your correct partner or partners.

Betas had the overwhelming urge to imprint.

Alphas had the biologically necessary urge to bite.

And Omegas would experience the most devastating heat of their lives after meeting someone compatible. The more compatible, the more intense and desirous and long-lasting the heat. In the most extreme cases (less than 1% of all matches), people would have to resort to drastic measures.

* * *

Darcy had just opened her front door the next morning to see bags of food, treats and a vase of bright yellow flowers sitting in her hallway along with the lingering scent of sweet sugary mint.

And then she felt a rip of pleasure starting from her womb and radiating through her whole body. She fell to her knees with a moan followed by a whispered curse.

Two thundering sets of footsteps raced down the hall, followed by a much slower set of footsteps.

“Darcy, kitten, are you okay?” Bucky wondered as he and Steve bent over to get a better look at her.

“Oh shit,” Sam breathed as he finally caught up. He had been laughing a moment ago when Steve and Bucky anxiously waited at the crack of the front door for Darcy's reactions to the things they had picked up for her that morning, but then the two of them had been soaring through the door and Sam had feared the worst. “You know what this is, don't you Darcy?”

  
  


“Yeah...” Darcy winced, a rush of heat going through her body. She let out a small whining whimper, the sound threaded through with pleasure.

“What's the matter?” Steve demanded of Sam. “Should we call a doctor?”

“Take her to the medical wing?” Bucky wondered.

“No, a doctor is NOT going to be able to help her,” Sam shook his head. He huffed a sigh and was absolutely honest with the boys, “Long story short, her body wants you guys because she's compatible with you two.”

Darcy let out a moan that didn't sound at all pained.

“Very, very, very compatible,” Sam revealed, he'd actually never seen such an intense reaction. Usually an omega would just get overly handsy and flirtatious. Darcy was absolutely wrecked with desire.

Steve reached out a hand and smoothed Darcy's hair away from her face. She leaned into the touch, rubbing against his hand like a happy kitten.

“How do we help her?” Bucky asked.

“Uhmm....you're going to have to knot her. Worst case scenario she won't calm down until you bond with her,” Sam shrugged. “Darcy...do they have permission to...”

“Yes, yes, yes, please. All the permission to do all of the things,” Darcy nodded emphatically. She held up her hands to Steve and pouted. “I'm sorry, but please...please.”

“No, kitten, you don't have to beg,” Bucky shook his head. “We'll take good care of you.”

“I'm gonna...go at least eight floors away from this,” Sam saluted the boys and gave a smile to Darcy. “Have as much fun as you possibly can, kids. See you in a few days.”

* * *

Darcy kept apologizing as Steve picked her up and brought her to the couch, sitting down with her and cuddling her close. Bucky sat as close to them as he could, his arm around Steve's shoulder, his hand continuously smoothing Darcy's hair.

“Please don't apologize,” Steve murmured against her ear, his nose nuzzling into her hair. “You can't help the way your body is.”

“Its just the worst way to welcome you to your new home. Hi, here is your apartment, there's an ultra horny lady who will need you to sexually service her less than twenty-four hours after meeting,” Darcy grumbled.

“Sounds like a pretty swell welcome, kitten,” Bucky chuckled. “Stevie and I don't get this designation business so well, but I know that this feels pretty right.”

“Really?” Darcy smiled at him, her eyes big and wide and blue.

“Really,” Steve nodded. He bit back a groan as Darcy wiggled happily in his lap before another wave of desire spiked through her and she whimpered at the enormity of it. “Darcy, sweetheart, you have to tell us what to do to help you.”

“What...you don't know? ---we have to do the thing, with the stuff, and the doing it,” Darcy babbled. She looked between a blushing Steve and a grimacing Bucky and she whispered, “You guys have never been with an omega?”

“You're the only one that ever felt right,” Bucky pressed a kiss to her forehead. “So right.”

“You've never---” Steve shrugged.

“Not with an Alpha. Much less two,” Darcy wrinkled her nose at the absurdity of it all. “Oh god, we're hopeless!”

  
  


“ Hey now, kitten,” Bucky shook his head. “I'm pretty sure it can't be that much different. I was  _ never  _ hopeless back in my day.”

“Oh my god, I'm hopeless and you two are virgin grandpas!” Darcy hid her face in Steve's shoulder, breathing in that sweet sugary smell that was rolling off of him in waves. She wiggled in place again and refused to even think about stopping herself from licking a stripe up the long column of Steve's neck.

She managed a delighted yelp when Steve reacted accordingly, tossing her so that she lay on her back in Bucky's lap, following her down and crowding her with his bulk as his lips descended on hers, quickly turning her yelps into moans. Bucky continued to pet her hair as Steve's tongue did the lord's work inside of her mouth. Bucky tapped Steve on the shoulder and in exactly one and half seconds, the two of them had her shirtless and right back underneath Steve.

“Woah,” Darcy breathed out.

“Not virgins,” Steve murmured as his mouth trailed a path down her neck to the swells of her breasts.

“Not grandpas,” Bucky smiled as he bent down and kissed her mouth as Steve's hands drifted down her stomach to the buttons of her jeans.

“And not your first trip to this particular rodeo,” Darcy giggled as their hands and mouths worked in harmony with each other. She was obviously not the first woman the soldiers had lavished their affections on together.

Captain America and Bucky Barnes: the national embodiment of teamwork.

“We're going to take real good care of you,” Steve promised, working her jeans off her body. “Whatever you want, you name it, it's yours.”

Darcy felt another shiver of warm desire work through her and a rush of warm wetness between her legs as Steve's large hands ran a path from her feet slowly up her legs. Bucky continued to kiss her mouth as his hands worked at freeing the bra from her body.

“I want you both to be naked in the next thirty seconds,” Darcy managed to blurt out against Bucky's lips.

Lord, bless the obedient Alpha.

Steve lifted her once, his mouth on hers as Bucky shuffled around. She sucked playfully on the tip of his tongue and he groaned, releasing her to lay back on a blissfully clothing free Bucky, who distracted her with a kiss of his own as Steve freed himself of his own clothing.

“Now what do you want, kitten?” Bucky wondered, his hands finally releasing the clasp on Darcy's bra, metal fingers pulling the straps delicately down her arms.

“I thought you were going to take care of me,” Darcy sighed. She whimpered as she felt another twinge run through her body. Wriggling from her bra and tossing it carelessly across the room. “Please...”

“Don't make our little lady, beg, punk,” Bucky ordered Steve, who went to his knees next to the couch and maneuvered his upper body between Darcy's trembling thighs, pulling her panties down as quickly as he could. “Take care of her real good.”

Steve didn't have to be told twice. The smell of her was intoxicating, bullets of the strawberry lemonade scent whizzing around his head incessantly, making his mouth water for her. One swipe of his tongue, one small taste of her and he was a man lost. Bucky laughed as Steve went at the sweet little Darcy like he was a starving man, his tongue rolling circles over her clit, his nose nuzzling against her as he stroked relentlessly around her opening, intent on devouring every last drop of her.

Bucky found plenty to occupy his time while Steve busied himself between her thighs. He found that no kiss had ever been better than the one where Darcy had moaned into his mouth, her tongue mimicking the patterns and swirls that Steve was employing. Bucky's right hand palmed at the softest skin he had ever had the pleasure of feeling, squeezing and groping her breasts with just enough force to have her moaning louder.

  
  


“ Keep purring, kitten,” Bucky murmured, his lips painting a line from her mouth, down her throat (where he paused and had to forcefully move away lest his teeth sink into her soft, creamy neck), and down the most magnificent pair of breasts he had ever seen. He groaned and managed to let out one soft  _ gorgeous  _ before he put his mouth to better use, taking one pert nipple into his mouth and sucking reverently.

“Virgin grandpas,” Darcy giggled to herself. “I want to look up any of those girls who taught you these things...send them flowers in their nursing home.”

“If she's yapping, you're not doing something right,” Bucky muttered to Steve around a mouthful of Darcy. “Don't make me come down there and show you up, Stevie.”

Steve was mindless to their banter. His only purpose on the Earth at that point was to continue to taste this heavenly girl that had been made for them. Each of his hands were filled with Darcy's perfectly soft, perfectly ample backside, his eyes closed and face blissful as her thighs trembled against his face.

He was mindless to Darcy's first quick, fierce orgasm, and continued his rewarding task as she mewled and pushed Bucky away from her chest and looked up at him pleadingly as the waves of pleasure broke over her again. Bucky took pity on her and pushed at Steve's shoulder with real force, shaking his head as Steve sat back on his heels, looking like he was drunk off of his ass.

“Gimme a taste of her,” Bucky demanded, and grinned wickedly as Steve shuffled forward and brought his lips to him.

Darcy moaned as she watched the kiss unfold above her, saw their tongues in flashes of a soft caress. She would have made no sound at all if she knew it would have ended their kiss. But they broke apart regardless and stared down at her in wonder.

“You're perfect,” Bucky shook his head in amazed disbelief.

“You are,” Darcy countered, turning to lay on her stomach and shimmying slightly so she was face to face with not-so-little Bucky. She licked him from root to tip like a lollipop before allowing her tongue to swirl around his head.

“Christ, do something, punk or she's going to embarrass me,” Bucky ordered as she sucked him into her mouth, all the while looking up at him with dancing and laughing blue eyes.

Steve nodded at him and knelt on the couch behind Darcy, his hands on her hips, pulling her ass in the air as she moaned around a mouthful of a twitching Bucky.

“So pretty,” Steve sighed as his finger parted her lips and stroked her tenderly. His eyes went up the line of her spine and focused where her neck met her shoulders and it took every ounce of willpower to not lean forward and bite her. He tore his gaze back down her body and re-focused on the task at hand.

Darcy laughed, the vibrations making Bucky's head roll back in pleasure as his hands threaded in her hair. He felt another sound tickle around him as Darcy moaned in pleasure as Steve finally gave her what she desperately wanted, easing the head of his cock into her tightness.

“Oh my God,” Steve groaned. The warm wet embrace of her cunt enveloping him as he sunk into her inch by inch. By the time he was fully seated within her, his hips resting against her ass, his hands were trembling against her skin. It wasn't the time to say it, but he felt right for the first time in a long time. They were made for this woman and she was made for them. It was so right. His gaze fell back on her neck and he felt a growl rumble from somewhere deep within him as he fought against the urge to claim her, to bond her.

“Move, Steve,” Bucky ordered him. The more frenzied and wanting Darcy got, the harder she worked at him, her cheeks hollowing out as her lips met the start of a very impressive knot. She pulled off of him and gave him a cheeky wink.

“Move, Steve,” Darcy teased before her mouth descended again as she clenched her inner muscles around Steve's girth.

“ Oh my God,” Steve repeated himself, lost for words at the feel of her. He groaned as  _ she  _ moved, rocking herself back and forth between him and Bucky. She was a force of nature and Steve knew he would gladly do anything to keep her with them forever. His hands tightened on her hips and he finally recovered enough of his senses to start moving, meeting every rocking of her hips with his own increasingly powerful thrusts.

Darcy couldn't help the moans and purrs rumbling in her throat as a switch went off in Steve, something primal and animal that was ingrained into him by his designation as he gripped her hips and pounded into her warm heat relentlessly. Bucky's hands tightened in her hair and no amount of Steve distracting her would save him as his hips bucked up off of the sofa.

“Kitten, please, I'm there,” he choked out.

Darcy swallowed him down, her lips meeting his knot as her hands clamped around him, providing that relentless pressure that his biological need required. His release spurting from him and straight down her throat.

“So perfect, so good,” Bucky murmured as he came down from his high.

Darcy pulled off of him even as her hands clenched around him, her mouth still wide open as a low keening cry fell from her lips as Steve drove her straight through another orgasm. Steve pulled her off of Bucky's lap, her back against his chest, his length hitting a whole new angle. Darcy trembled as her arms went up to cradle the back of his neck, turning her head so that Steve could kiss the taste of Bucky right off of her lips.

Bucky was a solid warmth at her front, his tongue laving her nipples as his hands danced downwards, fingers seeking out where Steve and Darcy's bodies met. He kissed at her neck and bared his teeth, ready to and so willing to bite down on her tender flesh. He caught Steve's head shaking in the corner of his eyes and pulled away, knowing that it would have been wrong unless she asked for it.

“So close,” Steve groaned. He could feel his knot growing, her body accommodating the added girth. Bucky's fingers danced against her clit, circling and rubbing relentlessly.

Darcy cried out again at the sensations soaring through her nerve endings. Steve's hips stuttered as she clenched at him with a rush of wetness. Her name fell from his lips in a curious blend of a curse and a prayer as he spent himself inside of her and felt their bodies lock together.

They remained unmoving and silent, even as Bucky randomly placed soft worshipful kisses on any bare skin he could find on either of them. Darcy began giggling after a particularly ticklish brush of Buckys scruff against her neck.

“So good for a bunch of World War II Veterans,” Darcy sighed. “Thank Thor you guys are a lot easier than I thought you'd be. Thought I'd have to woo you.”

“Leave the wooing to us, sweetheart,” Steve sighed as he her body again with Bucky's help so that he could sit on the couch with her sitting on top of him. His arms were wrapped around her waist as she lay her head against his shoulder, her tongue licked against Steve's neck again as she held up suddenly weak arms to Bucky in a welcome invitation to post-coital cuddling.

“Stay?” she whispered.

“Not going anywhere,” Steve laughed in clear wonderment at their current physical situation. It felt so right to be trapped inside of her. His nose nuzzled her neck and he fought desperately against that need to sink his teeth into her again.

“Good...usually the heat only lasts two or three days,” Darcy promised, her eyes blinking drowsily. “I'll be back to normal then and we can do this whole..old timey courtship thing properly.”

* * *

** Chapter Five: Biology Knows What Its Doing **

  
  


The longest heat on record was eight days long. The story behind it had been made into several made for television movies. An Omega had found her perfect match when she had run a security wand over him at the airport and twelve hours later her heat had started. It was potent and devastating and the perfectly compatible Alpha had boarded a plane headed overseas.

The Alpha's rut had made him a security risk for flying back and was actually detained upon landing, and the Omega suffered for eight days before she was given hormone suppressants to forcefully break her heat, the end result was her designation completely changing to Beta, her scent and biological makeup completely changing.

Compatible heats were nothing to trifle with. When the human body wants something, it is wise to do as it wishes.

* * *

Darcy's heat did not last two or three days.

Steve and Bucky had been Darcy's live-in guests for the past seven days. Her need for them had not been tampered down even a little bit, no matter how voraciously and how often they thoroughly sexed one another. Any moment that Darcy wasn't sleeping in the cuddling embrace of one of them, or being force fed by a mother hen-ing Bucky she was actively engaged in climbing one or both of those boys like trees.

Thank goodness for super soldier stamina. Any other man would have been sexhausted at that point.

And if the vigorous and continuous sex wasn't enough of a bonus, between the boys never ending energy and need to care for her, the apartment had never been cleaner. Even all her empty plastic tupperware was organized in her shelves. Every time she napped, she would wake up to something cleaner and nicer than it had been before her nap.

A well-trained Alpha was a very good thing to have.

Sam or Natasha had been delivering their basic necessities every day, leaving bags at the door and making a run for it. The entire floor that Darcy and the boys resided on felt like a hormone addled sex den.

In an attempt at a social experiment and his own brand of hilarity, Tony had sent an unbonded Alpha personal assistant to make the first delivery of supplies and food unbeknownst to Sam and Natasha. The poor schmuck had barely made it off the elevator before Bucky had barreled out of the door of Darcy's apartment, viciously protective, teeth bared and growling. The P.A. dropped the bags and jumped back into the elevator, the doors to which Jarvis mercifully slammed closed before Bucky could throw one of his knives.

Bucky and Steve trusted Sam and Natasha, and the Betas posed no threat to their heat addled Omega. Steve even managed to talk through the door at them, even if Bucky stood glaring next to him.

“No change?” Sam wondered, although his nose told him there was no change. If anything, Darcy's heat had gotten worse. “Doctor Foster says that if it doesn't go away by tomorrow, she's going to have to go to medical to get them to break the heat. Her body can't hold up to the heat much longer without breaking down.”

“Is that safe? Breaking a heat?” Steve wondered.

“Not at all,” Sam said honestly. He sighed, knowing he was going to lose his bet to Natasha, but Darcy's well-being meant more than five hundred dollars. “I think you need to bond with her. I think its the only way for her heat to be satisfied. I know its fast, ridiculously fast to you guys since you're not used to this designation business, but the biology is never wrong, guys. You're made for her and she's made for you.”

“Yeah. We know that. If she wants it,” Steve admitted. “We'll---we'll ask if its something she wants.”

“Is it something _you_ want?” Sam countered.

“More than anything,” Bucky finally spoke up. “Now get the hell out of here so we can get back to it.”

Steve waited until Jarvis gave the all clear before opening the door and gathering the bags of food. He brought them in while Bucky went back to Darcy's bedroom to tell her it was safe to come out again. She rolled her eyes at the boys. Their over protectiveness was classic Alpha behavior, but on them it seemed less neanderthal and more adorable. She watched as Steve and Bucky worked at unpacking the bags and she pouted.

“What?” Steve wondered looking down at the unpacked food. He felt the hairs on his forearms go up as he wondered what had made her upset and what he could do to make it right. “What's wrong?”

“They got the Red Vines,” Darcy sighed, wrinkling her nose at the offensive candy. “We're a Twizzlers family.”

Steve and Bucky both puffed up a little at Darcy's choice of words.  _ Family _ . That felt nice. Felt right.

Bucky nodded at Steve and he took the candy and marched to the door. Darcy sighed a moan as the need to debauch one or both of them threatened to overwhelm her again and said, “Don't go. We'll just go without twizzlers.”

“Let me take care of what you want,” Steve smiled at her, leaning down to kiss at her lips for an extended moment. She moaned and clutched at his shoulders as he pulled away reluctantly. Steve winked at Bucky and said, “Keep her occupied, would ya?”

“My pleasure,” Bucky grinned as he put away the last of the frozen pizzas Darcy liked so much. He picked her up off the ground and hauled her over his shoulders. “Come on, kitten. Let's go play some more.”

* * *

  
  


Steve made it to Stark's lab and threw the candy onto a nearby lab bench, bringing the rest of the Avengers' attention to him.

“Wrong candy,” he said curtly.

“ This is why we need Lewis back,” Tony grumbled. “She's the only one who knows how to do... _ everything _ .”

“She's indisposed,” Steve grumbled at him.

“I don't like how long this is lasting, Cap,” Clint sighed. “Omegas shouldn't be in heat this long. It's dangerous.”

“We're trying,” Steve looked queasy at the thought that he and Bucky were somehow lacking in the proper care of Darcy's heat. “I would never hurt her.”

“Bond her,” Natasha advised neatly. “She'll be out for twelve hours after that and then every thing will go back to normal.”

“Okay, okay,” Steve nodded. “Wait, what do you mean out for twelve hours?”

“Bonding takes a lot out of an omega,” Clint explained helpfully. “Add in the extended heat, and she'll probably be near comatose for longer than twelve hours.”

“God, I don't want that,” Steve shook his head quickly.

“It's the only way, she'll be fine,” Natasha promised. She sighed at his indecision and said, “We have a hydra cell, there's a twenty-four hour window. We need you and Barnes there. The surest way to keep Darcy safe and happy is to wipe Hydra off the face of the planet.”

“Okay, alright,” Steve nodded.  He tried not to be too hopeful.  Darcy was a modern gal, and she might not be eager to jump into a lifelong bond with a couple of nearly 100 year old serum enhanced soldiers with several tons of emotional baggage.  He and Bucky had waited this long already because they both were terrified she would say no.  But if her safety was in question, they would have to risk the rejection.   “We'll ask her if that's what she wants.”

* * *

“Bucky, Bucky, Bucky,” Darcy dreamily chanted as he worked her over, the backs of her knees resting on his forearms, his hips snapping into her in a fast rhythm. The noises coming from him, his unending low moans of pleasure vibrated through her relentlessly. Her hands went to reverently pet his chest, feeling every rumble and moan as she felt his knot begin to inflate against her soft, wet warmth.

Her fingers danced on the scars where the metal met flesh with astonishing gentleness and the sensation made his heart flutter. He adjusted his angle and let out a growl as his hips slammed against her, once, twice, three times before she broke underneath him, gripping him inside of her as he came quickly after.

“So good, you get five gold stars,” she sighed as he eased his weight on top of her, his lips kissing her jaw lazily. She fluttered around him, squeezing every last drop of his release out of him. “Thank you, baby. Thank you.”

"You gave me ten gold stars yesterday," Bucky mumbled lazily.  "I think I did at least as good as what I did yesterday afternoon.  With that thing I did with my tongue that made you---"

“Hey now, stop badgering for the gold stars.  You know you have to earn them,” Steve smirked from the doorway as he smiled at them. He looked to Darcy and asked carefully, “Feeling better yet?”

Bucky felt her flutter around him again and he shook his head. His metal hand touched her skin and he could tell that her temperature was still above normal, her heat had not broken. “She's not there yet.”

“Darcy, sweetheart, there might be a solution to this,” Steve sighed as Bucky rolled and maneuvered them so Darcy was draped over top of him. Steve shucked his shoes and shirt and climbed up onto the bed, cuddling into their sides. He leaned in and grazed his lips against hers, then Bucky's. “Can...would it be alright with you if we were bound to you?”

“You---you want that too?” Darcy asked in her dreamy haze. It had been all she could think about the minute they had worked in tandem to procure her Sam's shrimp, if she was being honest. She hadn't said anything because she was sure the speed at which things were moving would scare them off. And it was the last thing she wanted. After having them with her the past week, she couldn't imagine not having them right there with her.

“It's all we want,” Bucky promised, his hands wrapped around her waist, his lips pressing against her forehead tenderly.

“Yes, fuck yes, please,” Darcy nodded eagerly. “I want you both. Forever.”

Steve nodded and swallowed as Bucky shifted her, his knot going down enough for him to pull Darcy off of him and gently place her in the small space between he and Steve. She managed to pull her hair up and away from her neck, fanning it out on the pillow behind her head. She angled her chin up, her neck prone and calling to them. She sighed in contentment as they both nuzzled at either side of her neck.

"I'm pretty sure I know how this works now.  I mean, I took the class when I was a junior in high school," she babbled.  "I mean,  I spent most of that class flirting with Richie Angler, he had a sweet ass Mustang."

“Kitten, don't talk about your past conquests right now," Bucky gave her an unimpressed look before leaning back in and kissing the spot he knew he was going to finally get to bite.  He let out a low hum of pleasure and promised, "We're going to be yours forever."

“Longer if you need it,” Steve whispered.

Darcy gasped as they both bit down into her skin simultaneously, sucking at the wound for a precious few seconds before soothing the marks with their tongues. Something instinctual and primal switched on and Darcy turned her head, allowing Steve to mouth at Bucky's bite, before turning again and letting Bucky lick at Steve's bite.

“Oh, that's good.  All aboard the sleepy face train,” Darcy whispered before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she succumbed to a nearly comatose state of sleep.

“Jesus, punk, what the hell did we do to her?” Bucky leapt from the bed and looked down at a lax and prone Darcy.

“Clint said it's normal.  That it took a lot of her energy to accept the bond,” Steve explained. “Grab her clothes, we'll take her to the medbay.”

* * *

“She'll be fine,” Dr. Dorian promised, the only doctor that Steve and Bucky would allow to see Darcy thanks to the man child's omega status. “She's just all tuckered out from all of the ---you know---S-E-X-I-N-G and the bond. She should be awake and back to super gluing my hands to my hair in no time.”

They remained on either side of her regardless, each gripping a hand in their vigil.

“We did the right thing, didn't we?” Bucky wondered as he worriedly looked over the bite marks standing out red and angry against her pale skin. “It feels so right, Stevie. The three of us. But what if---”

“No what ifs,” Steve shook his head firmly. “We'll always keep her safe. And the team, I know you just came in, but they're our friends. They'll help.”

“If Hydra ever finds out about her, it'd be worse than bad. They wanted me bound to an Omega since they knew what it was,” Bucky furrowed his brow, fists clenching at the thought of it. “I'd be easier to control if they had my Omega. They'll make a grab for her if they find out about her.”

“That's never going to happen.”

  
  


The soldiers looked up to see Natasha and Sam standing respectfully in the doorway. Bucky nodded at them and they came into Darcy's private room and closed the door. Sam smiled at his friends, clearly approving of this development with the sassy little thing he had met a little over a week ago, despite the fact that Natasha told him she was going to spend his hard earned money on fancy face moisturizer and imported chocolates.

“Barnes, I promise you that I would lay down my life for Darcy,” Natasha revealed. “She is my dearest friend. You know that doesn't come easily for me.”

“Let's just hope the laying down of our lives part never comes to pass,” Sam offered wisely. “Wheels up in eighteen hours. We have a hunting party ready to go.”

* * *

 

** Chapter Six: Give the Omega What They Want **

Prior to the Designation Revolution, there were many urban legends about the super strength imbued upon mothers who needed to rescue their children. The person who could lift a car to free a trapped loved one. The adrenaline and sheer force of will that someone could find deep within them when it really mattered.

_ After  _ the Designation Revolution, all of those urban legends became reality in all Omegas.

Except they weren't trying to save trapped children or protect hurt loved ones.

There's a twitter account _Unidentified Omega_ , where they tweeted out the ridiculous headlines tied to the antics of Omegas.

_ Unidentified Omega steals bus in order to track down their Alpha. _

_ Unidentified Omega sucker punches shark to protect Alpha. _

_ Unidentified Omega walks onto football field in middle of the Superbowl to get to Alpha on the other side of the stadium. Clay Matthews caught in the crossfire and suffers concussion. _

And if you think all those stories have the missing Alpha in common, you'd be right. But there was also one other thing they had in common at the moment of their ridiculous antics.

* * *

Darcy was not awake within eighteen hours. Steve and Bucky only agreed to leave her behind if Pepper and Jane stayed with her. Jane was a brilliant Beta and the most logical person to care for Darcy's _emotional_ well-being in Natasha's and their absence.

And Pepper had switched designations with extremis, and was now one of the most potent and terrifying Alphas in the world, while still retaining all the calm, cool collectedness of her prior Beta nature. Pepper was their choice to care for Darcy's _physical_ well being.

“Jarvis, please let us know the minute she wakes up,” Steve asked before dropping a kiss against Darcy's lips. He whispered in her ear, “We'll be back soon, sweetheart.”

“Thanks Ms. Potts,” Bucky nodded respectfully at the woman. “Steve and I owe you.”

“Keep Tony alive out there and we'll be even, James,” Pepper smiled at him as he too placed a reverent kiss against Darcy's still lips before the boys slowly walked away, stealing looks over their shoulders at their little, tired Omega. Pepper sighed and said to Jane, “If I had known that Darcy had no problem with _two_ alpha's, I might have made a stronger play.”

“She always said you smelled of soft, yummy leather to her, but Tony was an overripe banana that made her gag,” Jane giggled.

“Yeah, he has that effect on most omegas.”

* * *

Darcy woke exactly twenty-four hours after Bucky and Steve had bonded with her. The hand clasped in hers were unfamiliar and felt wrong as she blinked her eyes open.

“Janie? Pepper?” she croaked out after a cursory sniff of the air. “Where are my boys?”

“Mission,” Pepper explained.

“But I just got them,” Darcy pouted. She sounded very much like a tired toddler as she petulantly demanded, “Make them come back.”

“It's a call to assemble, they all went,” Jane explained patiently. “Hydra, Darce.”

“Oh that's even worse. Make them come back,” Darcy whimpered. She clutched at her stomach and let out an involuntary whine. “I feel sick.”

“Jarvis? Bring Dr. Dorian in,” Pepper ordered. She swallowed and took a deep steadying breath. “And get Sam Wilson on the line.”

* * *

Sam hung up the phone and looked around the quinjet nervously. They were just about to land in some dusty region of Latin America, and everyone was ready for battle. Sam's call from Pepper had been disconcerting and he wondered how best to get the message to the rest of the team without tipping off Steve and Bucky.

Natasha met his eyes and she seemed to read the expression on his face and worldlessly communicated with him. Which was something he had only ever seen happen with bonded mates before. Well, that and him and his bird brother. He was really going to have to talk to her someday soon about his ever present desire to imprint on her. She nodded at him and he knew she would take care of it.

He walked slowly and casually up to the cockpit where Clint was deploying the landing gear.

“Sup, bird bro?” Clint arched an eyebrow.

“Sleeping Beauty woke up,” he relayed quietly.

“Yeah, 'bout time,” Clint nodded. “Stomach hurt?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, alright, lets make this quick then. Don't want a pissed off Omega rampaging through the tower for her Alphas.”

* * *

Bucky had never had a more boring mission. Steve's teammates, well,  _ his  _ teammates now too, worked with a singular, focused purpose. They took down the hydra base in less than thirty minutes.

Stark and Banner had quickly swept the labs for all the tech and intel they could take back with them.

Bucky was back on the plane in less than an hour, not a bullet discharged from his sniper rifle. Steve sat tense beside him as Clint hurried to get the quinjet back in the air again. They were all eager to get back. Jarvis was supposed to call them as soon as Darcy had woken, and he  _ hadn't _ , which meant that Darcy had been unconscious for more than a day at that point.

“Is she going to be okay?” Steve looked to Clint for assistance and reassurance.

“She's going to be just fine. I promise.”

* * *

Darcy was  _ not  _ fine. Darcy was the exact opposite of  _ fine _ .

Darcy was two seconds away from slamming Pepper into a wall and running to the lab and stealing one of Tony's suits so she could go and recover her Alphas.

“Darce, honey? Can we...we need to keep you calm,” Jane pursed her lips, wondering how best to approach the subject. “I can tell you're about five seconds away from slipping into crazy berserker Omega mode...”

“I want my Alphas,” Darcy paced the hospital room again. She was wound tight. She had already brought Dr. Dorian to tears and chased him from the room and she was more than willing to rip into her friends if it got her what she wanted.

“They're in Bruce's lab, lets go and get them,” Pepper offered.

“Right, Bruce's lab,” Jane nodded.

“You two assfaces are going to lock me in the Hulk out room?” Darcy scoffed at them.

“Hey, I know that's just your hormonal omega talking,” Jane scolded her. “You owe me cookies once your dumb boys are back.”

“Sorry, Janie,” Darcy pinched the bridge of her nose. “I would just feel better if they were here.”

“I know, honey,” Jane smiled at her.

Darcy bit back the urge to growl again and gave Pepper her best apologetic face.

  
  


“Hulk out room?” Pepper offered helpfully.

“Let's go,” Darcy nodded. “Before I change my mind again and wind up tearing through this whole tower.”

* * *

“She's awake,” Sam stood in front of Steve and Bucky with his arms crossed. “She's doing...okay.”

Natasha rolled her eyes at his hesitation and phrasing. Steve and Bucky looked to be tightly wound before he opened his big dumb mouth. Now they looked like they were ready to jump from the plane in order to get back to her faster.

“She's been released from the med bay,” Natasha offered. “She's back in the lab, catching up on some work for Bruce.”

“Yeah. I had a lot of work,” Bruce piped in, not at all helpful as the man was incapable of lying.

Clint, knowing _exactly_ how they felt, had the jet ramp open twenty feet out so that they could jump the distance and make a run for it. Jarvis had an elevator waiting and they were in Bruce's lab in less than three minutes.

They were not prepared for what they saw.

Their little newly bonded sweet and funny Omega, small and precious and delicate...

Was in the Hulk containment unit.

Brandishing a chair.

Actively smashing at the glass that the Hulk couldn't dream of breaking through.

And she had made a fucking crack in the glass.

“JARVIS LET ME OUT!” She screeched. “YOU LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW OR I SWEAR TO THOR I WILL REPROGRAM YOU TO SPEAK ONLY IN JUSTIN BIEBER LYRICS!”

“Miss Lewis, please calm yourself,” Jarvis said soothingly. “The team has returned...”

“I WANT MY ALPHAS!” Darcy roared at the ceiling. “OPEN THE DOOR! I KNOW WHERE YOUR SERVERS ARE!”

“ Kitten, what are you doing?” Bucky rushed to the containment unit, side by side with Steve. Wonderment on his face at this feisty little thing that was trying to tear out of the cage someone had put her in. To get to  _ them _ .

Jarvis thankfully slid the abused door open and Darcy ran out of the room and jumped into their outstretched arms. They closed ranks, sandwiching her between them, their mouths automatically drawn to their marks on her neck. Steve took a deep inhale of her scent and noticed it had changed ever so slightly. It was sweeter and mintier. She smelled like them and he couldn't help but wonder if that was due to the bonding. Would she always smell like a mix of all three of them now? Because if so, it was fantastic.

“You're not allowed to leave me like that,” Darcy gave them the rigid command, and they felt themselves nodding in agreement with whatever she would say.

“But what if---” Steve managed to stutter out but shook his head, accepting the firm command. “Okay, sweetheart. We won't.”

“For the next nine months, the world can be protected by someone else,” Darcy grumbled kissing him fiercely, then turning to do the same to Bucky.

“You smell different...even better,” Bucky breathed deeply.

“Yeah,” Darcy nodded. “Congratulations on destroying modern birth control. A plus work there, fellas.”

“You're---but, oh God,” Steve breathed, his eyes becoming huge with disbelief and amazement.

“ So if you don't want me to be put in the hulk out cage again, you two are gonna have to stick close by,” Darcy reiterated. “You don't mess with a pregnant Omega's Alphas. I refuse to be one of those people on the  _ Unidentified Omega  _ twitter. I owe Jane and Pepper so many batches of cookies now cause I almost ripped their beautiful faces off.”

“There's a baby,” Bucky's eyes widened, her words finally registering in his brain. “Already?”

“We're perfectly compatible. Apparently that's a side effect,” Darcy shrugged. “Come on, we have some nesting to go do.”

* * *

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Seven: Nesting **

Any litter of children in the mammal world has the potential to be comprised of offspring with different fathers. And after July 16 th , 2000, human beings were capable of producing litters.

But like anything in this new world, it was not an easy task to accomplish. The compatibility between the Alpha and Omega was important of course, but even more so was the bond between the two separate Alphas.

Bonded Alpha pairs so rarely found an Omega that was compatible with both of them that there is very little empirical data to support any theories from the scientific community.

Steve, Bucky and Darcy were an anomaly.  _ Because of course they were _ .

* * *

Tony was super excited about the impending super soldier babies.

Because an ultrasound done by Bruce had shown that there were two.

  
  


At first Tony had been disappointed that there were only two. He had figured that with their combined compatibility and the extended sex-filled heat, Darcy would be able to put all those reality show big broods to shame. But apparently, her birth control had done a little work, because instead of five or six babies, there were two.

Tony would take what he could get at that point. Babies were a lot of fun after all, and there hadn't been very many babies in the world for the last decade or so. And Pepper loved to spoil babies, and Tony was happy that Pepper would get what she wanted. He'd get her all the things she wanted if he could. He was already plotting out how to convince Darcy to have more super soldier babies once these first two were done cooking.

And since these babies were Capsicle's and Bucky Bear's babies, some of the allure was undoubtedly being able to teach the small ones fun things to annoy their fathers. Tony had no doubt that Darcy would be his willing accomplice in those endeavors.

He had moved Darcy, Steve and Bucky (because Darcy refused to allow the Alphas out of her sight for fear that they would wind up tripping over air and hitting their heads and getting themselves incapacitated (Omegas were awesome but not always rational)), to a temporary apartment while he quickly had crews come in and remodel their floor to be one giant apartment with a lot of cozy rooms.

It had been done in less than two weeks, and the super soldiers were now setting up their living space according to Darcy's wishes as she supervised from the couch, cuddled between Sam and Natasha.

“Bruce has a theory,” Natasha said softly as Bucky and Steve tried to assemble bookshelves across the room.

“Brucie is brilliant, he always has a theory,” Darcy grinned at her, inhaling the smell of her Beta match. Natasha always smelled of decadent coffee, and since Darcy couldn't have a lot of caffeine at the moment, she had stated that it was vitally important to have Natasha with her whenever possible.

And no one in the Tower wanted to argue with Darcy at that point.

“He thinks he knows why you smell like both of them,” Sam smirked at the boys who had refused his help and told him to keep their girl company. Apparently they read somewhere that cinnamon smells (which is what Sam smelled like), were calming for nausea (which Darcy was currently suffering from).

“Cause we have sex like three times a day?” Darcy put out hopefully. Natasha gave her a knowing smirk and Darcy shrugged with an impish grin on her face. “On a slow day?”

“Because they're bonded,” Sam gestured to Steve and Bucky. “Their super swimmers weren't fighting each other in a race to your eggs. They were in a fight against your birth control. And they totally demolished it.”

“Awesome,” Darcy nodded. “I could probably get my own reality show out of that alone. My two baby daddies.”

“You're a brick, Darcy Lewis,” Sam laughed at her.

“Like...the song?” Darcy furrowed her brow. “Like I'm a brick house?”

Natasha snorted as Sam rose from the couch and said, “I'm going to go get us some pizzas. Those boys will need food soon.”

“Don't go,” Darcy pouted. “Make a lackey bring the pizza. Make Clint do it.”

“It's just down in the lobby, I'll be right back,” Sam disputed.

  
  


“ SIT,” Darcy ordered, smiling when Sam had no choice but to comply. Bossy Omega command voice was  _ awesome  _ and the hormones pulsing through her system made it even awesomer.

“You can't order him around, little one. Or me. We are not your Betas,” Natasha helpfully reminded her.

“Huh,” Darcy nodded. She looked to Steve and Bucky with a thoughtful expression. As if sensing her need for them they both dropped their tools and looked to her with identical obliging and adoring smiles. She grinned at them and said, “Can we make Sam and Nat-Nat our Betas? Not for sexy times necessarily, but I want them to stay all the time.”

“If its okay with them,” Steve shrugged, an indulgent look on his face.

  
  


“Sounds nice,” Bucky nodded with a smile directed at her.

“Well then,” Natasha laughed. She looked at Sam and said, “Some day you're going to have to ask me about that imprinting nonsense, Wilson.”

“Oh yes, you should do that,” Darcy offered helpfully. “We'll be a proper family then.”

* * *

Omegas were worshiped and exalted simply for the fact that they were Omegas. And Darcy had always loved that fact and taken advantage of it where she could.

Free coffee and danishes from the coffee shop in the Tower? Sure, sounds good.

Oh, Pepper you just happened to have all this extra swag from that meeting with the tech company in California? Why yes, a new pair of headphones sounds great!

Why yes you poor miserable Alpha lab monkey, I will wear your scarf for the day so you can go home and prove to your parents that you know real Omegas and you aren't going to be a leech on society. And yes, I will be taking that itunes gift card in exchange for it.

All of this was great. Perks are always great.

But being a  _ pregnant  _ Omega?

It was like she was the new queen of the universe. Aside from Steve and Bucky, who already treated her as the queen of everything, she was getting a lot of love from all over, and from pretty surprising persons.

She was sitting in the gym, in a little nesting area Pepper had insisted be installed. It was a lovely little spot, with lots of fluffy pillows and comfy low chairs and so many soft and expensive blankets. Tony had also gifted the little area a small fridge that always had her favorite juice and snacks that didn't make her want to vomit. She spent an hour or two there everyday while her Alphas and Betas did exercise-y stuff and she watched and called out helpful encouragement about how hot they all looked when they were sweaty.

Currently she was counting stitches as she knitted a tiny little red beanie cap, her eyes darting up after each stitch to watch the fun and sweaty sparring between her two favorite super soldiers.

“Whoever wins gets the first kiss!” Darcy called out helpfully, giggling when that lit a fuse under Bucky and Steve, who had been mostly goofing around while stealing appreciative glances her way.

“And you know, you get to go first in _other_ stuff too,” Sam smirked at Natasha who nodded in amused agreement. They didn't need super hearing to hear the antics the trio got up to at all hours of the day and night. They were currently in two separate rooms down the long hallway from the master bedroom. Although Sam was pretty sure he was one good date away from their two rooms becoming _one_ room.

“Don't be crass, Wilson!'

The boys stopped their sparring, somehow they had both managed to get each other into a simultaneous headlock. They dropped their arms and stormed towards Darcy's little nesting area, standing in front of her protectively as the man who had spoken entered the gym.

“At ease, soldiers,” Nick Fury smirked at them. He looked to Sam, who looked tense, and Natasha, who he knew had already figured out at least two dozen ways to incapacitate him and keep him away from Darcy. “I just came to check in. I believe congratulations are in order?”

“We'll make sure to invite you to the baby shower,” Darcy managed a smile at him. Her hands reached out and gripped each of her Alpha's calves and they immediately moved to sit beside her. Although Steve did spare a look and a nod Natasha and Sam's way to make sure they were still on high alert. “What can my little clan of people do for you today, Former Director Fury?”

“I came to give you some intel,” Fury held out a folder to Steve, who looked through it and took a sharp breath before handing it over to Bucky reluctantly. “I promise to bring a better present to the baby shower.”

Bucky winced when he saw the transcript of the chatter feed. His greatest fear made reality.

“Hydra knows about you, Miss Lewis,” Fury said with surprising gentleness. “They know who you've taken as your Alphas. They know that you're expecting.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded, cuddling closer to Bucky, smelling the sudden anxiety coming off of him in fumes of burnt leaves. She looked at him and frowned as he refused to meet her eyes.

Well that just wouldn't do.

  
  


“Look at me,” Darcy ordered, and he couldn't help but comply. She crawled into his lap, her hand going out for Steve, who quickly followed her, arm wrapping around Bucky's shoulders as Darcy sat on his lap with her back to his chest. “I'm fine. I'm right here. And I'm not going to let anything happen to any of us.”

Fury felt his lips curl up in a smile and he quickly tamped that down. He didn't have the pleasure of knowing many Omegas, but if there was any one that could make good on that promise, she was sitting in front of him.

“I don't mean to upset you Miss Lewis,” Fury said as delicately as he could. “But you have four members of the Avengers on house arrest at the moment.”

“Yeah,” Darcy sighed. She looked at him shrewdly and said, “I'm going to need a modified quinjet with a cozy hulk out room.”

“Kitten, no,” Bucky shook his head. “We'll defend you from here.”

“No, we will go out and rip the damned balls off of anyone who wants to mess with my family!” Darcy made a fist as if she was comically crushing balls in her hands.

Natasha smiled and nudged Sam in the shoulder. He nodded and began to usher Fury out of the room as Steve, Bucky and Darcy cuddled together and regrouped. Steve shifted and put his head in Darcy's lap, his lips kissing her stomach, his hand drawing circles on Bucky's knee.

“I love you,” Bucky said softly. It had been nearly two months since their bonding, but this was the first time any of them said it out loud. They had known of course. That it was there, growing and getting stronger every day, much like the life Darcy carried. But they hadn't said it out loud. Bucky kissed Darcy's temple and his hand went on top of Steve's. “I love you both.”

“Well, see, that's enough then,” Darcy angled her head to smile up at him. “I love you too. And I love Steve. And we're going to keep each other safe.”

* * *

The first mission out had been a nightmare. Flying made Darcy motion-sick on top of her regular pregnancy nausea. She had spent most of the flight with her face in Sam's neck, taking in that reassuring cinnamon scent as Steve helpfully rubbed her back.

“Clint is going to have an eye line on the quinjet entrance at all times,” Steve promised her.

“ I'd rather he have an eye line on you guys,” Darcy disputed. “Hydra doesn't know I'm on this jet. Having a guy with a bow and arrow protecting it when you're all out there kicking butt and taking names is like waving a big red flag and screaming  _ something important is in this jet, why don't you come and try to take it? _ ”

“She's got a point,” Clint called out helpfully from the pilot's seat.

“Fuck off, Barton,” Bucky spat out while he reorganized his weapons again.

“Watch your mouth around the fucking zygotes,” Darcy tossed back at him with a giggle. She took a whiff of Sam again as the nausea threatened once more. “I just want you all to come back safe.”

“We will,” Sam smiled at her fondly.

“Also, hey, a little incentive,” Darcy offered. “Whoever comes back the _least_ hurt, gets the first kiss.”

Natasha came back spotless and smirked at Bucky and Steve before accepting her prize.

* * *

What followed in the next month felt like a whirlwind tour of the world as they took down each base. Darcy was making quite the cozy nest in her mini-Hulk out room, with the same soft chairs and pillows and blankets that Pepper had provided for her gym nest.

Steve and Bucky were not above using the super hero connections they had in order to get the job done faster. Logan and the X-men had come with on three missions and now even the Fantastic Four were along for the ride to take out a base in Wyoming.

“Woah. You smell different.”

Darcy smirked up at Johnny Storm, and although he knew her scent for some mysterious reason, she had never gotten a whiff of him.  _ Roasted marshmallows _ . Interesting.

“Bonded now,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, heard about that. It's a damned shame,” Johnny smiled down at her as she cuddled into her blankets. “Always thought we'd match up someday, cutie. First time I got a whiff of you I went into a full-blown rut. Wound up cuddling your empty chair for an hour. Thought Stark would've shown you the pictures.”

“Tony doesn't multi-ship,” Darcy shook her head. “Pretty sure he knew Cap liked my smell a few years ago and was just biding his time.”

“Now I'm all sad and stuff,” Johnny smirked at her. “Got room for another Alpha in your brood?”

“Storm, don't make me throw you from the quinjet,” Natasha ordered. “Stop flirting with the bonded, pregnant Omega or Barnes and Rogers are going to do much worse than make you fly alongside of us.”

“Shit, I'm cool,” Johnny scooted away quickly. “Didn't mean to step on any scary super soldier toes there.”

* * *

The offensive strategy seemed to work.

The chatter from Hydra revealed that instead of focusing on re-securing the Asset by way of taking his Omega, they were focusing on consolidating and reinforcing their own ranks at their last base. The team gave them two days before attacking.

Darcy had been growing increasingly comfortable during the missions. She nested and knitted while her Alphas and Betas and the rest of her team went out and smashed and destroyed. Her comfort probably directly translated into complacency.

She had used her override to hop out of the containment unit to obtain a new batch of soft navy blue yarn out of Bucky's bag when she heard the explosion and a very far away grunt of pain from Steve.

She was out of the quinjet in no time, running as fast as her feet and the four month bump would allow her, following her nose to his scent. She didn't have a comm unit in her ear, but she knew the team had realized she had bolted, because suddenly any enemy in her way was being taken down by arrows or sniper rifle.

Steve was on the ground, injured, but not gravely so, his shield sticking out of whoever had managed to get a shot in. She picked the shield up and flung it instinctively, taking out an approaching enemy. Steve groaned and scrambled to his feet as quickly as possible, retrieving the shield before turning to Darcy with an exasperated look that quickly melted when he saw that she was in panicked tears.

“I'm fine,” he promised her. He strapped the shield on his back before going to her and wrapping her up in his arms. “I promise, sweetheart. I'm okay. Don't cry.”

He kissed her and Darcy could hear the angry chatter coming out of the comm unit in his ear.

“Hey, he's the most hurt, he shouldn't be getting the first kiss!” Bucky yelled.

“Hey Darce?” Clint's voice echoed out of Steve's ear. “Unidentified Omega takes out last Hydra agent on the face of the Earth.”

Darcy let out a sniffling giggle as Steve squeezed her tighter. She breathed in that sweet sugary smell and sighed. “Mine.”

“Absolutely, sweetheart,” Steve agreed. He kissed her forehead and sighed. “I love you and me and Bucky are going to be yours forever.”

* * *

The Alpha Beta Sandwich with an Omega filling family had their first real argument when Darcy had hit her fifth month of pregnancy.

Tony had brought in one of the ultra fancy, high definition 3-d ultrasound machines and with Darcy's permission was feeding the video to the common room screens where the rest of the Avengers and affiliates were assembled.

“I don't think we need to know what they are,” Sam said slowly as they stood in the private room that the ultrasound tech was preparing Darcy in. He and Natasha were standing off to the side, while Steve and Bucky flanked Darcy on either side, watching the Alpha ultrasound tech with no small amount of suspicion. Their suspicion was unwarranted Alpha protectiveness, as Natasha had thoroughly vetted the young man.

“That's what I'm saying,” Bucky nodded. “It's a surprise. We won't know for another four months.”

“But if you find out now, you can name them and we can start calling them by their names,” Natasha practically suggested. “The book suggested using the names as soon as possible.”

Darcy smiled at her Beta, absolutely enraptured with the fact that Natasha studied the pregnancy books just as much as Steve did. The four of them had been arguing for weeks about learning the sex of the babies, and for once, they had not immediately deferred to her opinion. They hadn't even so much as asked for her opinion, actually.

Sam and Bucky had started sparring against Natasha and Steve during their workouts, and with every day that the debate dragged on, the sparring got more vicious and violent. Natasha had bruised Sam's ribs and Bucky had to have stitches on a cut above his eye. Granted, the stitches had only lasted an hour or two before his super healing kicked in, but the fact of the matter was that he had needed them for a tiny parcel of time.

Darcy had used her bossy voice to tell them in no uncertain terms that sparring was outlawed until they could get their acts together.

“So, are we going to try to figure out the babies' sex today?” the friendly tech smiled down at Darcy before looking at the assembled clan of people.

And then the most amazing thing happened. All four of them gave an adoring smile Darcy's way and said simultaneously,

“It's up to the Omega.”

“I have the best people,” she grinned. “And just so you know, I already know its a boy and a girl.”

The lab tech laughed and nodded, “Omegas always know.”

* * *

Tony and Pepper watched in the common room, cuddled on the couch as Jarvis began to play the images of the ultrasound.

“Look at the beak on that kid!” Clint laughed. “That's Captain America's schnoz on that poor baby.”

“I think she's beautiful!' Thor glowered at Clint.

“She?” Jane squirmed in her seat in excitement.

Bruce laughed as the image moved and they saw that the baby with Steve's nose was definitely a girl. Pepper and Jane squealed in delight and even Tony teared up a little. He had been hoping one of them would be a girl.

“BUTT CHIN!” Clint whooped excitedly. He threw a high five Bruce's way and shook his head in amazement. “You were right, Doc. Woah...Penis.”

Because the baby with the aforementioned Bucky Barne's chin did indeed have boy parts.

“I get to order one of everything,” Pepper breathed deeply in a way that usually only Tony heard in the privacy of their bedroom. She was seriously very happy over the prospect of intensive baby retail therapy.

“Remind me to buy Lewis a pony,” Tony grinned. “A whole fleet of damned ponies.”

* * *

Pregnancy for Omegas was mostly an easy, no fuss affair. Their feet didn't swell, their back didn't hurt too badly, and after the first few months of nausea, they felt pretty terrific. Science! and medical experts hypothesized that Omegas needed to keep the Alpha responsible for their pregnancy so close because they needed the release of hormones to keep their pregnancies blissfully easy. And those hormones were released through sex.

The only real drawback for the pregnant Omega being so heavily reliant on their partners was how terrifyingly territorial and protective they became of their people.

By month seven, Darcy had physically decimated a Loki impersonator who got too close to Bucky when they had made a visit to a baby store in Times Square. She had used Steve's shield to knock out a lab monkey who had insulted Sam's choice in footwear. And she had tasered countless numbers of Natasha's coworkers who  _ didn't look kosher _ .

She spent so much time worrying about her pack of people, and exacting revenge and retribution for imagined slights, that she did very little to look after her own well-being. Natasha and Sam were newly bonded for the last month, which she was super excited about, but they had also left Darcy and her Alphas to their own emotional devices. And the boys and Darcy were no longer doing the one thing necessary for an Omega's pregnancy to go completely trouble free.

They stopped having tons and tons of sex.

Pepper and Jane noticed the dark circles under her eyes during her baby shower.

“Darce, are you not sleeping okay?” Jane asked softly, her arm going around the little Omega's shoulders. Darcy had never had trouble sleeping before. And her Omega pregnancy hormones should have been letting her have a blissful nine hours a night, at the very least.

“Babies keeping you up at night?” Pepper wondered, her hand on Darcy's knee, rubbing gently. She knew Darcy had joked about the super serum babies kicking being a lot more jarring than she had expected it to be.

“Huh? Oh, I think so,” Darcy nodded as she ate another slice of ice cream cake. “Lack of orgasms makes me antsy.”

“Lack of...of orgasms?” Jane's eyes widened comically. “Darcy, three months ago I caught you bent over your desk by Bucky.”

“That was a good time,” Darcy sighed, her bottom lip jutting out morosely. She took another bite of her ice cream cake and looked down at her very large belly and let out another monster sigh. “I don't think they want to now. Cause of Planet Belly. And I mean, they have each other for what they need. And Sam and Nat-Nat have been so busy with solidifying their bond that...well, usually they would work things out between us all. But since the belly popped out so big two months ago, its been no fun for the Omega, cause she's all fat and blimped up.”

“Tony?” Pepper called out, and her bonded Alpha came over very quickly, never straying that far from her to begin with. “Occupy Darcy, please. Jane and I have to go set up the next shower game.”

Tony nodded and sat down next to Darcy, who had a wobbly chin and tear filled eyes. He frowned decisively before going to his knees so his face was against Darcy's large belly.

“ Yo. Kids that are not named yet,” Tony waved. “So, when you are born and are capable of speech and proper movement. I have a lot of ideas about how to drive your dads crazy. One of these plans is Project Potty Mouth. And I know you have fully functional ears right now and can hear me. So we're going to practice a couple of words. First word.  _ Shit _ .”

Meanwhile Jane and Pepper walked to the other side of the party where Bucky and Steve were chatting away amiably with Thor, all three men with large plates filled with the ice cream cake Darcy had demanded and Pepper had happily supplied.

“My love, you look upset,” Thor furrowed his brow. He had no human designation, but Thor certainly tended to have Alpha characteristics. “Tell me what has caused you strife and I shall immediately right this wrong.”

“They did,” Jane pointed at a very surprised Steve and Bucky.

Thor placed his plate down carefully before holding up his arm for Mjolnir.

“Hey now, we didn't do anything to you, Doc,” Bucky looked confused and wary.

“Why aren't you giving Darcy what she needs to be happy?” Pepper demanded. “If I were her Alpha, she would never want for anything.”

“Hold on, what?” Steve put his hands on his hips and looked around at a livid Jane and simmering Pepper to see Darcy was just where he had left her, on the couch, looking happy and amused by something that Tony was doing. “She's okay...isn't she okay? What does she need?”

“Omegas need regular orgasms when they're expecting,” Jane said bluntly, ignoring the boys' blushes and Thor's hearty chuckles. “It's the only way to help with the imbalanced hormones. When they don't get what they need, its too much stress on their systems.”

“ So why aren't you touching her?” Pepper demanded. She arched an eyebrow and repeated, “If I were her Alpha, she would never want for  _ anything _ .”

“She's...she's carrying,” Bucky stammered. “It's not safe to do it when she's so close to the end.”

“ Idiots,” Jane huffed. She looked at Steve suspiciously and demanded, “You read the books. You should know its safe, and actually  _ recommended _ .”

“But she's always so sleepy,” Steve shook his head. “Our girl always asks for what she wants...”

“Yeah, well her hormones are out of whack. She's convinced herself that you aren't attracted to her anymore,” Jane revealed.

“What are you going to do about it?” Pepper challenged them, the heavy scent of leather building around them aggressively.

“I recommend a large amount of love-making,” Thor smiled as Mjolnir finally found his hand. He flipped the hammer in his hands and warned his friends, “I will be able to tell if she is unsatisfied.”

“We're taking the guest of honor home early,” Bucky clenched his jaw, giving a respectful nod to the concerned women and Thor. He gripped Steve by the shoulder and dragged him across to where Darcy and Tony sat. He could tell that Steve was in the throes of the same panic he felt and decided not to be too mad at the big lug for not telling him that sex was good for their heavily pregnant girl.

As they approached their usually brash, loud, irrepressible Omega, they could both see the difference. What they had thought was fatigue was actually sadness and worry. Bucky's felt his heart clenching at the thought they had not only allowed those feelings to fester in her, but also had planted the seeds there with their inattention.

“What's up shitheads?” Tony smirked at the supersoldiers. He got the just of what was happening through his bond with Pepper. He wrapped a strong arm around Darcy's shoulders and pulled her in close. “Don't mind me, just making time with your girl. Someone ought to.”

Darcy felt another wobbling of her chin and it broke Bucky's usually steely resolve when dealing with Tony. He bent over and picked Darcy up, cradling her in his arms bridal style before turning and storming out of the party.

“But the baby shower games,” Darcy mildly disputed, frowning at the sight of Steve walking alongside them with a morose expression on his face. Well that just pissed her off. She consented to Bucky carrying her, even though she crossed her arms across her chest and stewed in her angry feelings until they reached their floor.

Once the door was shut, she wiggled out of Bucky's arms and stomped away from the both of them. She turned and glared, well and truly angry at them for the first time ever. Bucky gave her a remorseful look while Steve continued to stare at the ground with that same depressed, mopey face that had appeared there shortly after Jane and Pepper had talked to them.

“Kitten, please, don't look so mad,” Bucky murmured at her, approaching her like she was a skittish, wild horse. He stood in front of her and bent his head to kiss at her lips softly, pulling away for a beat before going back to sip at her mouth. “I didn't know it was what you needed. What you wanted. 'M sorry. Thought it would hurt you and the babies.”

“Virgin grandpas,” Darcy muttered under her breath, her hands clenching in the soft fabric of his shirt.

She let him kiss her deeper, pulling her as close as the large belly would allow. When he pulled away a full minute later, she wasn't surprised to see that he had managed to push her skirt over her bump and down to the floor, as well as get her shirt halfway unbuttoned. He smiled down at her genuinely, getting the shirt off of her so that she stood in the center of the large den in only her underwear. He quickly started removing his own clothes before guiding her back to one of the larger couches, gently guiding her down.

He kissed her as his hands traveled reverently down the firm skin of her baby bump, down to the wet lips of her sex. He groaned as he stroked her tenderly, his fingers finding his favorite spots and getting the purrs and moans he wanted from her.

It only took two minutes of attention to have her breaking under his touch, Bucky stopped kissing her and pulled his hands away as she begged wordlessly for more. He carefully pulled at her hips, positioning her in such a way that he could thrust into her slowly, a groan going through him as her belly rubbed against him. He could sense her tensing, could feel Steve nearly whimper from the spot he had not strayed from, their bond telling them to soothe her, to make her feel wanted.

“You're so sexy, kitten,” Bucky murmured. “I've been wanting you for a long time now, wanted to feel you around me, wanted to see how beautiful you were.”

They didn't last long. Despite what Darcy believed, Steve and Bucky hadn't been using each other as a replacement for her during their two month period of abstinence. Between the three of them there was a lot of built up sexual frustration. Darcy felt nearly whole again as Bucky quickened his pace, his fingers digging into her ample hips. She cried out as everything became too much. Everything was hyper sensitive and she didn't have to wait long before her vision went white and her thighs quivered against his hips. Bucky followed shortly after and groaned as their bodies locked against each other with his orgasm.

“Thank you,” Darcy sighed dreamily after a few minutes of heavy breathing. “That should get me through the next two months.”

“Kitten?” Bucky murmured against her.

“Don't worry, Steve, you won't have to touch me,” Darcy looked away from both of them. In the span of ten minutes, Steve hadn't moved, his expression hadn't changed, he stared at the ground with his fists clenched at his sides. “I know I disgust you.”

“ Sweetheart,  _ no _ ,” Steve choked out. He swallowed painfully and took measured steps towards the couch where Bucky and Darcy were tangled together. Bucky slowly withdrew from Darcy and Steve's hands were on her cheeks as he knelt beside the couch. “You're so beautiful. You're so perfect. I'm---I'm sorry.”

“He's feeling guilty, Darce,” Bucky sighed. “Nobody does guilt like our Steven.”

“I didn't take care of you,” Steve guiltily admitted. “It's my only job. To keep you safe and happy. And I failed you. I'm so sorry.”

“You don't think I'm ugly this way?” Darcy questioned, her hands going to her round belly.

“I think you're gorgeous this way,” Steve shook his head. He placed his hands over her belly and took in a shaky breath. “I love that we made you this way...it---I spend all my time wanting you. But you looked tired. Its a lot of work you're doing and I didn't want to hurt you. But sweetheart, you're so beautiful carrying those babies. I do, I love the way you look now. I've been walking around the tower hard all damned day with wanting you...”

“Neanderthal Alphas,” Darcy shook her head. She didn't hesitate to use her bossy voice. “Next time, we talk. We talk every night before we go to sleep and we make sure everything is out in the open. Got it?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Bucky agreed. “And if Stevie won't open his mouth, we'll just torture it out of him.”

* * *

They did talk. And they satisfied each other every night, most mornings and quite a few afternoons up until a cool fall evening when Darcy declined Steve's suggestion that she let him try to gain back some of his gold stars. Natasha and Sam had taken all of the boys' gold stars away for ignoring Darcy's needs and not going to them for help before things got out of hand.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Steve frowned.

“Sure, sure,” Darcy nodded, wrinkling her nose. “I think it's just labor, I'll be fine.”

“Sam!” Bucky yelled, dropping the dishes he had been unloading from the dishwasher. “Nat! Sam! Jarvis! Somebody! EVERYBODY!”

“Jarvis, we need the protocols for plan 2342 in place, please,” Steve asked the ceiling.

“Plan 2342. Please tell me there weren't two thousand three hundred and forty one other plans,” Darcy giggled. “Boys, my lovely, adorable boys, calm down. I'm an Omega. I'm sort of built to do this pretty easily.”

“But there's two of them,” Bucky disputed.

“But we need doctors,” Steve insisted. “And drugs, and doctors, and doctors.”

“Calm down,” Natasha ordered as she swept into the room, followed closely by Sam. She smiled down at her Omega and ran a hand through her hair. “What nest would you like?”

“Uhm...I think I want the quinjet,” Darcy nodded. It was the coziest nest she had managed to build, and she had spent a lot of time getting it just right even after the missions to end Hydra had ended a few months ago.

“Okay, is walking going to be okay?” Sam reached into a closet for one of the many bug out bags that he and Natasha had prepared.

“Walking? Don't be an idiot, I'll carry her,” Steve shook his head.

  
  


“ _You'll_ carry her? You've got butter where your fingers should be, punk. I'll carry her,” Bucky disputed.

A knock on the door had both of the Alphas growling and turning towards it as if it were some deadly threat. Thor peaked his head in and smiled at the assemblage of friends.

  
  


“I felt the change in my sister's condition,” the god of fertility smiled amiably. “I shall take her to where she needs to do her blessed work.”

* * *

Dr. Dorian stood outside of the quinjet waiting patiently to be needed, but knowing that he probably wouldn't be. He gave a friendly wave to Thor and blushed profusely when the superhero god smiled at him slightly. Dr. Dorian pulled out his phone and texted his best friend, bragging about his new friend Thor. He heard the wailing of a baby from inside the quinjet and shortly after that another wailing.

“Hey Dr. D, come on in and give these little bugs a look over,” Sam stood on the ramp of the quinjet. “I'm pretty sure everything is fine though. Bucky may need an oxygen tank, and I think Steve may have lost control of his higher motor functions.”

The little bugs in question were already cleaned up by Natasha and the doctor quickly measured and weighed them before Steve and Bucky lay claim to the infants and swaddled them up before bringing them back to Darcy in her little containment unit/nest.

“Who is hungry?” Darcy asked with a surprising amount of energy for someone who had just naturally birthed two nearly six pound babies. She grinned as both of her Alphas stared at the baby in their arms before looking over at the other man's charge. Steve held the little cleft-chinned boy, proud and happy tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes with no end in sight. Bucky meanwhile repeatedly put his lips to the girl's forehead, whispering soft words of love.

  
  


Darcy sighed happily and said, “Give me Dorothy, please, while you boys name our boy. She's an omega, so she's the greedier of the two.”

Sam gave Natasha a high five. They had just won five hundred bucks off of Tony, who had been sure that Darcy would choose Antonia as a name instead. They had known that Darcy would pick the name that Pepper and the boys liked most however.  _ Dorothy Talia. _

Bucky complied, giving the girl up so that Darcy could nurse her. He went back to Steve and stared down at the boy in wonder. His fingers gently brushing on the chin that was a tiny duplicate of his own. He looked up to Sam and Natasha and asked softly,

“What do you think? Out of the two we had picked?”

“We still like Theodore,” Sam admitted. It was one of the better old-fashioned options that Steve and Bucky had brought to the table.

“I'm calling him Teddy!” Darcy laughed. “Unless I'm mad at him. Then it'll be Theodore Samuel Rogers-Barnes.”

Natasha and Sam were close to Bucky and Steve and baby Teddy, looking down at the little boy in adoration and wonderment while giving Darcy the space to nurse little Dorothy.

“Okay, this one is full, gimme my boy,” Darcy smiled. “I hope you all realize that its my job to fill them up and your job to deal with everything else.”

“Not it on diaper duty,” Sam held a finger to his nose quickly followed by Natasha. They laughed at the super soldiers, who obviously didn't mind. He held out his arms for Dorothy and said, “I'm a champion at burping, though.”

“I can do it,” Bucky shook his head, lifting the baby girl from her mother's arms while Steve handed her the boy. He took a whiff of the girl's head and smiled. An orangey, citrusy cake scent came off of the baby girl, where as the little boy had smelled of chocolate melded with mint.

“Okay, Teddy,” Darcy grinned down at the boy who was avidly nursing at her breast, Steve hovering close as he watched in amazement. “Just because you're an alpha doesn't mean you get to go through life being a smelly jerkwad. You're going to be a good, obedient, helpful Alpha, just like your daddies.”

“He'll have Pepper to guide him into proper Alpha behavior,” Natasha chuckled. Sam laughing outright when Bucky and Steve didn't even try to argue.

“There are too many hands and not enough babies,” Tony yelled from the ramp of the quinjet. “You have a line of ten people out here who want to cuddle babies When can we come in? Also, when can there be more babies?”

“Give me a couple months, Tony!” Darcy shouted, not bothering the nursing baby in the least.

  
  


He had gotten used to the shouting in the last nine months.

“Yes, but we get more babies then, right?” Tony goaded her.

And yes, with their near perfect compatibility, the super soldier stamina, and the very real desire to build the largest brood they could get away with, Tony got plenty of the babies he had demanded.

* * *

**The End**

 


	17. The Widow's Girl (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: The Widow's Girl
> 
>  
> 
> Summary:  
> Natalia Romanova received a gift in 1991. It was a gift she had to give up all too quickly. Even in the Red Room, she had managed to create a small family, to find unconditional love.  
> She'll spend the rest of her life trying to get it back. Love isn't for children. Love is from children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: Rape/Non-Con  
> Category: F/M, Gen  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis & Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Darcy  
> Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Clint  
> Barton/Natasha Romanov, Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes, Clint  
> Barton, Steve Rogers  
> Additional Tags: the red room is not an orphanage, Angst, there will be smut, a look at  
> Natasha and James' time in the Red Room, Pining, Abandonment  
> Issues, Love Is for Children, non-con is mentioned in chapter 4 and is  
> not described in any detail  
> Series: Part 1 of The Widow's Girl  
> Stats: Published: 2015-12-03 Completed: 2015-12-18 Chapters: 14/14  
> Words: 42371

Please note that there is rape/non-con in this story. Read at your own risk

  
  
  
  


** The Widow's Girl **

** Chapter One: I'll Be the Shelter **

* * *

*Russia, 1991*

The Red Room was always accepting girls into their program.

Anyone under the age of seven who passed the stringent aptitude tests would be given a roof over their head and access to extensive training. Many of the girls were dropped off by family who could not provide for them and had always believed that they were giving these girls a better life. Not very many of these girls made it to their graduation ceremony and were instead pushed elsewhere or simply snuffed out of existence.

Natalia Alianovna Romanova does not remember her family before the Red Room. It was decades ago, although her appearance had been stuck firmly as that of a twenty-something young woman since she had been gifted her enhancements. She had proven herself amongst all the other girls many years ago, and had found herself in a position of tenuous power as a tutor in all the deadly arts that she excelled at. She had certain freedoms now that had not previously been afforded to her in her lifetime.

She was permitted to leave for missions, immersing herself in blood and violence. She was permitted to test the younger ones and weed out the weak, immersing herself in calm cool calculation and unreserved scrutiny on those around her..

She was also permitted to take a lover.

She knew of course that this particular allowance was due to the fact that she was simultaneously being taught that there would be moments where the greatest weapon in her arsenal would be her sexuality.

The person with the superior weapon was the person left standing at the end of the day.

Natalia applied herself in this course of study as she had in every other course of study during her time at the facility.

She lay alongside the man, Yasha, who had visited the Red Room many times through her training over the last few decades. He had taught her many things over the years, no matter how short his stay may have been. Without his knowledge, she wouldn't have been able to not only survive as long as she had but also _thrive_ and _excel_ at the business they were involved in.

She never understood how Yasha remembered all of his deadly, dangerous knowledge. He certainly never remembered her or any other girl in the Red Room. Every visit held the same introductions, and no matter how close they became during his stays, the next time he saw her face would hold the same blankness, the lack of familiarity was painful and bothersome.

“Do you remember anything?” she asked quietly as the metal index finger on his left hand drew a line from the base of her neck down her bare back.

“I don't need to,” he answered simply. “I only need to know this moment. The past cannot kill me. This moment could.”

“So because the past is not dangerous, that makes it unimportant?” she wondered.

“You think too much,” Yasha pulled on her shoulder so that she lay on her back under him. “Shorter questions will get you the information you need from any man you take to your bed.”

“Where do you go?” Natalia asked calmly, suppressing a shiver as the shadow of his beard tickled against her skin, his lips preoccupied with leaving wet imprints on the porcelain column of her neck.

“I cannot give you the information you need if my lips are the ones doing the work,” Yasha informed her before biting down against her skin in an almost playful manner.

Natalia smiled and quickly wrapped her leg around one of his, twisting with force and he was suddenly on his back and she was straddling his hips, looking down at him with the ghost of a smile. She knew that she would not have been able to move him unless he permitted it. One day, she would be able to truly surprise him.

* * *

The youngest girl ever brought in to the Red Room had been five years old. She had been groomed into one of the most competent and deadly girls to graduate.

She had also been dead within a three years after her graduation ceremony.

The more competent you were, the quicker the enemy would want you gone.

Natalia was always very careful to be just competent enough.

Yasha had been away from the facility for two months when something very odd happened.

The Red Room facility had been mistaken for an orphanage.

A small baby girl, with bright blue eyes taking up nearly half of her face was tethered to the stair railing outside of the front door. She was a small, skinny child, and the best guess at her age had been two years old. She was now the youngest girl to enter the Red Room.

The caretaker called the little one _myshka_ , meaning little mouse.

Natalia, who found herself caring for the girl more than any of the handlers, did not call her that.

“You are not the mouse. You will be the cat,” Natalia promised the small girl. “ _Kotyonok_ [kitten].”

The baby was sickly, wheezing and coughing most nights. It was quickly discovered that out of all the girls in the Red Room, Natalia had the most talent at calming the crying and suffering child. The small crib was moved into her private room, and Natalia became the baby's primary caretaker. The others in the facility started calling the baby by a different name them.  _ The widow's girl _ .

The child was already very talented at languages, speaking Russian fluently. Natalia often spoke English to her, along with French and Latin. When the little kitten girl was having a sickly night, Natalia would read the single two books on her sparse bookshelf.  _ Pride and Prejudice  _ and  _ Jane Eyre _ .

Six months after the baby's arrival, Natalia's door opened and Yasha stepped in with a smile.

Natalia could only be stunned for a moment over the fact that for the first time ever, Yasha _remembered_ her. Because the next moment he was looking down at the baby in her arms and then back up at her in an almost comical look of confusion that seemed to be both out of place for the man she had come to know and yet familiar to his features all at the same time.

  
  


“How long was I away?” he asked, his normally perfect Russian breaking just a little, and Natalia and the baby furrowed their brow at the sound of a slight American accent.

“Six months,” Natalia offered with a droll smirk on her lips. “My kitten arrived two weeks after you left on your mission.”

“Mamma,” the baby smiled in Natalia's arms where they had been reading a book together, her little mouth perfectly imitating the English accent Natalia had been reciting the words in. She pointed at Yasha and grinned toothily, “Pappa.”

“Not your pappa,” Yasha frowned at the baby. He felt something itching at the back of his brain. Something from another lifetime. The thought that he had always been very, _very_ careful not to get any one into trouble such as this.

“Pappa,” the baby nodded. She held out her arms to the man eagerly. “UP!”

“Best to give her what she wants,” Natalia advised. “She cries loudly when she is denied. And I don't like to see her tears.”

* * *

  
  
  


** Chapter Two: Only Wanted For You To Save Me **

* * *

“You may want to make our little kitten keep quiet around the handlers.”

Natalia looked up from the small crib that the baby was sleeping in with a furrowed brow. She looked back down at the baby in worry, then back at Yasha with a look that demanded answers. He took a deep breath before explaining,

“She was speaking English with one of the girls, helping the girl to practice. Andronov heard her. He spoke with her. Asked her questions.”

Natalia pursed her lips in consternation and looked back down at her kitten-girl. She shouldn't have taught her anything. The little one was far too smart for her own good, and that intelligence would put her in a world of hurt with the handlers of the red room. If it was the last thing she would do, she would protect this small, innocent girl from violence and bloodshed.

“I will speak with her,” Natalia said softly. “We must---”

“ I know,” Yasha nodded, leaning over the crib, shoulder to shoulder with Natalia. His metal hand reached out and pushed a dark curl off of the baby's forehead.  It had not taken long.  Just two months with this little baby and Natalia and he knew that he would do anything for them.  A switch had been flipped inside of him, and for the first time that he could remember he  _ felt _ .  More than anxiety and fear and pain.  He didn't have the frame of reference or the knowledge to know what it was, to put words to it.  It was warm.  It was joyful.  It was contentment.  His mouth set in a grim line and he whispered, “I will do what I can to keep her safe. I promise you that.”

“Thank you,” Natalia's words were barely audible. She felt a warmness in her chest as Yasha's flesh and bone hand crept around her shoulders and brought her closer. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, committing that moment to her memory, pushing aside whatever she needed to in her brain to accommodate this moment she felt she had to cement.

The smell of gun powder on his fingertips. The soft scent of the baby powder on the girl's skin. The comfortable warmth of the room. The sound of stairs creaking in the distance. The soft snore of the baby on every inhale of her lungs. The feeling in her heart that was so unfamiliar, but so welcome. She felt Yasha's lips against her temple, firm and strong and plush.

Without warning, she turned in his embrace and let her own lips land on his, the kiss starting differently than any other they had shared. There was a gentleness there that hadn't been there before. His hands went to the back of her head, threading through her hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue stroking against hers lazily.

She pushed against him, directing him to the small closet on the other side of the room all the while their lips broke apart for only seconds at a time. She finally broke away to open the closet and push him in. He looked to the crib and then back at Natalia, an arched brow questioning her silently. They had kept their trysts quick whenever the baby was being watched by others in the facility. It had not been often enough.

“She will stay asleep,” Natalia promised, shrugging out of the robe she had been wearing and closing the door to the closet before her hands went to the button on Yasha's pants. “If you can manage to keep quiet.”

Yasha felt that buzzing at the back of his skull again. It had been happening so frequently since he had come back to see Natalia holding the little kitten-girl. This time, he distinctly remembered he used to be quite good at keeping quiet with girls. Something about not wanting to wake up---the name was on the edge of his memory, but he couldn't grasp hold of it.

“Worry about yourself, Natalia,” he smirked at her as his right hand drifted down her stomach to delve beneath the waistband of her panties. His index finger drew a lazy stroke along the wet lips of her sex and he took a slow measured breath as she continued to undress him, placing soft kisses on every inch of newly bared skin. He increased his stroking, placing firm pressure against her tiny bundle of nerves, eliciting a moan from her despite her best efforts to stay quiet. He whispered in her ear with playful reproachfulness, “Now, now, Natalia. Don't wake the baby.”

She couldn't repress the slight eye roll at his arrogance even as she pushed his underwear to the floor. Her hand gripped his erection and she couldn't help the delighted smirk at his own moan.

“If you are the one to wake her, you are the one to rock her back to sleep.”

Yasha walked the baby back to sleep half an hour later, happily.

* * *

Yasha had not been allowed to stay in one place for such a long period of time before. Another six months had passed, and the baby, who was still called Widow's Girl by the handlers and other girls, but was called Kitten by Yasha and Natalia, was healthy and thriving. She was approximately three-years-old and she was a small chatterbox, switching easily between four different languages with perfect enunciation.  She became quiet as a clam around the handlers though, taking Natalia's instruction and following it to the letter.

Yasha had taught her to use a Brooklyn accent. He didn't understand why it made the handlers so nervous, but he was glad that the little kitten no longer did it in front of them.

When Natalia was out of the facility on missions, the care of the baby fell to him, as the little one refused to be good or well-behaved for anyone but Natalia or Yasha.

One cold morning, when Natalia was away, Yasha made the mistake of allowing the little girl in a training room, where he was working with the teenagers on knife handling.

One knife whizzed by his head and hit the mark perfectly. Such an occasion was usually celebrated with congratulations or hand clapping.

This show of marksmanship was met with cold, tense silence.

Yasha turned to the baby who had thrown the knife and stared down at her with an expression he had never felt on his face before, or more accurately could not remember making before. Whatever it was, the baby began crying silently at him, apologetic words spouting out in all of her languages and accents.

The little one didn't know how to deal with the look of downright fear on the face of the man she called Pappa.

* * *

“She is skilled in a way you are not,” Yasha said delicately to Natalia as they watched the baby sleep. “She's too young to hide it like you do.”

“You're scared,” Natalia whispered, her hand going to his flesh hand and squeezing.

“You are wise enough to survive,” he reminded her. “I am not wise. They wipe my mind clear when I go. When I show weakness or recollection, it is taken away. Painfully.”

“It's not a way to live,” Natalia nodded, looking down at the little girl she now called her own. The little girl that called her Mamma. She thought of this tiny, innocent, joyful creature, being taught to take lives with her bare hands. To bathe in the blood of others. To face the consequences as Yasha had if she were not perfectly compliant.

Of being torn down by an enemy who saw her as too skilled, too dangerous.

“How can we---”

“Me,” Yasha shook his head. “I will do it. There's a mission. I will take her to America.”

Natalia wasn't going to argue. She nodded and said rather than asked, “I'll never see you again.”

“No, you will not,” Yasha admitted. “And you will never see her again. Don't cry, Natalia.”

“I'm not,” she disputed, despite the fact that her blue eyes were swimming with unshed tears.

“She will remember that you love her,” Yasha promised.

“Love is for children,” Natalia muttered.

“Love is _from_ children,” Yasha shook his head.

“She needs a name,” Natalia looked down at the baby she had been calling _kitten_ for over a year. She looked down at the book the girl had her hands wrapped around in her sleep. She smiled and ran a hand through dark brown girls, then a finger along porcelain skin, then to puckered full lips. “Darcy.”

* * *

It had been almost easy to smuggle Darcy to America.

The baby was good at taking direction if it came from either him or Natasha. She viewed it as a fun game that she knew they would reward her for, whether it be in a piece of candy or an extra strong hug before bed time or even an extra lullaby.

She had stayed silent as a ghost during their travel, and only spoke in the English he had directed her to use when they were safely on a plane, she cuddled against him in the commercial seat.

“Pappa?” she whispered.

“Yes, Darcy,” he nodded, speaking with a familiar American English accent.

“Mamma is not here,” Darcy said quietly. “She told me goodbye.”

“That's right,” Yasha nodded. “You are going to find a new mamma in America.”

“No,” Darcy furrowed her brow, reaching for the gloved hand that covered what she knew was metal. She liked his metal hand. It made fun noises and was strong enough to toss her high in the air. “Talia is my mamma. Yasha is my pappa.”

“Be a good girl,” he said stiffly, his hand ruffling her curls. “You will be safe. You will be happy.”

“But I love my mamma and pappa,” Darcy sniffled.

“Don't cry,” Yasha ordered. “Love is for children.”

* * *

Leaving the baby at the car crash site was the hardest thing Yasha could remember doing. He had given her a small cup of juice and told her to drink it, and since she always did everything he or Natalia told her to, she had and she had done so with a smile.

She had been sleeping in his arms in minutes.

He tried to memorize the puckering of her sleeping lips. The dark curl of her hair. The feel of her sleeping, prone little body against his shoulder, her little head tucked into his neck.

He knew that when he returned to the handlers, they would wipe him. They would take the last year of his life and leave him blank.

But he tried to remember. He tried to file the feeling of her along with everything he had taken from Natalia and put it somewhere in his brain where the electricity and the cold wouldn't find it.

The little kitten's name was Darcy. When the paramedics arrived on the scene she would be known as Darcy Lewis. She called Natalia Mamma and she called him Pappa. The past year had been the happiest he had ever known.

She and Natalia were important to him and he would do his best to remember that.

* * *

** Chapter Three: Did You Ever Make it Out? **

**England, 2002**

Yasha was not the only one who was punished for the disappearance of the child.

Natalia spent years working off that particular punishment.

In ten years, Yasha had never returned once.

She had heard the chatter, of course, a metal armed soldier completing the missions only a ghost could. A cold-blooded assassin with no conscience and no remorse.

And Natalia strongly suspected he was a man with no memory.

When the man from Shield sent to take her out predictably failed, she took a chance.

“You're very good at what you do,” he smirked at her. “You're on the wrong side though, pretty lady.”

“There are no sides,” she arched a brow at the man with a bow and an arrow on his back. “There's only survival.”

“I might not be the one to take you down, pretty lady,” he shook his head. “But my boss thinks you're a threat. He's not going to stop sending people.”

Natalia nodded imperceptibly. She knew that. She knew that if she became too good at what she was trained to do, she would become the target.

Ten years after relinquishing the two people who had given her life any sort of joy, she was ready for it. To find an escape.

“Here's what I'm going to do, first...introduce myself, because that's how we do it in America,” he smirked holding out his hand to her. “Clint Barton.”

“Black Widow,” Natalia gave an answering smirk, shaking his hand briefly.

“That's not a name, pretty lady,” Clint shook his head.

“That is all you're getting,” she insisted. “Find me when you can get an offer from your superiors.”

It took another year, but during a mission in Beijing she met Nick Fury. And she defected to Shield a month later.

* * *

**Washington, DC, 2005*

“What're you looking for, Tash? Come back to bed.”

Natalia, who now went by the name Natasha, rolled her eyes at Clint before going back to work. Two days after she had come in to Shield, she had begun her search.

Three months later she had found what she was looking for.

Darcy Lewis.

Aged 15, approximately.

Orphaned at age 3.

Current residence, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Saint Joseph's Children's Home.

She had a juvenile record for shoplifting and had been suspended from school for fighting. She was an average student that her teachers said didn't live up to her potential. And she was healthy, safe and beautiful.

Natasha had watched her from afar dozens of times in the last year. She hoped with all her might that Darcy was happy, but seeing the big blue eyes that had captivated her over a decade ago, knowing what they looked like when the girl was truly happy, she knew that Darcy was not happy.

But she was safe. And that would have to be more important.

“I don't know how you got her out,” Clint said in a nonchalant manner from the bed, his hands effortlessly juggling a hair brush and a tea light candle.

“You should mind your own business,” Natasha advised him coolly. She closed the laptop and climbed on top of the bed. She batted the brush and the candle away from his hands and put her lips against his neck. “She is no one's concern. Certainly not Shield's.”

“You were never in the States, how'd you get a kid here?” Clint asked seriously. “And she's not...she can't be yours.”

“You talk too much,” Natasha murmured. Falling into bed with Clint had been a very deliberate choice on her part. There was an obvious attraction between the two of them, and their chemistry out in the field directly translated to some pretty amazing and athletic sex. She had been very clear with him that it was just sex though. It was just a way to blow off steam, to decompress and to find comfort. So far, he had been pretty amenable to her terms. She smirked at him and wondered, “How do you get information out of a person if you're always the one talking?”

* * *

**Philadelphia, 2006**

Darcy remembered very little about her early childhood. What she could recall was vague. Counselors through the child services system told her it was typical due to the trauma she had went through. She had been the sole survivor of a car crash that claimed the life of her parents at the tender age of three.

She remembered her parents. She remembered reading stories about marriage proposals and being tossed in the air. She remembered red hair and metal. She remembered language and knives. She remembered how to use a Brooklyn accent and how to throw those knives, and throw them well.

It had only taken getting kicked out of one foster home before she realized that she should keep those sorts of things to herself.

She skipped school most days. She certainly couldn't find it in herself to care about geometry and physics and English. The only class that interested her was Latin, and she was so far ahead of the rest of the class that the teacher had snarkily suggested she teach the class instead.

She was currently trying to dodge any police cars in one of the scarier neighborhoods near her school, bumming a cigarette from a group of people huddled under a bridge. She had just lit the cigarette and taken one burning drag off of it when she felt herself tense.

It didn't happen very often, but she could always feel when someone was watching her. Every few months, she'd get that feeling of ice slipping down her spine and she would turn, knowing that there had been eyes on her seconds before. It had happened a handful of times since she was very young.

It had been happening more often in recent years.

This time, she saw a tall, imposing looking figure rapidly approaching her, and he didn't look like he had any intention of just passing her by. He looked like a predator and she was feeling very much like the prey.

When the man was within five feet of her, a blur of black and silver flashed before her eyes, tackling the man who looked like he had been intent on hurting her to the ground. The sound of knuckles meeting the man's head repeatedly and in rapid succession made Darcy shiver as she stood stock still, frozen.

She watched as the blur of black and silver rose from the unconscious potential attacker and her eyes focused on the metal arm in front of her.

“ You're alive,” she whispered. She blinked in confusion. She had said that in  _ Russian _ .

“Darcy,” the Winter Soldier said in a low growl. He never remembered much. His handlers were always careful to wipe him after every mission. But he always remembered Philadelphia. There was something important in Philadelphia. Every mission in America in the last thirteen years he had taken a detour to Philadelphia. Some visits the name would come back. On every visit the memory of red hair returned. The memory of a small baby girl held against his chest. They were important and he was careful to hide any evidence of their existence from his handlers.

“Why?” Darcy questioned in Russian, her voice uncharacteristically soft. Her chin trembled as the memory of a plane where she had been cuddled against her father happily settled into her brain. “Why did you leave me?”

The man yanked the cigarette from her hand and stomped it out on the ground. “Return to school, Kitten.”

The order had been spoken in Russian as well, and Darcy had understood it perfectly. He took one last glance at her, eyes lingering on hers as if he were trying to cement her into his memory. She reached out for his metal hand and squeezed it, looking up at him with unshed tears.

“Can you take me back to Talia?” she whispered.

“No,” he shook his head. He pulled his hand away and ordered her, “Return to your school.”

Darcy could only watch as her tears began to fall as he walked away from her, crossing the street and disappearing into the shadows. Memories that had been fuzzy and at the edge of her mind since she was a small child suddenly spilled into her brain in bright technicolor.

She was not an orphan.

  
  


She had a mother and a father.

She was the Widow's girl.

* * *

*Washington DC 2008*

Alexander Pierce was curious.

He had retained control of the Winter Soldier since 1993, and he felt he had done a pretty stellar job during his tenure. The Russians had begun to make an absolute mess of things, allowing the asset to form attachments, to form a  _ family _ . And then let that family out of their control, not even thinking to use them as leverage.  A weapon does not need a family.

A weapon needs maintenance.

A weapon needs ammunition.

A weapon needs something to be wielded against.

The wielder of the weapon needed _control_ of that weapon.

Pierce surveyed his weapon, sitting in the chair, ready to be wiped again before being placed back into cryo-freeze. He had allowed the Winter Soldier to have some semblance of freedom on every mission since 1993, in an effort to see what such a thing would do with the freedom. And what he did was go to Philadelphia. Every mission. He covered his tracks expertly, and none of his handlers could trace his movements or find where exactly he was going.

This particular mission had him in Philadelphia, but winding up in Virginia, forty miles away from Culver University when the handlers finally were able to reconnect with him.

“Where is your girl?” Pierce asked softly, his tone friendly and curious.

The Winter Soldier merely looked up at the man in the suit with blank, unreadable eyes. They would never find Talia's kitten. They would never touch her.

He had thought he had lost her this time out. The same inexplicable draw to Philadelphia, to where he had left her had shown that she was gone. She had grown from the rebellious teenager and had managed to apply herself enough to make it to college. He had followed, taking extra care to commit the new location to memory, to the memory he always kept. Red hair and soft skin. A tiny baby with big blue eyes.

She was safe as he watched her. She would remain that way.

Pierce held up a grainy, fifteen-year-old photograph that had been provided by the Russians, a woman with her red hair obscuring her face holding on to a giggling baby with wild brown curls and laughing blue eyes.

“Where is your girl?” Pierce repeated. “We could bring her to you. She would be safe with us.”

Pierce didn't have time to fear the change in the Soldier's eyes, the flash of anger and protectiveness that flared there before the metal arm swung out and connected with his chest, throwing the man across the room, crashing against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

The Winter Soldier remained quiet, even as security rushed forward and pushed him back into the chair, electric spewing batons biting at his skin in an effort to subdue him. He kept his words to himself.

_ They would never touch her. They would never hurt her. She was safe. _

* * *

*Odessa, 2009*

He had shot straight through her.

There was no recognition there. No moment where he dropped his weapon and realized that they had been so much more to each other than nameless enemies. No soft look that she had spied so many times during their time with their kitten.

“I'll recover, stop treating me like a wounded bird,” Natasha grumbled to Clint, who was fussing over her on the Quinjet.

“You're damned lucky to be alive Tash,” Clint argued. “That sniper could have put a bullet through your brain. You caught a break this time. He must have been a lousy shot.”

Natasha considered this for a moment. Yasha was anything but a lousy shot. He never missed.

He had chosen his shot very precisely.

There wasn't a look of recognition. No earth shattering revelation. No maudlin moment of reunion.

Just a very carefully placed shot in order to complete his mission, while keeping her alive.

* * *

Darcy spent a lot of time in the last three years acquiring a very specific skill set.

Firstly, she had developed an interest in computers. Mainly, using the computer to gain access to Russian databases so that she could search endlessly for Yasha and Talia.

Second, she began a small business of making fake ID's for the local college crowds. The money was good, it had allowed her to apply to colleges outside of Pennsylvania, and was the reason she was sitting in a small, private dorm room at Culver University. And having her own fake ID was even better. She was able to get into a lot of records rooms with the fake ID that said she was with the FBI.

Third, she was learning as many languages as she possibly could. Russian and French came to her as easily as Latin had. She quickly added Spanish and began to struggle through learning Mandarin Chinese as well.

If Yasha had come back to her once, he might come back again.

And then they could find Talia together.

And she could be  _ happy _ .  Finally.

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Four: Stain Every Heart That I Use to Heal the Pain **

*Culver University, 2009*

Darcy had a clear memory of being in pain when she was very small. She had fallen down and scraped her knees very badly and she had howled with the hurt of it all, and when she had gotten a glimpse of the torn skin of her knees, the blood weeping out of the wounds and she began crying hysterically, the pain suddenly magnified at the sight of it.

She remembered that it had taken her Mamma tenderly bandaging her wounds while her Pappa held her and smoothed her hair and whisper-sang a soft Irish lullaby in her ear in order for her to calm down and feel like the pain was ebbing away.  Their combined warmth, the clear love that exuded from the both of them, their soft touches made her feel safe and content.  She was giggling again in no time, the hurt long forgotten as Yasha played her favorite game with her.  She hid and her parents would track her down.  She was exceptionally good at the hiding.  And when she was eventually found, she would get extra strong hugs and tickling beard kisses and she wouldn't even remember that she had fallen in the first place.

As she stumbled out of the stranger's dorm room, her legs barely working, sharp pains radiating through her body and emanating from where he had forced himself on her, she realized she would do anything to have them with her, to comfort her one more time.

* * *

Natasha considered it a strange oddity that Fury had given her an assignment at Culver University, where a 20 year-old Darcy was completing her second year of college. She was watching Bruce Banner and was currently ready to hand in her gun and letter of resignation. She could do espionage. She could do interrogations. She could provide protection and intimidation when Shield needed it.

She did not sign up to watch two unimaginable monsters rip and tear and shred everything and everyone around them into shreds. The Hulk and the Abomination were not your ordinary mark.

She was a skilled woman, but she stood no chance amongst monsters.

She had just told Fury as much and he offered her a small break. She was tempted to run back to the school and grab Darcy before anything Hulk-related could taint the girl's safety. She was about to accept Fury's offer and ask him for assistance doing just that when Maria Hill strode into the room and nodded at Fury before giving Natasha a look that was more severe and serious than usual.

“You should go back to Culver,” she advised. “Immediately.”

Natasha didn't waste time asking questions. Although later she would definitely wonder how the deputy director knew that Darcy was in any way connected to her. She left DC and was in the Culver University security office in less than an hour, flashing a badge and demanding to know what had happened.

“Talia?”

Natasha froze and looked to the small room Darcy had been ushered out of. She was wearing an oversized Culver University security t-shirt, her hair disheveled, her face streaked with tears. She was walking slowly and with a limp, fresh bruises standing out on the pale white skin of her neck.

“Talia, help me please,” Darcy whispered, her chin trembling. It had been the one thing she had wanted since waking up to the nightmare that morning, the comfort, the love, the reassurance of the mother that had told her to be good for Yasha and kissed her all those years ago. She held out her hands and her voice was barely audible as she whispered in Russian, “Mamma, please.”

Natasha had her back in her room quickly and began packing Darcy's things.

The girl, her small tiny kitten who she had sent away to be safe. To be protected. To live happily in a different world, untouched by violence and bloodshed.

Her girl had been raped.

“I have a biology final tomorrow,” Darcy whispered. She sat on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest as Natasha went straight for Darcy's closet, grabbing the largest bag she could find. “It's my last test of the semester. Dr. Ross isn't going to take any excuse from me this time, not after I tricked her at mid-terms.”

She had asked no questions at Talia's reappearance. She had voiced no concern over the woman who had last seen her at the age of three going through her things and packing a bag. She had also not remotely questioned that the woman in question, the woman she remembered as her _mother_ had not aged more than a few years in the last 17 years.

“You can take a different science course,” Natasha said evenly. “You will come with me. I will make you strong. No one will ever hurt you again.”

* * *

Darcy didn't talk about what happened to her. Instead she focused on asking all the questions she had been saving for a very long time. She wondered if Talia was only humoring her because of what had happened.

Every time she even thought about what had happened to her, bile would rise up in her throat. Her choice, her innocence, her facilities had been stolen away from her with one tainted drink at a party she didn't even want to be at. She swallowed down the urge to vomit once more and looked to the driver's seat, where Natasha was steering the nondescript black car.

“I saw Yasha,” she revealed quietly.

Natasha's eyes flicked to her with very real concern. “Did he hurt you? When?”

“When I was fifteen?” Darcy shrugged. “I was skipping school, and he stopped a mugger or attacker---or whatever. He would _never_ hurt me, Mamma.  Where is he?”

“Darcy, he is a ghost,” Natasha said gently. “He should not be able to remember you. He is the world's greatest assassin. He told me that they would take his memories, torture him into submission. He does not remember our time together, he is the Winter Soldier, and the bloodshed he's caused in the last 17 years is legendary.”

“ But he remembered me,” Darcy disputed.  She didn't want to believe that the man that had been so gentle and loving with her when she was a young child could be capable of anything that her mother had described.  But a big green monster had appeared on campus earlier in the week and now her mother was in front of her looking like she was only five years older than her, so her horizons for the unusual were definitely broadening.  “He did, I promise! He said my name. Called me  _ kitten _ .”

“Darcy, I need you to promise me something,” Natasha said softly. She had said those words to the small kitten in the red room many times, this time they just happened to be in English. “Will you do something for me?”

“Of course, mamma,” Darcy nodded.

“If you see Yasha again, you will run,” Natasha ordered. “I cannot teach you enough to stay safe from him if he does not remember you. You will run and you will hide.”

A memory filtered into Darcy's head. Her mother and father had taught her how to hide. It had been a fun game, and she had always been exceptionally good at it. Yasha had always been so proud when it would take more than an hour to find her, throwing her into the air and kissing her chubby cheeks, tickling her skin with the stubble on his face.

“He wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't hurt us,” Darcy shook her head.  She felt her throat tightening with the threat of all too easy tears at the injustice of it all.  “We should find a way to _help_ him. To bring him back to us, if he's out there, he should be with us.”

Natasha kept one hand on the wheel, the other lifting her shirt to show Darcy the still red and angry scar work on her abdomen. Darcy hissed and held out a hand to touch it gently.

“He can't help himself, Kitten,” Natasha warned. “It's not his fault, but he is still dangerous to you. To us. Promise me that you will run.”

“Okay, okay I promise, I'll run.”

* * *

When the Winter Soldier was brought out of the ice again, he completed his mission, evaded his handlers and went straight for Darcy's University. After he couldn't find her right away, he obtained her file and found that she had taken an emergency leave of absence for an unspecified reason.

He cross-referenced her file with the campus security logs and found the unspecified reason quickly.

The Winter Soldier was an efficient weapon because he did not feel rage. His mind was usually so blank of everything else but the red hair and the little baby that he kept hidden and safe, that there was no time to develop rage or anger towards the marks. There was only the kill, then if he could manage it, a trip to see to the baby girl's safety.

He had not felt much rage in his lifetime with Hydra.

It was a very heady feeling to have.

He was waiting for the young man when he returned from class, standing in the shadows, his hands gripped into fists. It took a few moments before the young man even realized that he had company.

“Jesus Christ, dude! What, who the fuck are you?”

The Winter Soldier felt a buzzing at the base of his skull and he felt his lips curl into a cruel smirk.

“I'm Darcy Lewis' father,” he said quietly. “Do you remember what you did to her?”

“I'm calling the cops...”

“No, you're not,” James said in a low, clear tone. “What you are going to do is atone for your sins against an innocent girl.”

The difference between the Winter Soldier and James Barnes, was that the Winter Soldier was cruelly efficient.

James Barnes was not efficient. He was not merciful. He felt the rage, saw the hands that had touched the girl he had carried to what he had hoped would be a safer, cleaner life. The hands that had hurt her and bruised her and taken something from her that should have been given happily and freely.

He broke the hands first.

The Winter Soldier knew how to take a life.

James Barnes knew how to keep that life from snuffing out completely, leaving just enough life so that the torture and pain and destruction could last.

* * *

Darcy and Natasha had spent two uninterrupted weeks at a safe house in West Virginia after Natasha had picked Darcy up at the security office.  One phone call from Hill had been the only contact and the message had been brief.   _ Take your time _ .

Natasha had given Darcy a taser and had started on basic self defense. Natasha had advised her that if she ever felt that she was in danger, the taser should always be used first, questions could be asked later. At the end of the two weeks, she handed her a set of knifes and gestured to a target on the other side of the room.

“Do you remember?” Natasha wondered.

Darcy turned the knife over in her hand before taking a deep breath and letting it fly towards the target, slicing straight through the bulls eye.

Natasha smiled as her phone chimed with a new text message. Only two people had her number. Fury and Barton. She looked down at the message and rolled her eyes.

_ Remind me to never get on your girl's bad side. That was a wicked throw for her first try. Don't want to make her skittish. Meet me in ten. _

Natasha sighed and gave Darcy direction to keep practicing before she wandered away, going a tenth of the mile east of the cabin according to Clint's code. He smiled at her and held out an arm to give her a hug, only mildly annoyed when she simply stood with her hands crossed in front of her defensively.

“Didn't mean to interrupt girl time,” Clint sighed. “She okay?”

“ She's fine,” Natasha nodded. Darcy was  _ not  _ fine. She had nightmares. She was terrified. She was drowning in sadness. But she was safe now, and Natasha wasn't about to let her go any time soon.

“So, uh, the guy that did it,” Clint took a breath.

“I will take my revenge when Darcy is in a better place,” Natasha promised.

  
  


“Won't need to,” Clint shook his head. “The asshole is a vegetable. Beaten to hell and back.”

“Did you---”

“Not my handiwork,” Clint admitted. “Wouldn't of minded doing it, really. Fury and Hill are at a loss, which is pretty fun to watch, but still, a little spooky. Kid hurts the Widow's girl, kid winds up nearly brain dead.”

“Hmmm,” Natasha hummed. “Thank you for the update.”

“So...you gonna introduce me to your girl?” Clint wondered, a soft smile on his face.

“No,” Natasha said decisively. She hesitated, her mouth turning downward in a conflicted frown for a millisecond. She knew that over the years, Clint had been developing feelings. More feelings than their usual no-strings-attached bedroom antics should be fostering.

“Harsh,” Clint nodded, his face unreadable.

“Don't try to find things in me that I can't give to you,” Natasha said softly. “Don't look for more than what's here.”

“I'm not looking too hard. I was pretty sure it was there,” Clint admitted. They'd been physically together for years now. He hadn't gone after any other men or women and he was pretty sure she hadn't dated. Ever.

“It's not,” Natasha shook her head. “I am never going to be your grand romance. Go find it elsewhere. Love is for children.”

“Yeah, sure, Russian stoicism. Super fun,” Clint rolled his eyes, beginning to back away. “Take care of your girl. Call me if you need me.”

Natasha sighed as he blended into the surrounding woods and shook her head. “Goodbye, Barton.”

* * *

  
  


** Chapter Five: All My Words to Hold and Hold Against Me **

*San Francisco, 2010*

Darcy had spent the last 14 months with her Talia, traveling the United States while Natasha did small missions thanks to a surprisingly understanding Maria Hill. They were both learning a lot. Darcy was learning how to better protect herself, not in the beautifully violent way that Natasha did, but in a protective, defensive manner. Natasha had been very careful to teach her girl how to save her life, not to take another life. The goal would always be for her to get away and then hide until she could be retrieved.

And Natasha had learned that the smart, giggly, mischievous baby she had sent to America with Yasha had grown into a smart, foul-mouthed, mischievous woman. She might have been giggly before Culver, as she was still slowly coming back to herself, her a small fraction of her mirth returned. Natasha realized she had been missing it, missing her kitten for far too long.

  
  


She was not overly eager to let her go again.

But Fury called, and when Fury called, it was important.

“You can take me with you,” Darcy insisted. “I've always wanted to see Japan. I can even speak it a little, it was a lot easier to learn than Mandarin. I mean, you watch a few hundred hours of subbed anime and you pick up an awful lot.”

“YOU pick up an awful lot,” Natasha smiled at her as they dug through the bags of chocolate they had procured at the Ghirardelli factory. She grabbed one of the white chocolates filled with raspberry and popped it into her mouth. “When you re-enroll in school, you should really think about that political science degree. You could easily get an internship at the UN.”

“Disgusting,” Darcy picked through her assorted box of chocolates and threw all the white chocolates on Natasha's pile. “White chocolate is a fucking lie and I will fight anyone who disagrees with me.”

“Or perhaps not the UN,” Natasha rolled her eyes. “You need to work on diplomacy, kitten.”

“Exactly, which is why you should take me to Japan with you,” Darcy grinned, getting back to the point.

“I can't, you know I can't,” Natasha insisted. “It's dangerous.”

“Right,” Darcy sighed. “Because sending me to live in America as an orphan in one of the more dangerous cities in the world wasn't dangerous. And me just being a normal college girl didn't cause me the most pain I've ever felt in my life. Your spy games are the least likely things to be a danger to my safety at this point.”

Silence extended between the two women, Darcy dividing her pile between dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Her rape wasn't something they talked about very often. Darcy preferred to keep that pain buried as deep as she could. Natasha knew it wasn't healthy or right, but she was hardly the poster child or advocate for expressing one's emotions.

“The cover won't work with you accompanying me,” Natasha said softly. “The end goal is for me to infiltrate Stark Industries. Tony Stark will not want to bed a woman with at 21 year old daughter.”

“Fuck Tony Stark,” Darcy grumbled.

“I certainly hope it does not come to that.”

* * *

*New Mexico, 2011*

“This doesn't quite seem like the right thing to do.”

Jane Foster narrowed her eyes at Erik Selvig and she shook her head.

“Darcy did the grant renewal, and she gave you the envelope to put in the mail. What happened?”

“I forgot it because I got distracted by a report on solar displacement,” Erik rolled his eyes.

“We're out of money. All of us. I don't know about you, but I don't think a packet of ramen noodles is going to be enough for all three of us until the grant money gets deposited,” Jane shook her head at him, her exasperation clear, but still fond.  "Erik, none of us can continue breathing without caffeine.  You know that."

“Does she even know what's she's doing?” Erik watched Darcy from across the room as she lost at pool to a few locals. A pool game she had bet one hundred dollars on. One hundred dollars that none of them had.

“I trust her,” Jane nodded. “Adorably quirky personality aside, she's from the literal school of hard knocks. If she says she can make us a thousand dollars in one night without resorting to prostitution or her selling fake id's at the closest college..well...yeah. I'm going to go with the grifting.”

“Damn it, I really suck tonight!” Darcy whined at the pool table, wrinkling her nose in distaste as she missed another shot.

The fifty year old trucker she was playing against chuckled at her before sinking the eight ball and shrugging.

“Okay, double or nothing...let's try a different game,” Darcy cajoled. She grabbed the man by his elbow and drug him over to the dart board by the bar.

“Aww, kid, I'm good at pool, but I'm better at darts,” he laughed at her. She reminded him of his daughter as he took the darts from her and turned to the board, tossing the three of them in quick succession, and getting one bullseye and two close very close darts. “Count it.”

He took a step towards the board to remove the darts, when Darcy gently pushed him aside, grabbing three little knives from behind the bar and whipping them in quick succession towards the bar. One knife sliced through his bullseye dart and the other two landed in the small remaining space in the center circle.

“You little grifter,” he looked at her and shook his head in shock which quickly turned to amusement. He hollered across the room, “Carl! Come and look at what this gal can do! Bring your wallet!”

Jane, Darcy and Erik left the bar hours later, one thousand dollars richer. The bartender told Darcy she could come back and drink for free if she did her fun knife tricks as a show.

“I'll do it too, if Erik would dress up as my magic assistant and let me strap him to a wheel while I chuck knives at his head,” Darcy giggled as they ran to the RV so they could get some gas and head to the nearest mini-mart for gallons of coffee and something resembling food.

“Where'd you learn how to do that?” Jane asked in wonder.

“My Dad.”

* * *

*New Mexico, 2011*

“Hey? Mamma? Remember when you told me to take that internship to get my science credits done and over with? Remember how you said it would be no big deal and it would be over and I'd finally have my degree? Do you remember that?”

Darcy wrinkled her nose as Shield agents cleared out the showroom and she actually stomped her foot as one of the jack-booted thugs carried a box full of things, including the ipod Natasha had gifted her last Christmas.

“Darcy, I want you to go to the nearest safe house and wait for me there,” Natasha ordered over the phone. She did not like what Coulson and Clint had been reporting to her. Darcy wasn't safe there anymore.

  
  


“I'm not leaving Jane or Eric!” Darcy disputed. “Or that big guy. Thor. I mean...the guy is helpless. He doesn't even know how to ask for a refill of coffee.”

“If you do not leave, I will send a friend to look after you,” Natasha warned.

“I'm twenty-two years old, Talia, I don't need a babysitter!” Darcy petulantly shot back.

“Too late. And the fact that you are whining like you are a teenager proves to me that you are, in fact, in desperate need of a babysitter,” Natasha chuckled. “I just have to finish this up and I will come and retrieve you. Stay safe, kitten.”

Darcy glared at her phone as Natasha hung up on her. The sound of a throat clearing next to her made her jump two feet in the air and make an obnoxious squeaking noise. She glared at the Shield asshole with dirty blond hair and a haggardly handsome face.

“Been curious about you for quite a bit of time,” the man said. “I'm Clint Barton.”

“Good for you?” Darcy shrugged.

Clint's face betrayed a split second of annoyance before going back to the normal, Shield issue resting bitch face. He should have known Natasha wouldn't have said one word about him to the girl he sort of knew was her adopted daughter. It stung, he'd admit that. But its what he had signed up for.

Still. Not even a funny story about him?

“Are you the friend that she sent me?” Darcy wondered. “Are you like...a _special_ Shield friend?”

Clint smirked at her and said very seriously, “A real lady doesn't kiss and tell.”

* * *

*Helicarrier, 2012*

“Tash...”

  
  


Natasha looked down as Clint began to stir, he'd been out for two hours after she had knocked him out. She stood above him, her posture casual and non-threatening, even if she did know that she could have him out cold once again in less than ten seconds.

“I'm here.”

Clint blinked his eyes open to see her staring down at him, those steady, strong sapphire eyes staring down at him with unabashed curiosity. He winced as he struggled to a sitting position and managed to grit out a rough,

“Thanks.”

“You would do the same for me,” Natasha reasoned.

“Call---call the Tower, get your girl and Foster out of there,” Clint advised. He held a hand to his head as the pain still strummed through.

He remembered every last moment of his time under Loki's control, including the plans for the portal opening. Darcy and Jane had moved into the Tower weeks earlier, setting up shop in a custom made lab on the opposite side of Tony's lab. He had only known Darcy for a year, but he knew that if Loki showed up with Selvig, they had no hope of her staying safe. She'd jump onto the God of Mischief and brain him with her nerf dart gun in order to try to rescue Erik.

“It's already taken care of,” Natasha reassured him. “Jane and Darcy are already in Norway on a consultation. Coulson and Hill handled it for me.”

“Get the Tower evacuated too,” Clint advised. “There's not much time, we have to get to New York.”

Tony interrupted over the speaker system in the room.

“Catch you on the flip side, Natalie. Heading out. Get yourself ready to follow.”

Clint forced himself to stand and shuffled towards the bathroom, eager to clean his hands suddenly. As if that would help clean them of what he had been forced to do.

“Hey,” Natasha said gently, suddenly a presence at his side. She leaned in and let her lips land on his, a soft, gentle caress that conveyed more information than she had ever spoken to him. “Don't ever do that to me again, understand?”

Clint managed a soft smile at her, his eyes roaming her face, seeing what she wasn't willing to say. He knew she cared. He knew that she needed him. And that might be even better than loving him.

“Understood.”

* * *

*New York, 2012*

“You had them send me and Jane to Bumfuck, Norway. I was so bored. I had no wi-fi!”

“Lord forbid anyone get in the way of Lewis and her wi-fi. Crazy alien space caterpillars don't stand a chance,” Clint mumbled dryly as Darcy stormed into the still ruined penthouse that the Avengers had reassembled in after Thor took Loki off world. He frowned when Natasha left his side for the first time since the battle had ended to get up and hug Darcy tightly. He smiled when the girl returned the hug with equal fervor.

“I'm glad you're safe. And I'm glad you saved the world. And if you ever send me away like that again, I will find a way to cause you never ending torment,” Darcy whispered at her, throwing a middle finger Clint's way as he read her lips.

After Thor had left New Mexico, Natasha had swooped in and finagled a deal with Fury and Pepper, sending Jane and Darcy to Stark Tower to continue Jane's work in relative safety. They hadn't even been able to get all of their equipment out of the bubble wrap when the consultation in Norway came up.

“You guys looked really cool on all the feeds I managed to hack into,” Darcy smiled at the two of them. “Real big damned heroes standing next to all those genetically modified guys, and a God and a Tony.”

“Fuck you Lewis,” Tony shouted at her from the balcony where he, Bruce and a newly arrived Jane were working on what Selvig had built Loki.

“Fuck you harder, asswipe!” Darcy shouted back. “I saw the TMZ pictures of you at Shawarma, I know you went without me! I hope you develop anal leakage and run out of toilet paper!”

Tony cackled in glee. It had only taken the two of them five minutes in each others presence before they realized that they were nearly the same snarky personality trapped in two different bodies. They had only known each other a few short months, and they already knew that Pepper secretly loved them teaming up, Rhodey absolutely hated it, and Jane was entirely oblivious.

“Why are you hugging Agent Widow?” Tony yelled, his mouth inches away from Bruce's ear, making the good doctor jump in frustration.

“She's my mom!” Darcy called back with a zany kind of glee. “Mind your own fucking business, old man!”

“Watch your shit eating mouth around the elderly!” Tony cackled, pointing behind her.

Darcy turned away from her happy shouting and a smirking Natasha to see all six feet two inches of grandpa plaid covered goodness in the heavenly form of Steve “You Bet Your Sweet Ass Captain America” Rogers standing at the elevator door to the penthouse.

“Woah,” she breathed.

Natasha watched Darcy carefully. In the three years since the traumatic events of her sophomore year at Culver, Darcy had never once expressed interest in the opposite sex. And now, Darcy's eyes were comically wide as she blatantly leered at a puzzled Steve Rogers as the two twenty-somethings/ninety-something stared at each other with slightly pink cheeks.

“That's a meet cute if I ever saw one,” Clint muttered to Natasha as she sat back down next to him, thigh to thigh. He whispered in Nat's ear in concern, “She gonna be okay?”

“No one safer than Captain America,” Natasha reasoned.

“So, who here is not introduced?” Tony came into the penthouse, pointing a finger around at everyone. “I'm not surprised the spysassin twins know Darcy. Disappointed and a little scared, but not quite surprised. So, Capsicle, we have Doctor Jane Foster out there, ruining my good work.”

“FUCK YOU, TONY!” Jane shouted, earning a righteous thumbs up from Darcy.

“And this fiesty little sparkplug is my daughter, Darcy Stark,” Tony smiled at Steve wickedly. “If you touch her, I will have to kill you. Or make you marry her. I'm not really sure which one I want more.”

“I'm not his daughter. I can prove it too, I have no horns or a tail, for one,” Darcy said quickly. She gave Steve a little wave and said, “Darcy Lewis, I'm Doctor Foster's lab assistant.”

“You're MY assistant too, now, darling daughter,” Tony insisted. “Did you not get that pay increase before the aliens invaded?”

“Steve Rogers, it's a pleasure to meet you,” he said genuinely, ignoring Tony entirely. He held out a hand awkwardly, his cheeks flushing further when she took it.

“So cute,” Clint murmured. “Cap's going to finally lose his virginity I think.”

He immediately regretted it at the sight of Natasha's steely blue eyes boring holes into his brain.

“Talk about my girl like that again, and I will finally finish the job and put you out of your suffering for good, Barton.”

* * *

Steve and Darcy became fast friends.

Very fast friends.

They became friends so quickly, that Tony moved Steve into the empty suite next to Darcy's three days after they met.

They became friends so quickly, that the entire Tower had started a betting pool on when Steve would ask her to marry him.

They became friends so quickly, that Natasha felt the need to have some alone time with Steve a week after they met.

“I want to know your intentions towards Darcy,” Natasha said plainly as they stood opposite each other on the sparring mat.

“What?” Steve wondered with a smirk. “Last time I checked, Romanoff, this wasn't the 1800's, and you weren't her father with a shot gun.”

“You don't want to meet her father, believe me,” Natasha smirked right back at him. “Even your super muscles might get a work out if you ever did my kitten wrong and he found out about it.”

“Is---what? You and Darcy are best friends, right?” Steve asked, truly wanting clarification. “I mean, Darcy is always telling funny stories about your adventures together. She's your best friend, I'm not trying to steal her from you or anything...”

“I've known Darcy since she was a two-year-old,” Natasha said honestly. “That is all I'll tell you, for the rest of the story you'll have to go to her.”

“Okay, I---I'll ask,” Steve nodded, truly curious now. Natasha looked to be not very much older than 25. Darcy was 24.

“I still want to know your intentions,” Natasha reminded him.

“She's...she's a great girl,” Steve sputtered out. “I like her a lot. I haven't had a lot of things to look forward to since I woke up. And talking with her, doing things with her...I look forward to it.”

“She's been hurt in the past, Cap,” Natasha said delicately. “Please be careful with her.”

“Of course, I mean, I'm in no rush for anything---not that there will be anything,” Steve corrected himself immediately when Natasha leveled him an arched brow full of suspicion.  “1945 wasn't that long ago for me, Natasha. I'm not ready for anything serious.”

“Good. Take your time then.”

* * *

One of Darcy's absolute favorite things to do was to hop on the back of Steve's bike and drive in one single direction on a road heading away from the city until they almost ran out of gas. It had happened every other weekend since they had met, and they were steadily covering each of their refrigerators with tacky magnets from each of the final destinations they had found.

This particular weekend found them in Mystic, Connecticut, at a pizza place that Darcy had insisted was important because a movie from the 80's was made about it. Steve didn't know what kind of a movie was about pizza, but the slices weren't too bad, and the company was even better.

“Tell me a secret,” Steve asked before taking another bite of pizza.

It was a game they played over the many meals they had shared in the past few months. He had taken Natasha's words to heart, and didn't want to push and didn't know how to outright ask about her trauma and her connection with Natasha. So he hoped one day, she'd just tell him.

“I haven't seen my father since I was fifteen years old,” Darcy revealed. “Well...not my biological father. My adoptive father. I've never seen my sperm donor. Hell, maybe it could be Tony. Who knows? I'm going to ask Rhodey if he was around Russia or with Russian women a quarter of a century ago.”

“You're not Tony Stark's daughter,” Steve rolled his eyes at her. “You're his distant cousin, twice removed, at best.”

“Your turn. Secret me, Captain,” Darcy grinned at him.

“ I felt guilty the other day, cause for the first day since I woke up, I didn't think about my friends once,” Steve said quietly. “The whole day went by, I helped with the rubble cleanup four blocks over, we went to dinner with Natasha and Clint. And then we watched the movie with a giant pancake. And when I went to bed I though  _ this was a good day _ . And then I realized I hadn't thought of Bucky or Peggy or any of my friends the entire day.”

“And you felt bad about that?” Darcy prodded him, his verbosity always a surprise to her. Steve was usually a man of few words, but there were moments when words would just spew from his mouth faster than she could even talk.

“Yeah, pretty bad,” Steve nodded. “It's okay though. There are going to be days when I think about them too much, and I'll feel bad in a completely different way.”

“Feeling bad is pretty much par for the course around our social sect,” Darcy nodded. “Next time you're feeling like that, you knock twice on the wall and I'll come over. Okay?”

“Thanks, Darce,” Steve smiled softly at her. “Okay, your turn. Tell me a secret.”

“I---there was a...” she faltered, trying to single out one of a million secrets that she had left to tell him.

“Questions instead?” Steve offered her the out that she usually needed when they played this game.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“Alright,” Steve acquiesced immediately. “So if you saw your adoptive father when you were fifteen, when was the last time you saw your adoptive mother?”

Darcy laughed. Steve may have had a pretty face, but he was wickedly intuitive and smart. And she and Natasha never tried to hide their close relationship from any Avenger or Avenger adjunct. Their group of friends never pried for details though. Wisely.

“This morning at breakfast,” Darcy answered, her smile tentative and unsure.

“And that's why she's always badgering me about my intentions,” Steve laughed. He had figured out during the battle of New York that the Black Widow was a little more than your average human being. Bruce had confirmed for him that there had been many attempts at copying Erskine's serum, and the Russians were particularly prolific in their attempts.

“ Hold on, she  _ what? _ ”  Darcy hissed. She pulled out her phone and began rapid fire texting.

“Darce, sweetheart, it's okay,” Steve laughed holding, his hand over her phone. “She just worries about you. It's her right as your mother.”

“Still, she's just---she's really over-protective of me,” Darcy shook her head. “She has been since she came back into my life. Its---never mind. Your turn. Secret it up.”

“I really like you,” Steve said without hesitation, though his cheeks held that tell-tale flush. “And I'm really glad you're here with me.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded. The panic evident on her face. She hadn't been expecting that. They were friends. The best of friends. But she had never thought Steve would try to push things further. She could feel her heart racing and her brain insisting that she suddenly couldn't get enough oxygen in her lungs as an anxiety attack rolled over her in a wave. “I'm going to go to the bathroom.”

She was out of her seat before Steve could say anything and was sitting in a bathroom stall, tears tumbling from her eyes of their own accord.

“Get it together, Darcy. Get it together,” she whispered to herself in Russian, squirming in her spot on the toilet seat.

She didn't know what she had done to deserve this friendship she had built with Steve. He was good and kind and funny. He was sweet and perfect and sometimes he was such a smart ass that she knew that he was the largest troll on the face of the planet.

And she was broken into a million pieces on the inside and just taped and super glued back together on the outside just enough so that she didn't shatter every few minutes. She couldn't offer him anything real. She couldn't really be his friend if she constantly felt that every minute he spent in her presence was going to destroy him somehow. That she was tainting him with each word, each touch, each thought he had about her.

She wanted to cling to him like a life preserver, but she knew that he would only sink with her. She'd drag him down. Steve deserved more than that. He deserved someone who could still love with their whole heart, not the broken remains of one. After everything he had been through he deserved easy love. And she didn't have it to give, and she didn't deserve it.

Love was for children.

  
  


* * *

** Chapter Six: If You're Not the One For Me **

*New York, 2012*

“Captain Rogers, could you please head to Doctor Foster's lab at your earliest convenience?”

Steve looked up from the Christmas gift wrapping he had been doing and dropped everything, rushing towards the door.

  
  


“Is Darcy okay?” he demanded, running for the stairs.

“Her vital signs are strong, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS assured him. “Doctor Foster requires your assistance.”

He tore into the lab looking around wildly when he caught Jane's knowing smirk. She pointed over to the couch Darcy had set up in a little break area, next to a small fridge and counter she constantly kept overflowing with candy and treats. Darcy was curled up in a ball on top of the couch, sleeping soundly, a tiny snore on every inhale of her lungs.

“She wore herself out,” Jane sighed. “For someone who tells me when to eat and sleep, she's doing a pretty terrible job of taking her own advice.”

  
  
  


“Christmas is a busy time for her,” Steve smiled. When she had shown him the 307 bullet points on her to do list before the holidays he had finally gotten confirmation that she was, in fact, insane. It was now two weeks until Christmas, and she had crossed off 200 of the bullet points already. Meanwhile, he was still struggling with coming up with the perfect gift for her.

“Can you take her up to her room?” Jane wondered. “Or your room. Wherever the two of you are staying nowadays.”

“It's not like that,” Steve said quietly. Yes, there were many nights when one of them would sleep over at the others' apartment. But it was usually due to a marathon of tv shows or movies and they always wound up on the couch, never in each others' beds. Not that he didn't want to.

Christ, did he want to.

But after that disaster in the Connecticut a few months ago, Steve had been very careful not to push her. He kept the tone friendly and light and only gave little peeks into how he really felt about her, just enough to let her know without scaring her off. And how he really felt about her...

She was everything to him.

He scooped her up and gave Jane a nod as Darcy sleepily burrowed her head into his shoulder. Thankfully the tower was pretty empty at that time of night, and all of the other Avengers were either on missions or out of town. They made it back to his apartment in no time, with no prying eyes except for JARVIS. He would have deposited her on his couch, but it was covered in odd bits of wrapping paper and newly wrapped up gifts. Instead, he walked her back to his bedroom and gently placed her on the still made up side of the king sized bed and tucked the comforter around her tenderly.

He watched her for a few prolonged minutes, fascinated with the way her cheeks pinked up in sleep. He hadn't seen Darcy blush very often after their first initial meeting. He let his thumb gently rub against the pinkness of her skin before pulling away and taking a heavy sigh, going back to his living room to hide all evidence of Christmas gift giving.

Darcy woke half an hour later, blinking in confusion at her confusing, dark surroundings and the unfamiliar bed. She felt an immediate stab of panic. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how she got there. She didn't know what had happened to her. She took a deep gasp as she struggled to breathe, the panic attack quick and ferocious.

Thundering footsteps echoed down the hall and light filled the room suddenly, Steve's body illuminated in the doorway.

“Darce, sweetheart, it's okay,” Steve said softly. JARVIS had alerted him to the fact that Darcy was having trouble breathing and her heart rate had become entirely too quick and erratic. Steve held up his hands and approached her slowly. “You're in my room. You're okay. You fell asleep in the lab, and Jane asked me to come get you.”

“Oh God,” Darcy took another harsh gasp as she struggled to control her breathing.

“No, sweetheart, breathe with me, come on, take a deep breath,” Steve dropped to his knees in front of her and took an exaggerated breath in. Jarvis slowly brought up the lights in the room as Steve worked her through her panic attack much like his mother or Bucky would have attempted to help him through an asthma attack. He waited at least five minutes after her breathing returned to normal, before reaching a hand up to wipe away at the tears that had been streaming down her face non-stop since she woke up. “I'm so sorry, Darcy. I didn't know.”

“No, I'm sorry,” Darcy shook her head. “I never told you. Should've. If you can't trust Steve Rogers, who can you trust?”

“Tell me a secret? I'll start,” Steve smiled softly at her, his hands cupping her face as he stood and sat next to her on the bed. “I have no idea what to get you for Christmas. I even had to go to Tony for help.”

“Oh don't do that,” Darcy laughed through her tears. She sighed and went to hug him, not wanting to watch his face when she finally found the strength to talk. She focused on the way his hand ran up and down her back in long, reassuring sweeps. Another five minutes passed before she whispered, “In 2009, I went to a party and took a drink from someone I shouldn't have. It was---laced with something that made me completely out of it. It was supposed to have been a non-alcoholic drink, so imagine my surprise when ten minutes after drinking it, I felt drunker than I had ever felt before.”

She burrowed her face into his neck, taking some reassurance from the steady, strong strum of his heartbeat.

“This guy took me back to his room,” Darcy continued and she felt Steve stiffen. She winced and was glad she couldn't see his face. She didn't want to see the disappointment there. “He—he, uh, raped me. And choked me. And when I woke up, I didn't know where I was.”

Steve struggled with the burning feeling of tears at the back of his throat. He felt every muscle in his body tense. For any person to do that to another human being...it was sickening. But to know something so awful had happened to this wonderful girl in his arms, this girl he was definitely falling in love with. He felt like he was going to either explode with rage or be sick.

“I'm so sorry,” he managed to rasp out, his hand still stroking her back. “I'm so sorry you had to go through that. I'm so sorry that I let you wake up to that. I won't ever...I'll do whatever you need me to do...you're safe with me. I'll keep you safe.”

“I know,” Darcy nodded. “Tell me a secret?”

“Uhm...I---I used to let the girls in the USO put makeup on me, they said it was for practice,” Steve said quickly. “I think it was because I looked pretty with victory red lipstick on.”

Darcy giggled and Steve took a deep breath in relief. He felt a strange sort of accomplishment, getting that small sound from her when she had just told him about the most painful moment of her life.

“Can I ask you a question?” Steve asked. Darcy nodded her head without moving from the crook of his shoulder. “What can I give you for Christmas?”

Darcy finally pulled away and looked up at him, carefully scrutinizing his reaction to her words.

“It's a very specific present I want from you, Steve,” she admitted.

“Name it, its yours.”

“I want for us to have sex,” Darcy blurted. His eyes began to widen and it didn't seem like they would stop widening any time soon. “That was the only time I'd ever...I had been a virgin. And ever since then, it wasn't something I ever wanted. And then I met you, and not to creep you out in any way, but have you seen you? But still, I want to feel safe. And no one makes me feel safer than you. I want a do over. And the only person who could make it right is you.”

Steve opened his mouth to speak but Darcy shook her head and continued onwards

“I want...I think that we should,” Darcy stuttered. “I really do feel safe with you. And I don't think I'll ever feel that way with anyone else. And---can we? I'm sorry this is so beyond what you signed up for. I mean, a gift card to the coffee shop downstairs would be fine---”

“No, don't, don't apologize,” Steve shook his head, a large hand cupping the side of her face. He couldn't help but feel warmed throughout by her statement of feeling safe with him, of her absolute surety that he would be good for her.  She may not want to talk about more than platonic feelings with him, but they were certainly there.  He brought his lips against hers in the ghost of a caress before pulling away and murmuring, “I want to. It just seems like it's a lousy gift since I'll be having an awful lot of fun with the gift giving.”

Darcy hiccuped at the feel of his lips and nodded, “Gift giving is good when it makes everyone involved happy?”

“Okay, I want you to really think about this,” Steve advised her. “So, take a week...no take two weeks. And if on Christmas, this is something you still want to do---”

“Please say you'll be under the tree with nothing but a big red bow on, because really, that's something that should probably happen.”

* * *

A week later, Natasha and Clint had barely made it off the quinjet before Steve stormed up to them, eyes blazing with what Tony called ' _ Truth Justice and The Tears of 1,000 Bald Eagles' _ . Clint tensed automatically. It had been six months since the Battle of New York and he was still always on edge.

It was still hard to know who was a friend and who was an enemy.

“Who is he?” Steve demanded of Natasha.  "I want a name."

“He's taken care of,” Natasha promised.

Steve looked between Clint and Natasha, his righteous look deflating and curiosity replacing it.

“Neither of us,” Clint admitted, catching on quick to the unspoken topic of conversation.

“I can't know for sure, but I believe Darcy's adoptive father put the bastard in a vegetative state,” Natasha said quietly.

Clint's eyes darted from Steve to Natasha. She had never once mentioned Darcy's father before. He tried to get a read on her, but as usual, with Natasha that effort was wasted.

“Good,” Steve nodded. “I'd like to shake her father's hand some day.”

He gave them both a small, sad smile before heading back into the Tower, and Clint and Natasha were slow to follow.

“She told him?” Clint wondered. Darcy had never told anyone. She had never even said the words out loud to Natasha as far as he knew.

“He's good for her,” Natasha nodded. “Like I told you, there is no one safer than Captain America.”

“It's convenient we have one of those then.”

* * *

Darcy was sitting on the cushy, oversized couch in Steve's living room, her legs tucked under her, looking down at the gift that Steve had given her during the Christmas festivities of the morning. He had created a comic book for her... ten full pages of brightly colored, beautifully drawn panels of a super-caffeinated, foul-mouthed young woman and her band of merry, super powered cohorts.

_ The Amazing Adventures of the Tremendous Marcy Rewis. _

Steve was still upstairs, helping the rest of the Tower residents clean up the Christmas feast that Darcy had made for them all. Darcy's hand went to trace the lines of her comic book sidekick, Colonel States, who mostly just marveled at every amazing thing Marcy Lewis did. It was the sweetest present she had ever received and her heart felt like it was breaking.

She should have stayed in her own room. She should have let the Christmas deadline pass and let Steve off the hook for the present she had requested of him two weeks ago. What did Steve need damaged goods like her for when he could have the pick of the litter? She knew for a fact that the sweet waitress at their favorite place to get lunch was over the moon for him.

The waitress was probably a person who had appropriate emotions and a fully functioning heart.

Darcy was just a girl who called the world's greatest spy her mother, a girl who had been left at the scene of a car accident by the world's greatest assassin who she happened to call her father. A girl who grew up unwanted and unloved and knew _nothing_ about loving another person the way they deserved to be loved. A girl who had been so damaged that the only way she could think about sex was to think about it with her overly kind, overly indulgent best friend.

She was using him, and he deserved better than that. She knew he deserved so much more than her.

“Wait till you see what I have planned for volume two,” Steve's voice was soft as he opened the door and walked into his apartment. He shoved his hands into his pockets and smiled, “I'm thinking Marcy and the Colonel need to go on a road trip. Longer this time. Hit every state in the Union on the quest to find the perfect burger and fries.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan,” Darcy smiled.

“Well, you know what they say about me and plans,” Steve rolled his eyes. He knelt in front of her on the couch, his hand going over hers and he asked softly, “Darce, are you sure?”

Darcy took a deep breath and said, “Just one thing before hand though.”

She reached for his end table and held up a piece of paper she had stolen from the waste basket next to his drawing table. It was a nearly finished comic panel of Marcy and the Colonel sharing a kiss that Steve had not been bold enough to include in the first volume. Underneath the panel, Darcy had written in purple colored, bubbly script.

“The undersigned do hereby agree to remain friends above all else, and to each retain an equal right to call all shenanigans off with no reason necessary,” Steve read. He looked up at her with a furrowed brow and confusion. “You made a contract?”

“It seemed wise,” Darcy nodded. “This is comfort. For me. And I'm really happy you're willing to do it, but I never want you to feel obligated to do anything you don't want to. The minute you find that perfect girl for you, you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings. I'm---it'll be okay.”

Steve gaped at her in confusion, feeling like he missed a conversation or two.

First, he had not been looking for the perfect girl for him. He was pretty sure he had already found her.

Second, this wasn't just comfort for her. This was for him too. He wanted her. God, did he want her.

Third. He had never actually seen Darcy behave like her adoptive mother before. But here she was, suggesting a no-strings attached sexual relationship with a close friend. Gossip at Shield traveled fast. Everyone knew what was between Clint and Natasha.

He never understood how Clint did it before. Steve wasn't the kind of guy to have sex with someone without some pretty serious feelings developing first. Sure he had been born nearly a hundred years ago, but he was pretty sure Darcy was the same way. Which made her sudden attempt at downplaying the emotional side of this development very confusing. He loved her. And he had been fairly confident that she loved him too.

“If you want to back out you can,” Darcy bit her bottom lip nervously as she watched Steve stare at the contract she had hastily drawn up.

“No, Darce, I don't want to back out,” Steve promised her, his hand going to her lip to stop her from biting at it. He pushed himself out of his kneeling position and slotted his lips against hers, his pulse jumping at the soft noise the kiss caused in the back of her throat. He pulled away, his hand cupping her jaw, his lips millimeters away from hers, “You tell me to stop, and we stop okay? Promise me, sweetheart.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded. She couldn't help a giggle as Steve winked at her before sweeping her up in his arms, carrying her bridal style to his room. Instead of placing her on the bed, he sat on it with her still cradled in his arms, shimmying his way so that his back was against the headboard. She kissed him, her tongue running along the seam of his lips before he opened up for her.

She took his momentary stupor at her action to squirm out of his arms, straddling his lap as she avidly stroked her tongue against his, her hands fisting at the fabric of the t-shirt on his shoulders. His hands were at her waist, his fingers drawing small circles at the inch of skin he had found between her skirt and her ugly Christmas sweater.

When she finally pulled away breathless, her own hands had gone under the collar of his t-shirt and they were both a little flushed. Steve looked down at her sweater, it was truly hideous, bright green and threaded through with little blinking led-lights connected to a small battery pack sewn into the front.

“Honestly, I'm not trying to be a pervert, but I have been wanting to get you out of that sweater all day today,” Steve smirked at her.

“Smooth talker,” Darcy laughed before pulling the sweater up and over her head and tossing it across the room carelessly.

“Really, Darcy?” Steve's head fell back against the headboard as his eyes crinkled up with silent, powerful laughter.

“It's Christmas!” Darcy defended herself and her choice of bra. Green with ridiculous and cartoonish Christmas shapes cut out of felt and artfully hot-glued all over the double D cups. She yanked Steve's shirt over his head even as he continued to laugh at her build-your-own Christmas bra. Her hands went for his belt buckle and said, “If you are not wearing Christmas themed underwear, I am going to be so disappointed.”

What followed was a giggling thirty seconds of the two of them stripping down to their ridiculous Christmas themed underwear. Darcy's underwear were covered in cartoon candy canes and Steve was wearing a pair of red boxers that looked like Santa's pants.

“I'm so proud of you,” Darcy cooed at him. Her face flushing as she took in the acres of perfect muscle and the beautifully perfect smirking face looking right back at her.

“Come here,” Steve sat back against the headboard again and let her crawl back into his lap. He kissed the tip of her nose before moving to her lips again, and for the next five minutes the two of them made out like innocent teenagers, Steve's hands on her waist, hers on his shoulders. He pulled away and sighed, “Kissing you is like an adventure.”

“And that's what the Colonel should say in volume 2 when they kiss for the first time,” Darcy smiled, shifting slightly in his lap and taking a pleasured gasp as Steve's erection pressed against her. She leaned back in and their kisses grew more filthy, teeth and tongues and that soft sound at the back of Darcy's throat.

She pressed herself against his hard length again, enjoying the pleasing darts of friction he was providing her as his lips moved from her mouth to her jaw and then to the long column of her neck. She ground down against him again and his hips jerked upwards to meet her, his hands going to her hips and gripping her there with a gentle pressure to stop her from her movements.

“You're going to be the death of me,” Steve groaned.

“Statistically speaking, you're more likely to be the death of me,” Darcy shrugged. She gave him a smile and pulled at his right hand, moving it from her hip to the waistband of her panties. “Could you---would you touch me?”

“Tell me if you need me to stop,” Steve reminded her, his fingers sliding into her panties, stroking over her mound in reassuring pets before slowly sliding over her, smiling at the moist heat of her, the slick of arousal coating his fingertips as he danced along teasingly.

  
  


She moaned in appreciation and he couldn't help but smile as he repeated the hard swirling pattern again. She grabbed his left hand from her other hip and held on to it with both of her hands, squeezing as he kissed along her collarbone lazily while his fingers explored, finding that swell of flesh that made her take in the sweetest gasp he had ever had the pleasure of hearing.

God, he wanted to taste her. He wanted to have her on her back in his bed, with his head between her thighs and just devour her for hours on end. He firmly rubbed at her clit as her back arched, her ridiculous bra taking up his entire field of vision. He licked his lips before letting his mouth descend on the swell of her right breast, tongue swirling against her skin as his fingers swirled against her wetness.

Hands otherwise preoccupied, his nimble teeth pulled one of the cups of her bra down before he mouthed at her nipple, lavishing his tongue against it before sucking lightly.

“Steve, yes, oh god,” Darcy whimpered as he gently pinched and rolled her clit between his thumb and his forefinger.

“That's it, sweetheart,” Steve murmured, squeezing her hands with his left hand. He mouthed at her breasts before managing a rough, heartfelt, “You're so beautiful.”

Darcy felt the waves of pleasure breaking over her and didn't know what to do with herself. She had never felt like that before, never been brought over the edge by her own hands or any one else. When she finally came down from the blissful high, flushed and breathless, she opened her eyes to see Steve with his fingers in his mouth, licking the taste of her off of them, his eyelids heavy as he watched her.

“That was the prettiest damn thing I ever saw,” Steve swore.

“Shut up,” Darcy wrinkled her nose. She managed a slight smile and asked, “Condom?”

He pulled his left hand from hers and reached under his pillow, pulling out a foil packet.

“Man with a plan,” Darcy teased.

“More like man with really big hopes that you still wanted me,” Steve corrected her.

She shifted off of him and undid her bra before bouncing around the bed in order to pull her panties off. Steve groaned and reached for her again, his mouth going straight for her now free breasts, and Darcy laughed quietly. Of course Captain America had a thing for boobs, all American indeed. Her hands went for his boxers, tentatively sneaking under the waistband and placing the lightest of touches on the wet tip of his erection.

“Killing me,” Steve groaned in pleasure, letting a grunt out as her hands grew bolder, gripping him and stroking the length of him curiously. He pulled away from her reluctantly, shooing her hand away as he rid himself of his boxers in a similar bouncing fashion that she had done to undress. He sat back against the head board and gave her a reassuring smile, which she totally did not appreciate because she was too busy letting her eyes roam over the scientific miracle that was his body, her gaze falling heavy on the erection that lay proudly against his abdomen.

He gave himself a trio of slow strokes before retrieving the condom and tearing at the wrapper with his teeth. He watched her face very carefully as she stared at his hand that rolled the condom on carefully. If even one shred of doubt was in her eyes, he'd wrap a blanket around her and take her to the living room to watch movies. But there was no doubt in her eyes. The bright blue was blown out by her dilated pupils and she licked at her lips slowly. He watched as her truly stunning breasts moved up and down with every heavy breath she took.

“You're like a work of art,” Darcy said softly as she moved across the bed to him on her knees.

“You are,” Steve contradicted her, gazing down at her with adoring eyes. He held out his hands to her and smiled when she took them as she swung her legs over his thighs. “This okay?”

“uh huh,” she managed, slowly moving up his long legs until the apex of her thighs was inches away from his hardness.

His left hand settled on her hip and he leaned in to kiss her again, tender and slow until she felt like melting butter under his touch. She sighed into his mouth and pulled away, giving him a soft smile.

“Okay?” his right hand was wrapped around himself, and he rubbed the tip against her slick folds.

Darcy could only nod and she went to hide her face in his shoulder when he dodged her and looked her in the eyes.

“Sweetheart, you can't hide, I need to make sure you're alright. I want to make sure its good for you,” he insisted. He kissed her lips again and she took advantage of it, kissing him so fiercely that his eyes shut in response and she shifted in his lap, quickly enveloping an inch of him in her wet heat.

She shuddered, expecting some sort of terrifying response from her body, some kind of rejection or fear but instead she pulled away to look at those earnest blue eyes and she felt a warmth pool in her gut as she sunk down on him another inch.

“Jesus, you're big,” Darcy sighed.

Steve blushed and looked down where their bodies met, knowing that they had a bit more to go. He waited though, for her to set the pace as she shimmied up slowly before sinking back down. He groaned again as more of him entered that wonderful warm tightness. She repeated the movement half a dozen times before she was sitting fully in his lap, his length twitching inside of her.

“Okay?” he managed to whisper, his voice feeling rough against his suddenly dry throat. He kissed the end of her nose and let out a heavy breath as she clenched around him experimentally.

“This is nice,” she nodded, surprise evident in her voice. She moved up and down again, closing her eyes at the pleasurable feeling sinking into her veins. “So nice.”

Steve's hands found her hips again and he guided her rise and fall in his lap, eyes darting back and forth between the soft bounce of her breasts and the pleasure on every beautiful inch of her face. He wasn't going to last long, that was for sure. He hadn't been with a woman since 1942, even if he didn't count the years on ice, it had still been a hell of a long time.

And none of the women he had ever been with compared to the lady dancing in his lap at that moment. He wanted to tell her that. Wanted to tell her that she was the one of the most important things in this brave new world he'd woken up in. The most important thing.

He wanted to tell her he loved her.

But he kept his mouth shut, knowing it wasn't the time. That the silly contract and speech she had given him beforehand meant she wasn't ready to hear it. It could wait. He'd wait until she was ready. In the meantime he'd have to let her know without words.

She was close, he could feel her fluttering around him after every pause of her hips. His mouth went back to her breasts as he snuck a hand from her hip to find her clit, firm swipes causing her to jolt around him and increase the speed at which she rode him.

“You feel so good, sweetheart,” he murmured against her skin. “Nothing in this world could be as amazing as you.”

“So good,” she whimpered as she began chasing her end in earnest, her body instinctively pressing against his quicker and harder, her hands grasping at his shoulders for leverage. She switched the angle of her hips ever so slightly and suddenly with every down turn of her body she felt Steve brushing up against some beautiful spot inside of her that made her feel like she was about to combust with pleasure. “Oh my god!”

She slammed into his lap, clenching down on him with quivering muscles. Steve felt a rush of heat around his length and he groaned at the sight and sound and feeling of her coming around him so powerfully. His orgasm hadn't built at all it just ripped right through him as suddenly everything was her warmth and her softness and the tight squeeze and he could only let out a harsh gasp for air as he emptied himself into the condom. His fingers stopped rubbing against her and he just lay his palm flat against her mound and pressed firmly against her.

“Oh!” Darcy managed a squeak at the feeling of it, she hadn't come back down from the first high and the insistent pressure of Steve's hand and the warmth she could feel through the condom of his release had her tumbling off again, quivering against him before her body went slack. “Oh holy Jesus.”

They stayed quiet for a few extended moments before Steve managed a chuckle. “Well, it is his birthday.”

* * *

  
** Chapter Seven: No One Knows Me Like You Do **

***** New York 2013*

“So really, tell me, how good is the sex?”

Darcy rolled her eyes at Jane's fifth inquiry of the day. She made a mark on a piece of paper at her desk every time she asked, and after three months, Jane had questioned her about sex with a super soldier over 400 times. Darcy couldn't blame her. Jane did have two eyes and a fully functioning libido, after all. And a serious lack of a blond bed buddy of her own.

“I mean, it should be good. You do it often enough,” Jane shrugged.

“You don't know that!” Darcy disputed. Although it was true. Darcy had been delighted to discover that she not only really enjoyed sex with Steve, but she was actually pretty good at it, if she did say so herself. Steve definitely had no complaints.

“I HAVE TWO WORKING EYES!” Jane cackled maniacally. “Don't think I didn't see you on the lab couch three weeks ago. And then the DESK last week, Darcy. I went through two bottles of Febreze the next day.”

“Shit,” Darcy swore. She and Steve had decided that as Valentine's Day gifts to each other, they would work through a long list of fairly innocent fantasies and scenarios that they both wanted. The desk had been a huge success. The quinjet decidedly less so, seeing as Bruce had unwittingly walked in on them. And even then, it had forced Bruce to get in contact with Betty Ross about getting Darcy's birth control upgraded, just in case.

“So, things are getting pretty serious, huh?” Jane smiled at her genuinely, her perverted leer gone and replaced only with sisterly teasing. “I mean, it's been a little less than a year since you met and you have him eating out of the palm of your hand...are you guys going to get married? Because I get first pick of a maid of honor dress.”

“We are NOT getting married,” Darcy shook her head. “We're friends.

  
  


“Friends who fuck,” Jane arched an eyebrow. “Friends who cuddle in the afterglow and giggle and stare lovingly at each other.”

“Jane, you're such a perv, I don't know what to do with you. When you walk in on two of your friends having sex, you don't stick around to watch the afterglow, you walk away,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “And if you must know, we have...an arrangement.”

“Like your mom and step-dad have an arrangement?” Jane furrowed her brow.

“Exactly. And STOP calling Clint my step-dad!” Darcy scolded her. “It's creepy and weird.”

“Does Steve know you guys just have an arrangement?” Jane wondered.

“Of course he does,” Darcy nodded. She had made sure that after that first night, when they had woke up, she had made him sign the paper and it was currently in the safest place on Earth, folded and tucked behind one of the gauntlets of his shield. “He signed off on it.”

“Someone should tell Steve's post-coital cuddle face about the no love contract,” Jane arched a brow at Darcy. “Because that boy is 10000000% in love with you.”

“How can an astrophysicist be so terrifically bad at statistics?”

* * *

“Mom, where are my cool boots? You know, the shiny black pirate ones?”

Darcy came barrelling in to Natasha's apartment and her eyes grew wide before she covered them with her hands. That was  _ way  _ more than Hawkeye than she had ever wanted to see.

“Jesus, kid, don't you ever knock?” Clint groaned in frustration as Natasha pushed him off of her, going for the robe that had been abandoned and putting it on. Clint looked down at his still unfulfilled erection and he heaved a heavy sigh, puttering off to the bathroom as he muttered about _Damn kids_ and _cockblockers_ and _third time this month_.

“They're _my_ boots and they're in my closet,” Natasha answered her when Clint finally exited.

“Oh, can I borrow your boots?” Darcy wondered. “Steve and I are scoping out apartments for him in DC this weekend, and between the shiny boots and the fun Harley, I'm going to pretend that I'm in a pirate biker gang all weekend.”

Natasha split her time between Shield headquarters in Virginia and New York City. Steve had previously only gone to Shield headquarters for brief periods of times, choosing to make the long commute back and forth between New York City.

Natasha knew the reason for that was because Darcy and her work were based out of New York City. She couldn't help but wonder what would happen when Darcy went with Jane to London at the end of the summer. If he didn't open his mouth and convince Darcy to be in a real relationship by then instead of this mockery of no-strings attached sex, she would have to make sure he had a reason to follow the girl.

“So...what would you do if...if Yasha came back?” Darcy whispered, looking towards the bathroom that Clint had disappeared in.

“Yasha is not coming back,” Natasha said softly. “And Maria found you poking around in the KGB database, kitten. Stop doing that.”

“That's not me, that's just a program I wrote with JARVIS,” Darcy shrugged. “It texts me if it finds anything good.”

“Stop that,” Natasha gently ordered her. “I know you want to find him, of course you want to find him. But he would never be the same person for you again.”

  
  


“That's okay, he'd still...he'd still BE,” Darcy shrugged. “I mean, our lives are really nice now, we have a fancy place to live, nice people all around us...and he, I bet he doesn't have that.”

“No, he probably doesn't,” Natasha nodded. She knew what Darcy was feeling. She felt it every day. Somehow, fate had thrown the three of them into a cyclone and while she and Darcy had eventually landed in a relatively soft place, blissfully together, Yasha certainly did not.

“I'm never going to stop looking for him,” Darcy shook her head, going for the closet and grabbing the boots she had initially come in for. “One day, I'll find him and he can finally have what he deserves.”

Clint came out of the bathroom after Darcy left, clad only in his boxers. He flinched when he found Natasha sitting on the couch, her head in her hands. She heard him approach and stood nodding at him before announcing,

“I'm heading out, I'll call if I find any trouble.”

* * *

*London 2013*

Steve went over the blueprints for the lab Jane was going to use in London for the thousandth time. Clint walked into the room and gave Steve a jaunty salute before raiding the mini-bar, grabbing a cold beer and package of superior English chocolate.

“I don't think the schematics have changed since the last time you looked at them,” Clint smirked at him.

“Just want to make sure the ladies are safe,” Steve shook his head.

“Thor will thank you for it someday, if he can ever bring his royal lightning butt back to Earth,” Clint smirked. “He may pound on you for defiling his little sister.”

“Huh,” Steve tried to tune Clint out, knowing that indulging him only led to madness and possible incarcerations.

“S'funny what the girl's managed to collect in terms of wacky zany adoptive family,” Clint shrugged. “I mean, Black Widow for a mom. Killer Assassin for a Dad. Norse God for a brother. Tony Stark as a second cousin thrice removed. And me as a---”

“Don't call yourself her step-dad. She hates that,” Steve advised as he put the blue prints away. He looked at Clint and raised one eyebrow. “Did you say Killer Assassin for a Dad?”

“Eh, it's a myth,” Clint shrugged. “Can't get a peep out of either of them about who he is. Darcy looks for him though. Hill is always catching her trying to break into some international government database or another. When I say that Darcy's rapist was put through a meat grinder, I'm being rude to ground meat. The douchebro eats through a tube now.”

“Sorry if I'm not shedding any tears over that,” Steve ground out. If anything, leaving the scum who had hurt Darcy in such a way was a mercy. The piece of shit was lucky to be breathing at all.

“Yeah, well, Natasha thinks it was him. Darcy's sort of Dad,” Clint shrugged. “Dangerous motherfucker, if you ask me.”

“You don't think he'll hurt either of them, do you?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Nah,” Clint shook his head. “One, Nat can take care of herself. Two, the guy is clearly protective over his daughter. And you know, Darcy has plenty of other people lined up to protect her. I mean, you're here, aren't you? Nat told you to see to the set up of protection and you jumped for it.”

“Of course I want her safe, Clint,” Steve glared at the man he called a friend on most days.

“I just---I'll cut right to the chase, Cap,” Clint said softly. “There's a reason you haven't put a ring on that girl's finger yet. There's a reason you aren't running around the Tower holding hands and being in love in front of every one.”

  
  


“She's not ready,” Steve shook his head. “Not that I don't want it. I love her.”

“And if you said that to her, do you know what her response would be?” Clint questioned. “Same as Nat's. Love is for children. You're in over your head here, Steve.”

“Me and Darcy are different than you and Nat,” Steve disputed.

“Yeah. Just be careful, Cap. Don't get too invested. Because that's not who they are. That's not how they're made. Natasha pressed Darcy into her image after 2009, and Darcy took the ball and ran with it.”

* * *

Natasha had never wanted to set foot in Kiev ever again.

And yet there she was, waiting at the back table of a filthy bar, her hand holding a glass of untouched vodka.

She had spent a lot of time in places she would have rather not visited again over the course of the last few months. Because Darcy was right. Yasha deserved so much more than what fate had dealt him.

If Fury had been willing to bring her in, there was a chance for Yasha as well. He needed a soft landing spot. A place to heal. A place where he could reconnect with Darcy.

With her, as well.

Someone exited the bathroom behind her, and dropped a file in front of her as they walked away. She casually opened it and couldn't hide the wince. Her Yasha, behind a pane of glass, covered in ice crystals, frozen through and through.

The folder contained all the details of how to freeze a human being. A serum-enhanced human being. How long he could be kept under. How fast he could be brought out.

How quickly his mind would have to be wiped when he was unfrozen before it would be less effective.

She had been hoping to get some sort of lead as to where Yasha ended up. What enemy had this deadly weapon of a man in their hands? If there was some sort of path, just a crumb, she could follow it. But whoever had taken Yasha from the Red Room had been thorough, and he had disappeared without a trace.

She put the folder in her bag before draining the vodka back in one swallow.

Back to square one.

* * *

“When are you going back?” Darcy wondered, as her hand drew lazy circles over Steve's pec as they lay in the afterglow of a particularly satisfying roll in the hay.

“Day after tomorrow,” Steve sighed. “Fury's orders.”

“I'm gong to miss you,” Darcy whispered.

Steve smiled softly at her, his hand going to still hers atop his chest. He squeezed her fingers and opened his mouth to tell her that he'd miss her too. That he was only a phone call away. That the quinnjet could get him back to London in hours.  Instead he pulled on her so that she was half on top of him and kissed her soft and slow and lazy, his favorite kind of kiss.  She made that throaty purring sound that meant she was definitely up for round two.  He pulled away before things got out of hand before he could say what he wanted to say.

“I love you.”

Damn his traitorous mouth.

Darcy yanked her hand out from under his and rolled out of the bed, tracking down her scattered clothing and throwing it on quickly. She felt a panic rising up in her gut at the words Steve had whispered.

She was going to _ruin_ him.

“Sweetheart..”

“Don't,” Darcy ordered. “We're done now. I'm---we're stopping now. No questions asked.”

“Please don't do this,” Steve looked at her with very clear devastation on his face. “I can't help---”

“ This is just sex, it's just...it's just comfort!” Darcy disputed.  "We're  _ friends _ !"

“It's not just sex, and you damn well know it!” Steve clenched his jaw at her. This had been a mistake. The last 10 months had been a mistake. He should have never agreed to her terms. He should have waited until she was ready to do everything properly. But he had wanted her, he loved her...he knew that she loved him back. 

And he had needed that love so badly. He and Darcy had become fast friends and faster lovers. He clung to her in this brave new world he had woken up in, as if she were the only thing there. It had only been a matter of weeks since meeting her before he knew that she was the only important thing in his his life.

It was a lot of worth to set on one person.

"You are so much more to me than a friend," Steve shook his head in dismay.  He caught her erratic gaze, his own eyes glazed over with tears as he repeated himself, hoping it would stick this time, "I love you."

“You don't love me,” Darcy shook her head. She had used him and used him shamelessly. She was braver again. Comfortable in her own skin. She was happy with the way things were and she didn't know why they had to change. She couldn't love him back if she didn't know how to do it. “You don't!”

“You can't tell me how to feel,” Steve argued. “You're not the Black Widow.”

“Good bye, Steve,” Darcy said quietly as she tugged her shirt over her head and grabbed for her shoes.

“Will you---Stay, Darce, don't---please call me if you need me!” Steve shouted even after she slammed the door to his hotel room. He ran his hands over his face and wondered how he had managed to completely screw up the one good thing in his life so quickly. He should have just kept his mouth shut.

* * *

  
** Chapter Eight: 'Cause You Feel Like Home **

*London, 2013*

Darcy called Natasha as soon as Jane disappeared with Thor. Natasha immediately went to work with Tony and JARVIS, desperate to find some trace of Jane or Thor still on the planet.

And when shit started to go down, Natasha texted her.

_We're on our way. Hide_ .

Like that was going to happen. She was busy running around setting up the portal sticks of doom in her own attempt to save the planet. Her phone rang and she answered it without even checking.

“You're nuts if you think I'm going to run and put my head in the sand when aliens are about to destroy the universe. So save the lecture, mamma!”

“Darce?” Steve's voice came over the crackling line. “I'm on my way, about three hours out.”

“Steve...Hurry,” Darcy whispered. She wasn't above needing Captain America. It had been a few weeks since she had stormed out on Steve, and although she would never tell him, it had been a very miserable few weeks. She missed him terribly. Not just his physical presence. She missed knowing that he was just a phone call or text away. She missed sending him ridiculous pictures of her face throughout the day.

She _loved_ him. Of course she loved him. But she would never admit to it and she would never tell him. He didn't need her particular brand of poison.

“I'd really like it if you could find a safe place to hide, sweetheart,” Steve admitted. “Nat's got the right idea there.”

“ Not an option,” Darcy shook her head as she started running back to the car. “Just...just get here.  _ Please _ .”

By the time Steve got there, Thor had already brought down the hammer in spectacular fashion. Steve had barely made it three steps off of the quinjet, when Darcy had launched herself at him, his arms easily catching her as she smashed her lips inefficiently and violently against his. Steve dropped the shield in order to support her, his hands resting on her backside, squeezing happily.

“Steven! Unhand my sister!” Thor bellowed, despite being led away by a laughing Jane. “He is disrespecting the Lady Darcy in public.”

“Come on big guy,” Jane smiled at him as she pulled on his hand diligently. “I'm going to go disrespect you in private.”

* * *

Steve took Darcy home on the quinjet piloted by Clint immediately per Natasha's orders. Thor would look after Jane and Selvig and would eventually get them all back to New York City.

Steve knew that whatever Darcy had faced in England must have been bad, because she let him hold her the entire flight back, cuddling her to his chest and placing gentle kisses against her forehead. Two hours into the flight Darcy sighed and whispered,

“I'm sorry.”

“Shhh, sweetheart, it's okay,” Steve murmured against her cheek.

“I'm not good with...feelings,” Darcy admitted. “I just...I don't know what I'm doing. And I feel like I'm not being fair to you. You deserve...”

“I'm not going to stop,” Steve promised. “I won't say it until you're ready to hear it again. But I'm not going to stop loving you. I'll wait.”

“No, thats...you deserve so much more than that,” Darcy's face pinched and her chin wobbled with unshed tears. “You deserve more than me.”

“We'll agree to disagree there,” Steve furrowed his brow. “Darcy, you're everything to me, don't you know that?”

“Please don't say stuff like that,” Darcy begged, tears now streaming out of her eyes at an alarming rate. “You can't mean it. I don't know how to do what you want me to do. I---never learned the right way. I can't...I—”

“Okay, alright, I'll stop,” Steve promised quickly, though it pained him to do it. He'd do anything to stop those tears.

He'd do anything to make her happy, which was why they were currently in their messy situation. He couldn't say no to her. He couldn't deny her what she asked for. He only wanted for her to be happy. He loved her.

He didn't know what to do to get her to accept it, to accept him, but he wouldn't stop trying. He kissed her forehead, lingering there, nose nuzzling into her hair. He'd figure it out.

“You know you kissed me in front of Thor, right?” Steve questioned softly. “He's not one to---keep things quiet.”

“I couldn't help it,” Darcy sniffled defensively. “I was just so relieved. I made it through another damned alien invasion and then you were there in your star spangly suit and...”

“I'm irresistible, sweetheart, I know,” Steve said with mock seriousness, getting her to smile and snort with a small burst of laughter.

“We'll just explain it was the adrenaline and you were being a gentleman with returning my affection,” Darcy waved off the threat of being found out by her lightning brother.

Steve sighed heavily. He was a patient man. He had no doubt that Darcy would have him utilizing every last ounce of patience fighting the relationship they were already comfortably in.

"Will you  make a deal with me?" he whispered.  "It'll be part of our Christmas presents to each other."

Darcy smiled and nodded.  Steve was obviously working out the best way to say what he needed to say.  There was a little line forming between his brows as he thought hard about saying the right words.

"I promise, to try and find other things in my life to be important to me, because I think, I think part of why you're scared is that you are the ONLY thing in my life that is good," Steve nodded in agreement with himself.  "And that's a lot of pressure on you.  So I'm going to try to find other things too.  More than work.  Other friends to help so you don't feel so much pressure."

Darcy had to admit that the idea sounded nice.  She looked at him shrewdly and said, "What do you want from me in return?"

"Just...just  _ try,  _ sweetheart," Steve gave her a small smile.  "You say that you didn't learn the right way to love a person, which I disagree with, but, maybe you should talk to someone.  Someone that's not your mom, and not me.  So that you can try to realize that you can.  That you DO."

Darcy thought about his request and as the adrenaline that had been buzzing through her veins after London crashed, she had a level of clarity.  There was a reason she had jumped on Steve the moment she had laid eyes on him.  If the world was ending, the only thing she had wanted was for him to be there with her.  If she was going to take her last breath on Earth, she'd want him and her family and her friends right next to her.  She gave him a small smile and nodded slowly.

"Okay, Steve.  I'll try."

* * *

Natasha was waiting on the roof when the quinjet landed, checking Darcy over for injuries as Steve still carried her in his arms.

“I'm okay,” Darcy promised. “Told you I could get into more trouble on my own than with any of you.”

“Technically, this was Thor's fault,” Natasha smirked at her. She leaned in and kissed Darcy's cheek before looking at Steve with an arched eyebrow. “Sleep. You need rest.”

* * *

**Washington DC, 2014**

“You'll have to explain this to me again, Rumlow. How exactly did you lose the Zodiac?”

Brock Rumlow stared straight into the very pissed off face of Alexander Pierce, who had been standing outside of the cryo freeze room that the Winter Soldier was currently thawing in.

“Cap and the Widow were along, Sir,” Rumlow answered. “I couldn't get my hands on it without incapacitating one or both.”

“As if you could,” Pierce huffed. “Fine, you get Asset detail until you figure out a way to get me what I need.”

Rumlow's jaw clenched and he watched as Hydra's most powerful man stalked away. Rumlow hated Asset detail. Every damn member of the team hated asset detail.

The Winter Soldier never quite woke up on the right side of the bed.

He grabbed an electric baton and took a deep breath before he and three other men entered the cold room. Two of the guards did rock, paper, scissors and the loser groaned as he walked to the door of the cryo freeze chamber.

Four times out of every ten, the person to open the chamber door usually wound up in traction.

Two times out of every ten, the person to open the chamber door usually would up in the morgue.

This time, the person that opened the door got a metal hand wrapped around his neck.

“Bet you wished you'd but a bullet in the Widow's head now,” the other guard smirked at Rumlow.

The Winter Soldier threw the man who had opened the door across the room and stalked towards the smirking guard.

_The Widow_ .

_ Red Hair. Warm skin. _

_ A baby girl. Blue eyes. _

His brain fed him he memories he had kept safe for over two decades of mind wiping and being frozen alive. They were his. The Widow. The baby girl... _ Darcy _ .

  
  


They were his to care for. To love. To protect.

It didn't take much effort to snap a human neck with a bionic arm. Rumlow felt his eyes widen despite the calm facade he was desperately trying to maintain. He nodded ever so slightly to the other guard and simultaneously they brought up the electric batons and zapped the asset at full strength.

It wasn't enough. Two charges were never enough.

The Soldier evaded the next volley and went on the offensive, throwing the other guard who had shocked him into the wall, the satisfying sounds of bones crunching were like little fireworks in the old room.

Rumlow stood alone now. One dead, one out cold and one probably paralyzed.

He was so fucked.

“Stand down!” Pierce's voice boomed from the doorway. “We can manage this mission without you, Soldier. You won't get a chance to go chasing after your girl if we shove you back into the cold.”

The soldier huffed a breath and stood apart from Rumlow, who had the common sense to hide his obvious relief. He went to stand by Pierce, wondering just what he had meant about the Asset's  _ girl _ . If he had someone that could help control the monster, why didn't Hydra have her?

“Mission.” the asset demanded gruffly.

“There's a leader from a small nation with a lot of oil at the United Nations in six days,” Pierce told him, holding out a file. “Your mission is to kill him.”

“Mission accepted.”

* * *

The Soldier was worried that after his mission he would spend too much time and energy tracking down Darcy again. It had been quite a long time since he had seen the girl.

He'd seen to her safety by taking revenge five years ago on the waste of space that had hurt her.

He'd been in cryofreeze ever since.

He'd have to start at her university. He made immediate plans to incapacitate the two handlers that had ushered him to New York City and start the search.

He heard the giggle, the exasperated  _ Mamma!  _ , and saw the flash of red hair on the opposite side a busy street. Quickly he ducked into a small alley and watched very carefully.

His little kitten-girl was growing up to be quite a lady. As she walked down the street with Natalia by her side, he put her age at twenty-five.

She looked nearly as old as Natalia now.

Natalia, who time would not touch, whose beauty would never fade, who looked just as she had looked the last time he had kissed her goodbye. When he had told her---

His girls met up with a large imposing man at the end of the block, along with a smaller, but no less sinister man. Little Darcy linked her arm through the large man's and they began walking down the city block together, his baby girl chattering away happily at the man in a way he hadn't seen her do since their time in Russia, staring up at her companion with big blue eyes full of happiness and adoration.

She was in love.

With that big, tall punk.

Yasha felt a buzzing at the back of his skull and he almost hissed at the intensity of it, as something tried to climb its way into his skull. He blinked his eyes and focused on Natalia, who walked side by side with the smaller man who had the gaze of a sharp shooter, looking around as if he were assessing for constant threats.

Natalia looked only at Darcy though, a fond smile on her face.

Once, the smaller man brushed his hand against Natalia's and she only rolled her eyes at him in some approximation of fondness before continuing on with no other interaction.

Yasha couldn't dwell, they were almost out of his line of sight and he had gotten what he wanted. Following them would be dangerous in such a city, where there were now surveillance cameras at every intersection.

They were safe. That was all that mattered. The fact that they had found each other again made something resembling warmth bloom in his chest. It was right that Darcy should have her mother again and that Natalia should have the girl that had brought them both such joy.

They were safe. It was good enough.

* * *

** Chapter Nine: Let Go of All Our Ghosts **

*Washington DC 2014*

“Hey Sweetheart, you coming down to visit me this weekend?” Steve smiled as he held his phone to his ear, juggling with his keys. He could hear Darcy tapping away at a keyboard rapidly and he asked cautiously, “Are you behaving? Maria Hill told me to give you a message.”

“If it's _stop_ you can save it,” Darcy snorted on the other end of the line. Hill had been telling her to stop for the last three years, practically. She was close though. She could tell. The string of assassinations were starting to add up to something real. To a location.

Yasha may be in the United States.

He might be close.

“And yes, I will be coming down this weekend, and if you can manage to make ONE friend that I get to meet that isn't my mother, I will be so impressed with you,” Darcy promised.

“I have friends,” Steve scoffed at her as he made his way through his apartment, shedding clothing as he went.

“Those assholes on STRIKE don't count,” Darcy disputed. “They barely count as being humans.”

Darcy couldn't help but push at Steve. He had promised he would try to work his way into the modern world without her being his only touchstone. He had begrudgingly moved to DC two months ago to do more work for SHIELD, and since he had, the only human contact he got was through work, Natasha or Darcy. And Darcy was actively trying  _ not  _ to be the only important thing in Steve's life.

She'd finally admitted that she was important to him.

But she couldn't be the _only_ important thing. He knew that too. He'd promised to work on it, just as she'd promised to talk to someone. Somehow, he didn't agree that JARVIS counted as someone.

So she badgered him about making friends to deflect, and Natasha badgered him about going on dates when around other people for the fun of it.  Steve was barely amused anymore about being badgered at that point. Darcy was damned lucky that he was in love with her, or else he might not have thought her actions were adorable.

“I'll have you know that I met a friend when I went for my run yesterday. We had a conversation, and he gave me something to add to my list,” Steve peevishly told her.

“Oh, what did mystery friend put on the list?” Darcy wondered.

“Uhm, Marvin Gaye, Trouble Man soundtrack,” Steve read off his little book before tossing it on his bedside table. He had been picked up by Natasha yesterday morning and had been going nonstop for forty-eight hours at that point. All he wanted to do was talk with his girl and fall asleep to the sound of her voice.

“I approve of this mystery running friend,” Darcy hummed over the phone.

“He works at the VA, as a counselor,” Steve told her. “His name is Sam.”

“I heartily approve, you should ask him out on a man-date,” Darcy closed her laptop and placed it on her bedside table. “So, my mother told me you jumped from a plane without a parachute.”

“Shit,” Steve wrinkled his nose in annoyance.

“ I was going to offer you steamy phone sex,” Darcy sighed heavily. “Like...super steamy kinky phone sex. But seeing as you jumped out of a mother fucking plane without a mother fucking parachute, I'm going to instead, read this thing I printed out today...it's  _ Miss Betty Wert's Guide to Morals for the Modern 1930's Young Lady _ .”

“Sweetheart, no,” Steve grumbled as she read on regardless. He smiled. Didn't matter what she was doing, he was just happy to hear her. And in a few days, she'd be making her bi-monthly visit to his place. Then he'd be able to hear her, see her and show her a thing or two about ruining a young lady's morals.

All would be right in his world, then.

* * *

“Mission accomplished.”

Pierce nodded and watched as the Asset twitched in front of him. He knew that after killing Fury, the one thing the Winter Soldier actually  _ wanted  _ to do was go on a search for his girl. It was probably easier for him to do with an out of town mission. Since they were all in DC at the moment, it was harder for the Asset to make a clean getaway.

Pierce looked down at the folder in his hand. One of his intel specialists had intercepted a high clearance SHIELD memo from Deputy Director Hill meant only for two peoples' eyes, stating that a person with the codename  _ Latrodectus infans  _ was to receive more stringent firewalls to stop the subject from infiltrating sensitive material.

Sensitive material related to a soldier with a metal arm.

It hadn't take long for Pierce to crack the code.

The Black Widow's Child.

There was only one person who fit the bill, who was constantly in contact with the Black Widow since 2009. The match on the facial recognition program between Darcy Lewis and the picture they had of the baby from Russia in 1992 was in the 96th percentile.

Pierce gave the twitching Asset the closest thing he had to a reassuring smile. The Soldier shouldn't worry about finding his girl.

They would bring her to him.

* * *

“What's going on? Where are you guys?” Darcy demanded, shouting into the phone. She had just arrived at her bi-monthly weekend visit to DC and Steve was decidedly not there to meet her. What was waiting to meet her was yellow police tape and stains of what she prayed wasn't Steve's blood. “Steve's apartment is a wreck, the news is saying that he's public enemy number one and...”

“We're at Steve's friend's house,” Natasha told her. She knew who had shot at Fury. She knew that Darcy was the exact opposite of safe at that moment. She used all of her conviction and powers of persuasion on her next words to her daughter, “I want you to hide.”

“You always want me to hide,” Darcy sighed. “Ian is in town interviewing for a masters program, I'm supposed to meet with him tomorrow.”

“ _Kitten_ , you need to do this for me,” Natasha gently ordered her. She only used that stern voice when she really meant it. She had used it many times when Darcy was a baby, and had only used it a handful of times in the last five years. Darcy _usually_ obeyed. “Get to the closest safe house.”

“Fine,” Darcy huffed. “Is Steve with you?”

“Hold on...”

Darcy could practically hear her mother's smirk over the line. She rolled her eyes in annoyance before Steve was on the line, his voice tense and hopeful.

“Sweetheart? Please, please just go to the safe house. We'll come for you when this has blown over.”

“Please be careful,” Darcy mumbled. “I---I...”

“I love you,” Steve whispered, unintentionally finishing the words that Darcy was struggling to push out. “Go to the safe house.”

Darcy ended the call and went to pack a bag, picking her things out of Steve's apartment and taking a few things he might want as well. Sketchbooks...pictures...Bucky's purple heart. She shouldered the now heavy bag and made her way to the door, opening it to see Ian with his hand up, ready to knock.

“What are you doing here?” she asked warily. She had never told Ian about Steve's place. She had never even told Ian about Steve. They weren't the kind of close friends that shared intimate details about each other. They were more the kind of _hey we saved the world together, lets get lunch if we're in the same country_ kind of friends.

“You're important,” Ian said quietly. “You're more than Jane Foster's lab assistant. Even more than than Captain America's whore. Why did your computer perform a search for a man with a metal arm?”

“ What?” Darcy whispered, her hands feeling cold all of a sudden as she stared at the man she had previously though inept and harmless. He looked calculating and vicious now.  _ Cruel _ .

“Hydra has many uses for you. You will help control the asset.”

“What in the actual fuck?” Darcy asked lowly. Ian made a grab for her, and all of Natasha's prior training settled into her bones easily, as if she were just throwing on a jacket. The heavy bag at her shoulders connected with Ian's head, pushing him into the door as she kneed him in the balls and pushed him to the ground. She jumped over his curled up body while going for her upgraded taser, a mix of Stark and Asgardian tech that could zap someone without the leads and could recharge nearly instantly.

She didn't get a chance to shoot it however, as a silenced gunshot made a muffled pop and went right through Ian's skull. Darcy looked to the stairwell and took a deep breath when she realized it was Maria Hill.

“You're in trouble,” Maria acknowledged. “This won't be the first that they send after you. I thought I told you to stop poking around the KGB. It was only a matter of time before someone unfriendly found you.”

“ He said  _ Hydra _ ,” Darcy distanced herself from the former intern's intern.

“Yeah, there's a problem,” Maria nodded. “Come on, let's go. We have somewhere safe set up. Oh---before we go, under no circumstances are you allowed to bother Fury in your usual wicked ways while he is recuperating.”

“Maria, you always spoil all of my fun.”

* * *

The asset was wiped once more. He was no longer asking questions about the man on the bridge. The man he couldn't kill. The mission he had failed.

Pierce stood in front of the blank slate of his freshly loaded human gun and held up a picture. Red Hair. Laughing baby. He knew them. Philadelphia. No...now it was New York City. She was safe. Natalia had seen to that for him.

He had hurt Natalia. Again.

It could have been worse. She might have not survived if he had left her to the others. He had a clear shot. Like before, he aimed carefully, sure that she could recover.

“Your girl is in danger,” Pierce warned. He held up another picture, expertly doctored, showing a grown Darcy Lewis in the grip of an angry Captain America. “Your mission is to kill this man, so that Darcy can be safe.”

Something wasn't right.

Darcy had been safe. She had been with Natalia and she was safe.

And that man...he wasn't a danger. That man was familiar. He was _safety_ made into a human.

“Do you really want your daughter to be hurt again?” Pierce prodded. He held up another picture, this one taken of Darcy in 2009 after her assault. The pale skin of her neck made even more snow white by the finger shaped bruises ringing around her flesh. “Your mission is to kill this man.”

James nodded. The memory of the man on the bridge was nearly gone. It had not been safeguarded in his mind from the start. With Natalia and the kitten, he had been prepared for what Hydra would do to him, he had protected those memories. Every time he woke they were there, barely buried.

The man in the red white and blue in the picture only caused a slight buzzing at the base of his skull now, unlike before the wipe, when it was much more powerful, when it told him that the man had been important, that he  _ knew  _ him. The faint buzz was easily written over at the sight of the girl in the picture. She was distressed. She was in pain. She wasn't safe.

He had to keep her safe.

“Mission accepted.”

* * *

“I told you to go to the safe house,” Natasha grumbled at Darcy in the underground, makeshift facility, while the doctor worked at her bullet wound.

“ Hydra had other ideas for me,” Darcy said quietly. “Ian said...that I would help control the  _ asset _ .”

Natasha sighed as the doctor finished bandaging her up before he left the room to go check on Fury and his preparations to be shot up with pain killers in order to leave his death bed.

“I kissed your boyfriend,” Natasha said quietly. “I don't know what you see in him. It was like kissing a dead fish.”

“MAMMA!” Darcy hissed at her.

“It probably saved our lives at the time though,” Natasha smirked at her. “Also, if you still wanted to keep your relationship better hidden, it might be wise for him to play along when I try to set him up on dates. Especially in front of Rumlow.”

“You're so depraved,” Darcy sighed. “It's not a relationship. We're just---hey, stop changing the subject! Is Yasha the asset? Is he the Winter Soldier who attacked you guys?”

Natasha only nodded her head once, and just barely.

“There is more, kitten,” she said softly. She watched as Sam walked into the facility without Steve. “Yasha's name, his real name, is James Buchanan Barnes.”

Darcy opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come out.

_Bucky_ .

_Yasha_ .

_ The Winter Soldier. _

They were all the same person. The stories Steve had told her about his cocky, confident best friend were actually stories about the man she called Pappa.

She really should have asked to see a picture of the man Steve talked about so much. She should have asked years ago. He would have helped her look, they would have both had the man that was so important to the both of them in very different ways.

“Does Steve know?” she whispered.

Natasha shook her head.

“Should he?” Darcy wondered. “I mean...it would help. Yasha would recognize me.”

“Darcy, he didn't recognize me this time,” Natasha gestured to the recently patched up bullet hole.

“Steve wouldn't hurt Bucky,” Darcy insisted. “He's the most important person in the world to Steve.”

Natasha smiled at her sadly. Darcy had come a long way in her relationship with Steve, but she still had a long way to go if she thought for one second that anyone was more important to Steve than her.

“Okay, anyway, your plan for the helicarriers,” Darcy changed the subject.

“ How do you--- _ Barton _ ,” Natasha sighed. “He taught you to read lips?”

“Of course,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “I only have one suggestion. A small addendum really.”

“Does it involve you staying here?” Natasha wondered.

“Not really,” Darcy shrugged.

“Then, NO,” Natasha heaved a put upon sigh.

“Headquarters has a staff of over a hundred civilians at any given point in time. Cafeteria workers, janitors, people who make minimum wage and have no ties to Shield,” Darcy said resolutely. “I've made friends with those people over the years. They need to get out of the building before you and Steve blow it up.”

“We don't plan on blowing the building up, kitten,” Natasha promised her. She smirked at Darcy's very unimpressed raised eyebrow, an expression she had learned from an early age. The eyebrow was all Natalia, but the pinched downturn of her lips was all Yasha. “We'll have someone on it.”

* * *

Steve kissed Darcy goodbye in full view of everyone. Not a peck on the cheek. He pulled her into his arms and laid one on her, a full blown, swooning in his arms kiss with a fully suited up Captain America.

“Come back to me safe,” Darcy whispered in his ear. She watched as he walked away into the Virginia wetlands with Sam and Maria. She turned back to the facility which only had the doctor that had treated Fury and Natasha in it. She missed the medical staff back at the tower. She could have gotten Dr. Turk and Dr. Dorian to help her, so long as she let them wear their ridiculous giant doctor coat while they did it.

She nodded to herself before heading to the nearest car, cracking her knuckles and willing to brush off her old hot wiring skills that she hadn't needed since New Mexico. She had ten or fifteen minutes to make sure the support staff was clear of the facility before Steve started doing any real damage.

She heard his speech as the last cafeteria worker hugged her after they walked out of side exit. She looked up at the building and took a deep breath, knowing she'd just be a liability if she hung around. And she definitely didn't want to deal with Steve or her mother's disappointment if they caught her there. She was running for the car in no time hopping in and starting it.

“She _knew_ you wouldn't stay put. But I just lost twenty bucks to her, I thought you'd stick around. ”

“FUCKING FUCK BALLS!” Darcy yelled, looking to the backseat and glaring at a smirking Clint.

“Thanks for clearing the civilians for me. I was a little caught up,” Clint smiled at her.

“Shouldn't you go up and help them?” Darcy wondered as she put the gas pedal to the floor and sped away.

“My only way to help them is to keep you alive, Natasha's orders,” Clint advised, he picked up his bow and arrow and leaned out the window, nonchalantly letting an arrow fly at the Shield car that had begun to follow them. “I heard its not going to be easy, since you know, you're shit at taking direction.”

“You're shit at—-you're shit,” Darcy finished lamely.

“Just drive, mini-Widow,” Clint advised. “I'm assuming your mother taught you evasive maneuvers.”

“Actually, Dr. Selvig did,” Darcy answered. “We were bored in the desert with a giant RV. Only flipped it over the once though.”

* * *

_'Til the end of the line_ .

A dam had broken at those words. The buzzing in his brain detonated and he felt a stabbing pain in his head as he realized the broken and beaten man at his mercy was so much more than a mission.

And he was more than an asset. More than the Winter Soldier. More than Yasha.

So many things were suddenly set loose in his mind that he was having trouble keeping track of things. For over twenty years, it had been almost easy. Red hair, soft skin. Baby girl, blue eyes. Now those memories were shoulder to shoulder with a small sickly man turned into a super soldier.

“ _ You can't treat girls like you do, Buck. I mean, they aren't toys. They're people.” _

_ Bucky shipped out to basic training in two weeks, he was bound and determined to head out with as much fun under his belt as he could. He looked down at his best friend with a trademark smirk, _

“ _ What would you know about treating a dame right, punk? You might as well take up the collar and join the priesthood, all pure and virginal as the driven snow.” _

“ _ Shut up, jerk,” Steve rolled his eyes at him. “I know that if I ever get lucky enough to find a girl to take me on, I would treat her right. Be good to her, make sure she knew that she was important.” _

“ _ I let girls know they're important,” Bucky laughed. He gave Steve a wink and an over-exaggerated, jaunty two fingered salute, “When you have the chance make sure you know they're important first before you even try to think about yourself being important.” _

_ Steve blushed as Bucky wiggled his index and middle finger at him. _

“ _ That's somebody's daughter you're talking about that way,” Steve rolled his eyes. “You'd kill a guy for talking about your baby sister like that.” _

“ _ I don't know about killing a guy. I definitely took some enjoyment outta lighting that one on fire though.” _

James dove after Steve with no hesitation, pulling him ashore as a few synapses in his brain made the necessary connections. Darcy. Steve. Together. He looked down at the man who used to call him his best pal and he took some reassurance that the wounds on his face were already starting to heal. He'd be fine.

Hydra knew about Darcy, now.  But she would be safe with Steve. And while she was safe, he'd make sure there was nothing left of Hydra. He'd burn every last one of them to the ground.

* * *

Darcy decided that she liked Sam Wilson. He had balls of steel.

He had gently shoved her out of Steve's hospital room five hours ago and told her to shower and nap for at least four hours before she came back. Clint had been her personal bodyguard since the fall of the Triskelion and had ushered her to a semi-decent motel room close by, locking her in the room and refusing to let her out until the five hours were up. After five hours and one minute, she began pounding on the door obnoxiously, demanding that it was time for the prisoners to have their yard time.

“Your boyfriend's new boyfriend says we can't go back to the hospital yet,” Clint advised her.

“Why? I showered. I napped,” Darcy disputed. She really wanted to get back to Steve. He was bound to be awake soon.

“They had to rebreak Steve's ribs, they weren't set properly. He'll be out for another four hours at least,” Clint revealed as delicately as he could. “The recovery isn't pretty though.”

He decided not to reiterate Sam's disturbing description of the sounds Steve's mending bones and muscles were making as his body worked overtime to heal what had happened to him at the hands of the Winter Soldier.

“I can't sleep...I'll just—-”

“Let's go to the Smithsonian exhibit,” Clint suggested. “I know you haven't been yet. It closes in about an hour, so it shouldn't be too busy.”

“Okay,” Darcy agreed immediately. She hadn't seen it, and she was eager to see every aspect there was of James Buchanan Barnes.

The exhibit wasn't too crowded. People were probably still trying to catch up with all the news about Captain America from the last forty-eight hours. There would definitely be a crowd over the next few weeks and months, as the world learned more about what had happened with Shield.

Darcy wandered around the exhibit while Clint took the most advantageous spot in the large room, his hand on his gun, ready to defend Darcy in a heartbeat.

Darcy lingered next to the moving hologram of tiny Steve Rogers and actually smiled when she realized that if he were still his old self, they would be at eye level with one another. She looked around carefully before leaning in and kissing the hologram's cheek before it turned into Captain-sized Steve and she found that she was kissing his heart instead.

She pulled away with a blush and looked up at the image of Steve intently. He was going to be okay. He was going to pull through this. And then she was going to find the right words to tell him. That she knew he loved her, and that she was going to work on believing that she deserved it. And she was going to figure out a way to tell him that she loved him too.

And then they were going to find her father. His best friend.

She turned and walked towards the panel with Bucky Barnes' face on it and even from afar, she was stunned to see just how little he had changed in the span of fifty years between the picture and when she had known him. There was another man standing in front of the display, his back to Darcy as he stared at the picture of her adoptive father.

She watched him walk away slowly and furrowed her brow at the sight of his profile.

She knew that chin.

He was faster than her realization though, and she rushed to catch up to him, running past Clint and heading towards the side exit he had taken.

“ Yasha!” she yelled out, spinning around, desperate to catch a glimpse of him. For him to catch a glimpse of  _ her _ . He had disappeared into thin air.

He had always been better at hiding than she had been.

“What the hell, Lewis?!” Clint stomped out behind her, his gun drawn as he looked around the area for threats.

“He was here,” Darcy said quietly. “He was right here.”

“Who?”

“My Dad.”

* * *

Natasha, Steve and Sam watched as Fury walked away from his own grave. Natasha handed Steve the file she had been compiling on Yasha over the past year and gave Steve a rare soft smile.

“Will you do me a favor?” She asked. “I need someone to watch over Darcy.”

“Clint?” Steve suggested.  The archer had done a wonderful job of keeping her safe since the fall of SHIELD.  Steve definitely owed him one.

“All of our covers are blown, Steve. A lot of nastiness is about to find me and Clint in the next few months,” Natasha said honestly. Also, while Steve and Darcy were searching on one end of the globe, Natasha would be searching on the other end. They would find him. She could see Steve's small amount of hesitance and arched an eyebrow at him, “I know you're going after him, but you and Sam aren't going to be able to do it alone. Darcy speaks seven languages and is almost as good with a computer as I am.”

“She won't be safe,” Steve shook his head slowly, although he cold even hear that his argument was weak. He wanted her with him. He needed the comfort only she could provide.

“She's never been safer than when she's with you,” Natasha turned and watched as Darcy stood with Clint twenty-feet away, doing a complicated series of handshakes and fist-bumps.

Her reasons for wanting Darcy with Steve were many. There really wasn't a safer place on Earth for her girl than with Captain America. Steve would protect her like a bull-dog. Sam wasn't too shabby either. And if Steve got close to James, got even in the same vicinity and James got a look at Darcy...

He might remember.

He might come in on his own.

They weren't telling Steve that Darcy called the Winter Soldier her pappa. Not yet. Natasha had made Darcy promise that she wouldn't tell him until James was recovered. Of course, with her track record of promises broken in the last few years, Natasha was sure that Steve would know sooner rather than later. And Darcy hadn't been too keen on keeping it a secret from Steve. She definitely didn't take after her mother when it came to the safeguarding secrets.

Darcy grabbed a bag from Clint's car before walking towards Natasha and the soldiers. She smiled at Steve, big and beaming before sticking her tongue out at Sam playfully.

“Road trip!” Darcy grinned. “Let's go find the best burgers and fries on the planet, Colonel States.”

“Be careful, kitten,” Natasha reached for her and gave her a long, lingering hug. “If you're in danger...”

“ I know, I know.  _ Hide _ ,” Darcy rolled her eyes. She smiled as Steve and Sam gave the two of them some space to say their goodbyes. “You know, one of these days you're going to realize that the most trouble in my life has come from the life of regular old Darcy Lewis and not your world of super spysassins and superheroes.”

“If you need me, call, and I will come to you,” Natasha promised, pulling her into a strong armed embrace.

“I know, mamma,” Darcy whispered. “Love you. I'm going to bring him back. And we're going to be a family again.”

  
  
  


 


	18. The Widow's Girl (2/2)

 

* * *

** Chapter Ten: I Can't Face Your Breaking Heart **

*Barcelona, 2014*

“Found you.”

Natasha rolled her eyes as she stepped into her hotel room, a smirking Clint reclining in her bed, tooling around with his bow and arrow.

“You get away from that Hive Syndicate?” she questioned. “Because if you're being tailed like you were a few weeks ago, I'm giving you to them and walking away unscathed.”

“It was a scratch,” Clint waved her off. “Not like your Soldier didn't do worse to you.”

And there it was.

She and Clint had gone their separate ways after DC. The only thing worse than having everyone you ever double crossed tracking you down was multiplying that number by two. They'd met up a few times, but had been too busy saving each others' lives to split hairs over who and what the Winter Soldier was.

“He's not the same man I knew,” Natasha said softly.

“But you're looking for him,” Clint nodded.

“I am.”

“For Darcy?” Clint began methodically reassembling his bow. “Or because you still love him...”

“The man I knew is not there anymore,” Natasha crossed her arms in front of her defensively.

“But you want him to be,” Clint guessed.

“ Would I want the man that Darcy calls her father back to how he was? Of course I would,” she spat out. “What do you want me to say here, Clint? That if he were the man I knew, that I would still want him? Or that I would walk away from him for you? What do you want to hear? I don't have answers for you because I don't know them myself.  Yasha  _ never  _ remembered me. He's out there and he doesn't remember me again.  Does that make you feel better?”

Clint's jaw ticked as he eased off of the bed. He walked to the window and carefully aimed, letting one arrow fly to take out the poorly hidden sniper from the Blue Dice gang that had been tailing him for a week. He turned and grabbed a file he had on her desk and threw it on the bed.

“Coulson dug up some stuff for you. The path your soldier took,” he sighed. “You say you have a lot of red in your ledger. This guy is---it's beyond anything I've ever seen before.”

He grabbed his things and quickly disassembled his bow before walking for the door.

“Just...don't get your hopes up too high that you can bring him back from all of that.”

* * *

*Switzerland, 2014*

Sam Wilson was about at his limit of the Darcy and Steve Sex-athon of 2014.

Sure, he got it, on _both_ sides of the coin. Darcy was a gorgeous little busty thing with a mouth that was like a sin and a booty that didn't quit. And Steve Rogers, well, any heterosexual man would admit that Steve Rogers was a modern day miracle of epic hotness proportions. And Sam was way more bisexual than heterosexual, so he _definitely_ understood why Darcy would attach herself like a leech to him at random points during the day.

But still, they didn't have to be so damned loud about it. Especially when he was on a three week dry spell after having such a lucky streak in France.

“I'm heading out before you do that thing with your tongue that she likes so much!” Sam announced loudly, slamming the door behind him.

Darcy laughed as she felt Steve's cheeks heat up against her thighs with his embarrassed blush.

“Next time, separate hotel rooms,” he mumbled. “No more shared suites.”

“I don't know how I feel about having a separate hotel room from you. I mean, what if you decide you like Sammy more than me?” Darcy's giggling turned into yelps as Steve purposefully tickled the inside of her thigh before gripping them in his hands and doing that thing with his tongue that she really did like a lot.

While she usually would happily indulge him (and herself) and let him go down on her for as long as he liked (it was a really long time, she suspected it was a bit of a kink of his), she had other plans and pushed him away from his pleasant task after her first orgasm, chuckling when he pouted.

“C'mere,” she pulled at his shoulders, and he slid up her body, blanketing her with his bare skin. She kissed him as she hitched her legs low around his waist, crooning when he rubbed his hard length against her core.

“We have to be quick...Sam will be back and he hates seeing my bare ass,” Steve smiled against her throat.

“He has terrible taste,” Darcy sighed as Steve slowly sunk himself into her. She grabbed two patriotic handfuls of said glorious backside and giggled, “Your ass is my favorite ass.”

“ Happy to hear it,” Steve managed to rasp out as he fully sheathed himself inside of her. After the events of the Triskelion, Darcy had been the one to suggest trusting her Betty Ross designed birth control. It had been the moment after the doctor had released him from the hospital, and she had wasted no time in sequestering him in the backseat of the car where they had engaged in very happy, very enthusiastic  _ I'm so glad you're alive  _ sex that couldn't wait until they got back to the motel where the condoms and bed were.

Betty Ross deserved a Nobel Prize, because Darcy's baby maker was blissfully unoccupied AND her skin was clearer too.

And Darcy quickly realized the effect condom-free sex had on Steve after he had inadvertently pinned her to the backseat of that car beneath him.

Every time was fantastically identical. After enthusiastically driving her to her orgasm, he would lose absolute control of the rhythm of his hips, desperately trying to get deeper within her before completely detonating with his orgasm. And then with a kiss of her nose, and collapsing to the bed beside her, he would completely lose all consciousness for at least an hour, dead to the world.

“Right there, baby, right there,” Darcy gasped, as he lifted her right leg high, her ankle resting on his shoulder, as he pounded into her relentlessly. She fluttered around him and let out a broken cry of pleasure.

And on cue, his rhythm faltered in his previously meticulous pistoning and he pressed hard against her with his hips, choking out a gasp as she clenched around him.

“Love you,” he whispered in the middle of his high, as more of his weight eased on top of her. He groaned as he pulled away from her, rolling on his back, but not before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to lay half on top of him. A sloppy, sleepy kiss landed half on her lips, half on her chin and then his eyes fluttered closed and he was out like a light.

Yeah. She was  _ that  _ good.

She grimaced as she realized that he had her in vice like grip which she had to wriggle her way out of. It took five minutes, but eventually she managed to get off the bed with wobbly, pleasure heavy legs, heading to the bathroom to clean up and change.

She knew it was probably wrong to use the magic powers of her lady cave to knock Captain America unconscious, but she needed to make sure she could get out of the hotel and keep on with her plan of drawing Yasha out.

It was a simple plan, really.

Yasha's last interaction with her was borne from needing to protect her.

So brilliant girl that she was, she had went about putting herself in danger in every city they had currently been in.

Tonight, it was wandering away from the hotel towards a busy roadway and walking perilously close to the traffic. So far in her worldwide travels with Sam and Steve she had almost been mugged three times, nearly gotten into five bar brawls, and sat at the edge of a two-hundred and fifty foot high rooftop.

She was sure that if Yasha was there, and if her life were in danger, he would come to rescue her. She was absolutely positive of it. He was her father in every way that mattered. He would protect her.

She purposefully took one step closer to the road where a large truck was zooming by, ignoring the blaring honk she got in response. She smiled and waved at the trucker before meandering further down the road.

She had not been expecting getting swept off of her feet.

“What are you doing, Lewis?” Sam demanded gruffly as he flew her to the pedestrian walkway below the overpass. He didn't wait for a response as he held his comm to his ear and said, “I got her. We're on shit, I can't read that street sign, it's got like eighteen consonants and two vowels. We're three blocks north and two blocks west from the hotel.”

“Fuck,” Darcy hissed as she realized Sam was talking with Steve over the comms.

“You are in so much trouble, little lady,” Sam smirked at her. “You don't think we didn't realize what you were doing? I've come back to the hotels how many times in the last two months to see Steve passed out, buck nude and you were nowhere to be found. I thought your mother would have taught you to cover your tracks better than that.”

Darcy frowned at him as passionately as she could, crossing her arms in front of herself. It didn't take Steve long to make it to them, fully and hastily clothed, his hair still as mussed as she had left it in bed less than an hour ago. He had his shield in hand and a stern look on his face.

“Explain what you think you're doing, sweetheart,” Steve gave a long suffering sigh.

“Well---okay,” Darcy fidgeted and took a deep breath. Time to put all her cards on the table. She would never lie to Steve's face. Her mother would have to understand. “Bucky is my adoptive father. The last time I ever talked to him, he was rescuing me, so logically I thought that he might try to do it again?”

“Very logical,” Sam rolled his eyes.

“ Bucky is---he's...” Steve's eyes widened comically. “ _ WHAT?” _

“ Yasha trained Talia through the years, and he was in the Red Room when I was abandoned there,” Darcy explained quickly. “And he and Talia raised me for a year, before they thought I would be made into a tiny little murdering mini-widow and so he brought me to America to be safe, and there were a bunch of times I think he watched over me, and one definite time where he saved me. And he's...he's my  _ father _ , he's the only one I've ever known.”

“I---but he's, how did he---”

“You broke him,” Sam shook his head at Steve, as he tried to sputter out words, his face slack with disbelief.

“He remembers you?” Steve furrowed his brow, managing a full sentence. “After the memory modifications?”

“I think so,” Darcy nodded. He was upset with her. She could tell. That wouldn't do. She grabbed Steve's free arm, cuddling against him before going on her tip toes and kissing a still shocked Steve's mouth. She persisted until he shook himself out of his stupor and returned the kiss. She pulled away with an all too easy grin and looked around before saying quietly, “We should probably talk about this more back at the hotel. And you know---maybe draw up some better plans to draw him out using me as bait.”

“Why didn't you tell me right away?” Steve furrowed his brow at her.

“Talia made me promise not to,” Darcy admitted. “And I felt terrible keeping it from you. I never wanted to lie to you and please don't be mad at me for that...please Steve...”

“I'm not mad at you,” Steve shook his head, kissing her forehead quickly. “I'm disappointed.”

“That's so much worse,” Darcy pouted. “Okay, be mad and then we can have makeup sex instead.”

“Smooth,” Sam rolled his eyes. “Maybe you'll stop sexing Captain America into a coma if you can draw Bucky Barnes back home.”

“Oh god,” Steve whispered, a look of panic coming over his face. He remembered Bucky defending his younger sister Rebecca from overzealous suitors when she was sixteen. He had been like an over protective maniac, hounding the boys who would come to court and woo her.

He had lit one of the boy's pants on fire. And tied another one up on the highest ladder of the fire escape of their apartment building. And that was nothing compared to what he did to the boy who had the audacity to kiss his sister (never mind that said boy wound up marrying Rebecca).

And now Bucky had a _daughter_ to look after. A daughter that Steve regularly and thoroughly defiled out of wedlock. They weren't even _technically_ dating.

“He's going to kill me,” Steve muttered, slowly trying to reclaim some personal space from Darcy, who had cuddled against his arm as a precursor to an apology. “He's really going to kill me now.”

* * *

James watched from the roof of a nearby apartment building, the sniper rifle on his shoulder as he moved not one inch. The man with the wings had brought Darcy out of danger, although James knew the girl had balance and was only playing at being reckless. That was one of the first skills Natalia had taught her. Balance was everything. She would have been fine.

Just like she would have been fine every other time she had foolishly put herself in danger.

But there was one thing he wasn't sure about.

He watched as the man from the--- _Steve_ came stomping up to Darcy with his shield in hand.

James resisted the urge to aim the rifle between Steve's eyes.

They spoke together, Darcy with her hand gestures and big blue eyes widening as she explained.

She wasn't in danger from Steve. Steve was a good man. He wasn't the enemy.

Darcy wrapped her arm in Steve's and then kissed him. And kissed him and kissed him until Steve kissed her back.

_Bucky_ , not James, not the Winter Soldier, not Yasha, had the rifle aimed again in no time.

“Punk,” he whispered as they walked away. He shook his head as Steve wrapped a big arm around Darcy's shoulders and walked through the streets back to their hotel. Of all the girls on the planet, Steve had managed to find the one girl that James considered his daughter.

“Fucking punk.”

* * *

  
  


  
  
  
  


** Chapter Eleven: You're the Right Kind of Madness **

** ** ** Switzerland, 2014**

Darcy wanted to take back all the nice things she had ever thought about Sam Wilson.

He was an annoying pain in the ass, was what he was.

“So, how are you feeling today?”

His shit eating smile as they sat on some old crumbly steps was irritating and she gave him her best fierce scowl in response. He laughed which only made it worse.

She had asked him a week into their travels if he'd talk some things out with her, to utilize his counseling skills as she tried to work on all the little emotional pits and traps she had placed around her heart all of her life. He'd agreed whole-heartedly and promised that everything would stay completely confidential. And he had also told her it would be hard and exhausting work, and that some talks they shared wouldn't be pretty.

Most of the talks they shared weren't pretty, it turned out. But each mentally draining session had her feeling a little different. Not better. But more clear. Stronger. Less fractured.

Since she had told him and Steve about Bucky's ties to her own life, Sam had been drawing more and more out of her with their little sessions.

Apparently, spending a few weeks throwing yourself into danger while your sort of boyfriend slept off his sexhaustion threw up some red flags for the guy who dealt with PTSD every day. Steve and Sam were concerned about her actions. While Steve simply made sure that he watched her like a hawk as often as possible, Sam was a grown up who knew how to do feelings and stuff.

So he actually wanted to talk to her about whether she had a death wish or not.

“It was just a plan to bring him back,” Darcy repeated for what felt like the millionth time in the last month. “I get to do the sex with Captain America, why on Earth would I have a death wish?”

“Because of the shit that happened to you in the past,” Sam gave her a level look of gut punching honesty. He didn't have much time. Steve had gone off in search of food for them, and it was the perfect opportunity to get Darcy to open up and be honest with him. They were about to have a breakthrough. He knew it. She just needed to be strong enough for a few more pushes.

“You don't know my life, Sam,” Darcy shook her head, biting down on her lip.

“Okay, here's what I know, what you've shared with me,” Sam nodded. “You call the Black Widow your mother, you call the Winter Soldier your father. You were torn away from them BY THEM at a very early and impressionable age and thrown into the life of an orphan on a completely different continent.  You were a victim of the system for the rest of your life, and when you went away to school to make a better life for yourself, you were sexually assaulted.  And ever since then, its been aliens, and espionage and more aliens.”

Darcy fidgeted and she pulled her knees up to her chest as she looked down the cobblestone streets for Steve, wishing that she could make him hurry so he'd stop Sam from trying to actively make her cry and face her feelings. Of all the people to befriend in DC, Steve had to find the kindest one who actually wanted to help her, even if it was a painful process. She'd signed up for it. She had to put in the work.

“So, what you're saying is I have abandonment issues and emotional trauma?” Darcy tried to joke.

“I think you have more than abandonment issues,” Sam sighed. “You know, I've been your travel buddy for a few months now. I know what you and Steve have together. But I have questions. Why don't you call Steve your boyfriend?”

Silence.

  
  


“Why does he always pause when he's about to call you his girl?” Sam continued. “Why does he get this look on his face like he fucked up whenever he tells you he loves you?”

“Because I asked him not to,” Darcy whispered.

“He seems like he's doing a pretty great job of loving you,” Sam shrugged. “You seem to be doing a damned fine job of loving him back.”

“No, I'm not.  I can't say it to him.  He deserves to know,” Darcy shook her head. She looked at Sam for the first time since they had taken a seat to wait for Steve. “I'm still waiting for him to realize I'm not worth the trouble. That I'm so messed up and broken that it would be easier to move on.”

“Oh honey,” Sam sighed. “I understand that you feel that way, but I want you to know that's never going to happen.”

“But what if it does? What would I do without him?” Darcy wondered.

“You don't have to worry about that. What you have to worry about is talking. I want to talk about this stuff with you. Every damned day until we find your dad and then after that,” Sam insisted. “Did you ever talk to anyone? Any counselors or therapists after you were assaulted?”

“Talia took me away,” Darcy shook her head. “She made me strong.”

“And that wasn't a bad thing to do,” Sam insisted. “Giving you the opportunity to be strong isn't a bad thing. But it's okay to be weak too. It's okay to need help.”

“What if I can't figure it out?  What if I'm stuck like this forever?  What if he leaves me?” Darcy whispered. Sam didn't answer, but he looked at her with a small, proud smile. “Everyone leaves me, Sam. No matter how much they love me. He's going to realize some day that I'm too broken and he's going to want someone whole.”

“You are whole.  Your life didn't break you, you're sitting here with me and I see a whole person,” Sam assured her. “You're exactly what he wants.”

“I'm not,” Darcy countered automatically. She opened her mouth to speak and found that only an anguished cry would come out. She hadn't felt whole in a long time. She couldn't remember clearly the last time she had felt normal.  When she was a small child and had the love of her parents was the last time.   The closest she had come was with Steve. At least she thought that was how she should feel. If she could rid herself of the guilt she felt about ruining him, being with Steve made her feel loved and cherished and safe.  And happy.  She hoped that she made him feel the same way.

Darcy was overcome with the realization that she had been wasting so much time. Waiting to be magically fixed so that she could be what Steve needed. But he needed and wanted her just as she was. He loved her exactly as she was.

“I'm going to go for a walk,” she whispered, pawing at the tears streaming down her face. She pecked Sam on the cheek before whispering, “Thanks, Sammy.”

Steve ran down the steps from his place where he had been waiting, bags of food in hand as Darcy ran off. He had wanted to give them privacy, standing far enough away so that his enhanced hearing couldn't make out their words. But he had seen her distress. He dropped the bags at Sam's feet and demanded,

“What's wrong with her? Is she okay?”

“I think she may have just figured a few things out,” Sam sighed. He rose to his feet and said, “I'm going back to the hotel and getting my wings so I can watch her from above. Give her some space. She's...she's working through it, Cap.”

“Yeah?” Steve gave him a small, hopeful smile.

“She's working really hard, you know? And part of that is for you. I think if we could get her parents in one place, talking, it might even help with the whole abandonment issue thing,” Sam clapped him on the shoulder before grabbing the food and heading towards the hotel, leaving Steve to trail Darcy on foot from a distance.

* * *

His kitten-girl was safe with Steve.

All the public kissing and touching aside, Steve was real good for her. It made him proud to see how good the big lug was to his Darcy, his daughter. Respectful and polite, kind and sweet. Just like tiny Steve Rogers used to be to girls who would deign to give him the time of day back in another lifetime. Except he gave her as much loving adoration as he could too.  And James wasn't counting the unnecessary public displays of affection.  Steve Rogers beamed love and adoration out of those baby blues at Darcy every time he looked at her.

And Darcy gave all that loving sweetness back to him.

Which was why it seemed odd to see her sitting down on a bench, her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking with painful sobs. She was hurting something fierce. It wasn't a gun to her head. It wasn't her life on the line. But he had to help her, to protect her from whatever was hurting her.

His feet took him to her without his approval, and he sat on the bench next to her quietly, not even calling the slightest bit of her attention to himself.

“Kotyonok,” James whispered before letting a hand reach around her shoulders.

She turned into him, gripping onto him fiercely, her arms going around his torso as she buried her tear streaked face into his shirt.

“Did---did Steve do something to hurt you?” he managed to bite out. He felt her shake her head no. “Tell me what I can do to make you feel better.”

Darcy sniffled against his shirt and looked up at him for the first time in a very long time. He looked exactly the same as he had when he kissed her forehead before she fell asleep and he left her on her own in America.

“Don't leave me anymore,” she begged, her chin wobbling uncontrollably as more tears fell from her eyes. “Come home with me and mamma. Please, pappa, please.”

Hydra was still out there. They weren't safe from that threat yet. But she was hurting and only he and Natalia could help her with that particular pain. James let a deep breath blow out of his lips and he did the only thing he could do. He gave her a soft smile and a gentle nod.

“Okay, kitten. I'll come home.”

* * *

James made sure Darcy went back to Sam and Steve to prepare them for his return while he went back to burn his current hiding spot to the ground and cover his tracks. Darcy had barely made it around the street corner that their hotel was situated on when Steve was taking up her field of vision. He lifted her off her feet and turned into a not entirely private alley way and kissed her senseless.

“wha?”

She managed before he went back in for another filthy kiss, his tongue visible before it licked inside of her mouth, eliciting a needy moan from the back of her throat. Her back was against the wall, her feet dangling above the cobble stone alleyway as Steve pinned her body with his own.

“Thought of a different plan,” Steve managed a whisper before going back for more. He smiled into the kiss when Darcy wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Instead of putting yourself into danger...”

One large hand gripped her thigh and brought it up to wrap around his waist before traveling up her stomach, under her shirt. His fingers danced along her rib cage before cupping a heavy breast and groping with a well-practiced and learned hand.

“I'll just do this in every city we go to,” Steve groaned as his hips ground against her. “It'll make him so mad at me that he'll have no choice but show his face when he tries to kill me.”

“Good plan,” Darcy nodded before kissing him again. “One problem though.”

“No problems. My plan is more fun than yours,” Steve smirked at her, snapping his hips into her again as he groped her breast and went back for another kiss.

“Get your damned hands off of her!”

The warning came a split second before Steve felt all of Darcy's warm softness leave his body when a very strong hand gripped his shoulder and threw him backwards into the opposite wall. He felt the air leave his lungs in a grunt as the unforgiving brick met him after the definitely superhuman arm threw him mercilessly.  Darcy fell to wobbly legs, but definitely had a shit eating smirk on her face as Bucky glared down at Steve.

“This how you treat a lady?” Bucky growled at him as he made sure a blushing, but smiling Darcy was on two steady feet again. “Have your dirty way with her in public?”

“Buck...it's not what it looks like,” Steve stammered.

“It looked like you had your hand up my baby girl's shirt, Rogers!” Bucky wrinkled his nose at him in distaste. "Your ma raised you better than that!"

Steve laughed. Hysterically. He couldn't help it. The expression Bucky was currently making was very familiar to him. Not only because Bucky had made it very often in the 30's and the 40's. But also because  _ Darcy  _ had that expression when he tried to put vegetables on the dinner table or came up against anything that she found unpleasant.

“The apple doesn't fall far from the tree,” Steve wheezed in amusement. He got to his feet and walked to stand in front of Bucky.

“Steve, I'd like you to meet my dad,” Darcy giggled “Pappa, you know Steve. He's my boyfriend.  And your best friend.  Please don't try to kill him.”

Steve flushed at her introduction, giving her a look full of wonder and appreciation. It was the first time she had called him that. Bucky watched carefully as Steve looked like Darcy had just hung the moon for him. Bucky was hit with the memory of a smaller Steve staring at pictures of Hedy Lamarr with that same dopey look of admiration and beguiled love.

A much skinnier Steve always needing to be bailed out of trouble because he couldn't stand to see someone bullied. Little Steve Rogers trying to protect the disenfranchised, the hurt and the needy. His best friend. The best man that he had ever known.

“He'll do,” Bucky shrugged begrudgingly. He sneered at his best friend from another life time. “Hope you enjoyed disrespecting my kitten, punk. Because I'm not letting you lay another finger on her since I'm here now.”

“Jerk.”

* * *

“ _ When she wakes, she will be quiet for as long as you need her to be,” Natalia promised, looking at the baby who was sleeping in the crib. The baby she had just said goodbye to. _

“ _ You should find a way out, Natalia,” Yasha whispered, his hand going to hold hers as they both stared at the sleeping baby. “Find a way out and follow her.” _

“ _ What could I give her but death and violence?” Natalia shook her head. _

“ _ You give her so much more than that,” Yasha promised. He turned to face her, his metal finger pushing her chin up until she looked him in the eyes. “You give me so much more than that.” _

“ _ I'll be taken from you,” her words could barely be heard, they were so soft and full of pain. _

“ _ No. I will always remember,” Yasha shook his head. “I'll find a way. I will always remember this feeling. I promise.” _

“ _ Don't make promises they won't let you keep,” Natalia advised. She had been re-introduced to this man seven times in the past two decades. He never remembered her. _

“ _ I promise,” Yasha repeated. He brought his lips to hers in a surprisingly chaste kiss, soft and slow. He pulled away and whispered, “I love you, Natalia.” _

_ She drew in a soft breath and could feel her heart clenching. She should have showed him stoicism. She should be strong and not show her weakness. She should let him and the child go. _

“ _ I love you, Yasha.” _

* * *

They slowly made their way back to New York City. Darcy had placed a call to Tony and Pepper for permission to bring Bucky back with them, and they had agreed, thankfully. They had even sent the Stark jet to pick them up. Stark had bags of candy waiting for her on that jet.

Darcy should have known he was trying to lull her into a false sense of security.

They had made it to Stark/Avengers Tower when JARVIS routed the elevator to the common room floor, announcing,

“Please proceed to the common room. Sir has a ---” JARVIS paused, clearly not wanting to make the announcement his creator had asked him to make. “Sir has a special treat planned.”

“I bet he does,” Steve rolled his eyes as the quartet walked off the elevator regardless.

“Natalia,” James whispered.

Natasha stood in the middle of the common room, looking recently returned from her own adventure, her pale cheeks smudged with dirt, her usually pristine leather jacket scuffed and torn. She looked from James to Darcy and back again.

“Surprise?” Darcy cringed at the sound of her own voice. She had wanted her father to settle into the tower before calling her mother back in.

“ Natalia,” James whispered again. The word like a prayer on his lips. Watching her from afar and having her in the same room was so different, so much  _ more _ . He could smell her. He could see the way her sapphire eyes turned slightly darker as they shone with unshed tears. He could see the relief in the set of her shoulders as she realized that for the first time, he remembered her.

And then he was in front of her in five quick steps, pulling her into his arms and kissing those lips as if he had just said goodbye to her a few days ago. She couldn't stop herself from responding, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, pulling him closer, feeling as if the stars were suddenly aligned and everything was in its proper place as he kissed her and held her so tenderly.

“Cute,” Clint muttered as he walked into the room behind Steve, Darcy and Sam.  He nodded as Natasha pulled away from James and gave him a look she couldn't quite make blank.  There was guilt there.   “Welcome back, Barnes.”

* * *

 

** Chapter Twelve: I Want Your Heaven and Your Oceans Too **

“Pappa,” Darcy whispered, walking to where her parents were standing all up in each others' personal space. She tried to give Clint a look of apology, but he was staring at the floor intently. She grabbed James' left hand and pulled slightly. “Steve, Sam and I will take you to your room, and then we'll make some dinner. Okay?”

James gave a look to the man in the doorway, whose face was clouded with hurt, even as he tried to mask it with petulant indifference. James gave one look to Natasha and she gave him a nearly imperceptible nod. James squeezed his right hand which was at her waist before letting go and allowing himself to be led away by Darcy.

When the room was empty again, Natasha turned to face Clint. He had been expecting to see her usual impassivity. The hardness. The cool look of preservation.

Instead she looked sympathetic.

“Don't,” he ground out angrily. “Come on, I don't want your pity.”

“This is not pity,” Natasha shook her head. “This is...this is regret.”

“I knew what I was getting myself into,” Clint sighed.

“I still owe you an apology. I owe you so much, Clint,” Natasha said softly. “You brought me to safety. You brought me back to Darcy. You've protected her when I couldn't. You've protected _me_ when I couldn't.”

“Tash, its fine,” Clint muttered, looking down at his hands, his face as blank as he could get it. “You told me from the start this wasn't love.”

“But it was,” Natasha said resolutely. “I did.”

“Just not as much as him,” Clint sighed heavily. It was enough though. Or it would be enough.  He'd make it enough.   What he had been feeling hadn't been one sided. It hadn't been in his own head. “I get it. You can't give a person your whole heart when half of it is given away to someone else.”

“I'm sorry,” she looked angry with herself for for the first time in a long time.

“Do me one favor,” Clint requested. “Don't jump head first into this. Take your time. Make it right. Darcy can't be your only reason to be with him. Don't do that to her. Even when she tries to parent trap you, because believe me, I know she has at least twenty different scenarios planned out already as soon as she makes sure I'm okay.”

“I have no doubt that she does,” Natasha smiled briefly. “I will be careful, Clint. I promise.”

“You always are careful, Tash. I believe you.”

* * *

In the next week, Natasha spent a lot of time distracting Darcy so that Steve and Bucky could also have time to reacquaint themselves and rebuild their friendship. Darcy was ever eager to have her family back, but time with Steve was helpful in getting the Winter Soldier's head straight again. Memories were coming back so quickly, and the mannerisms and speech were now much more Bucky Barnes than James from the Red Room.

“Old neighborhood sure looks different,” Bucky whistled as he and Steve walked shoulder to shoulder down a street in Brooklyn. “Oh hey, that bakery is still there.”

“Yeah, same family,” Steve smiled. “Reminds me, we have to stop before we go back to the Tower. If Darce finds out I was down here and didn't bring her back cannoli or a slice of cake, they'll be more than hell to pay. When she found out we were down here earlier in the week and didn't bring her back anything, she did ---nevermind.”

Steve blushed, clearly not willing to tell the rest of the story of Darcy's punishment to her father figure.

“I'll buy her a whole damned cake. The biggest one,” Bucky smiled. “Always wanted to walk in and clear the place out when we were kids.”

“Yeah, you used to talk about that,” Steve laughed in disbelief. He was still astounded at how quickly Bucky's mind was recovering. A gift from the serum that ran through his veins in conjunction with being in a place where he was safe and well-loved. Steve's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, getting a sappy grin on his face.

“What's my baby girl saying?” Bucky gave him a knowing smirk. He took great enjoyment in reminding Steve constantly what Darcy meant to him and who she was to him. It always got an involuntary flinch from the big lug.

“Asked if I was ever going to let her have her scheduled visitation time with you,” Steve shook his head in amusement. Another message came in and Steve asked, “What would you like for dinner?”

“Chicken and potatoes and something green,” Bucky answered with only a moments thought. Now that food was plentiful, he was never shy about making sure he had his fill. He had lived seventy years worth of deprivation. “Tell her we have dessert handled.”

Bucky waited until Steve messaged her back and they started walking again before asking, “What are we doing down here anyway? Told you I remembered everything when we came a few days ago.”

“Yeah, I had an errand and I needed your help,” Steve gestured with his chin to the shop on the next street corner.

“ Huh...that's the same store?” Bucky furrowed his brow.  _ Hertzman Jewelers _ , established 1904. The memory of paying for his little sister's communion gift on installments filtered into his brain. It had taken a long time to scrape the money together.

“Yeah,” Steve nodded, a soft, dreamy smile on his face.

“What do you---oh,” Bucky's eyes widened a fraction. He looked to Steve with a slowly developing grin. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Steve blushed, looking happier than he could ever remember being. Darcy was ready. He knew that. The minute she told him she loved him would be the minute he pulled out a ring box. He knew it would be any day. He gave Bucky a grin and shrugged, “I mean, if its all right with her Pop, that is. He's kind of a cantankerous old bastard, so I'm not sure if I've got his blessing to marry his baby girl.”

“I'm sure he'll be fine with it, better than fine cause then maybe when you're boring and married, you won't try and fool around with her in dirty alleyways anymore. And also, have your dirty way with her at all hours of the day and night,” Bucky rolled his eyes. It had only taken one morning of him waking up to Darcy's enthusiastic reviews of Steve's prowess for him to realize he needed to be up and out of the apartment way before they were up and at each other. He shook his head and clapped the metal hand on Steve's shoulder proudly. “You're the only one I would trust with her, punk.”

“Thanks,” Steve beamed. He shook his head in disbelief. “Jerk.”

* * *

“Okay, thanks Sammy. Gotta go. Yes, yes, I love you, too. Yes, Steve loves you, too. Of course, I'll pinch his butt extra hard for you when he comes home,” Darcy rolled her eyes at her newly arrived mother as Sam went on and on about the proper way he wanted her to pinch Steve's ass. She finally hung up and popped the two large chickens in the oven before going to start on the potatoes. “You're staying for dinner, tonight, right?”

“Of course,” Natasha smiled as she went about snapping off the ends of the green beans that Darcy had been blissfully ignoring. Some things never changed, the girl still refused to touch vegetables. “Sam went home?”

“Yeah, he's got to finalize the sale of his condo in Virginia,” Darcy grinned. “Then he's moving in across the hall. Super exciting stuff. I mean, live in therapist! Hells yeah. We're going to be the most well-adjusted group of crazy people on the face of the planet.”

Natasha smiled. She knew that Darcy was being truthful. She had learned to love talking with Sam. She had even encouraged Natasha and James to do the same when they were all in the same place at the same time. She didn't know that Natasha had been diligently texting Sam for months now. At first it had been just to check in on how Darcy was doing.

Then it became more about how Natasha was doing.

“Darcy, you know that the only reason I could let go of you as a baby, was to protect you,” Natasha said softly. She knew one of the reasons Darcy held herself back with Steve was she was scared of him leaving her. Of being abandoned. “It killed me to do it. I hated letting go of you. You and Yasha were the only two bright spots in my entire, long life.”

“I know, mamma,” Darcy nodded, her smile small, but genuine.

“You were the perfect baby,” Natasha sighed, drowning in fond memories. “We didn't have Netflix back then.”

“I thought you didn't have _electricity_ back then,” Darcy smirked.

“No, that was your boyfriend that lived in the dark ages. And father,” Natasha rolled her eyes. “We lacked entertainment in the Red Room. And then you came into my life, and suddenly it was as if...it was like we had a laugh track running in our lives. You were a storyteller even at three. There were so many nights when Yasha and I would take turns running out into the hall to laugh so that we wouldn't hurt your feelings when you were telling a serious story.”

“I thought you just had to go to the bathroom,” Darcy laughed.

“You were our bright spot. You made a horrible place into a treasured home,” Natasha promised her. “I never wanted to say goodbye to you. And now that I have you back, I will never say goodbye to you.”

“That sounds awesome,” Darcy grinned at her, her big blue eyes swimming in happy tears. “So...Steve and I haven't had a date night all week cause my big dumb dad is stealing him away all the time. Can you help a girl out and take Yasha off my hands for like...four hours tonight? No...six hours. No, I want him in the morning too. Better to take him for a full twenty-four hours.”

“Darcy,” Natasha leveled her with a stern eyebrow. “Are you parent trapping me?”

“Not yet,” Darcy grinned. “You'll know when I parent trap you. But I mean, do I have to? I mean, I saw you smooching with your smoochies. Seems like things might resolve themselves. And I mean, I went to Clint's building yesterday morning and cuddled with him while watching Sesame Street for five hours. He's going to be okay.  You guys aren't doing that... _thing_ you do anymore. And you liked kissing, Pappa. No tomfoolery from me will be necessary.”

“James must be recovered fully before anything can happen,” Natasha said sternly.

“Yes...but when he _does_ fully recover, then...” she drifted off, pursed her lips and made an obnoxiously long kissing noise.

“That's a nice sight to come home to,” Steve grinned from the front door. His hands full of bags from the bakery. James followed, holding a large cake box. Steve looked to James and shrugged sheepishly. “You may want to avert your eyes, Buck.”

“What?” James furrowed his brow.

“Is that---you went to Cuccio's?!?!” Darcy squealed.

Steve barely had time to put the bags down before Darcy ran from the kitchen and launched herself at him. Steve chuckled as he held onto her with a light grip on the backs of her legs, hands dangerously close to her backside as she repeatedly kissed him. Bucky grumbled and rolled his eyes at Natasha, who only laughed in response.

“Oh, before I forget,” Darcy reached her hand around and pinched as large of an amount of Steve's bottom that she could. “That's from Sammy.”

  
  


“Take it to a bedroom before your father loses his patience, kitten,” Natasha advised.

Steve started to walk backwards with Darcy still wrapped around him, he put one hand fully on her butt as his hand fumbled for the doorknob to Darcy's apartment, intent on getting her to his suite next door. It was slow going, but they made it out of the door before James could have an aneurysm.

“You'll get used to it,” Natasha assured Bucky with a sly smile.

“Like hell I will,” James scoffed. “But it won't be so bad soon...Punk took me to---”

The front door slammed open and Darcy darted back into the room, her shirt already missing. She went for the bags Steve had dropped and dug through them before coming up with a box of cannoli with a triumphant _aha!_ before she waved at her mother and father and ran out of the room with the sugary treats in hand.

“ I'm never going to get used to  _ that _ ,” James sighed.

“It makes her very happy,” Natasha smiled. “So just deal with it.”

“She's our baby,” James pursed his lips in annoyance. “And he should keep his hands off of her until he gives her the ring.”

“Darcy may have _many_ arguments about that,” Natasha laughed. “Wait---he bought her a ring?”

* * *

“Oh my God....so goooooood.”

Steve smirked at Darcy as she lounged on his rumpled and well used bed, naked as the day she was born, her clothes tossed carelessly in a path from his front door to his bedroom. He furrowed his brow, wondering if he had ever gotten her to that noise before on his own merit and not on the cannoli he had bought her.

He hadn't even gotten the chance to prove he was better than the pastry. She had brought the box back, naked, and bit into one of the treats as he was still removing his underwear.

“Don't be jealous of the cannoli, Steve,” Darcy licked at the cream that was oozing out of the opposite end of the pastry as obscenely as she possibly could.

She took another bite and powdered sugar drifted off the dessert and dusted all over her bare skin. Steve was a strong and patient man, but he was only human. He pounced on her, mouth open, tongue searching out every last speck of sugar that had fallen onto her skin. He kissed down her torso, his hands already palming her thighs and spreading them as he eased down the bed.

“No Steve, not enough time,” Darcy giggled around the last mouthful of cannoli she had stuffed into her mouth. “Gotta check on the chicken in like, half an hour.”

“But I want to taste you,” Steve pouted at her from between her legs. He kissed the crease of her inner thigh and murmured, “Just a little taste, please?”

“Oh, alright,” Darcy feigned mock indulgence.

She let out a breathy moan as he smiled against her skin, before taking a long, probing taste of her. His tongue dancing firm and strong, swirling and persistent against her flesh. He pulled on her hands and brought them to his head, groaning when she followed his wordless request and pulled gently on his soft hair. His arms and hands were curled around her thighs, just firm enough to give her that grounding pressure, his fingertips indented into her skin.

“Yes, baby, yes,” Darcy moaned, yanking on his hair with just the right amount of force, sending a pleasured jolt straight down to his groin.

Steve grinned against her again before refocusing and sucking on her clit just so. He loved that when they were alone and in bed, her private pet names for him would fall from her lips.  _ Baby _ ... _ Honey...Cutie... _

“Stevie baby, you're so good, you're so good to me,” Darcy babbled incoherently then as he alternated between firm swirling licks and sucking her clit between his lips.

She bucked against his face and he groaned in contented pleasure as she got to his favorite point of his favorite past time. When she was forceful and demanding, yanking at his hair to get him closer, pushing her hips to meet every inch of his face. She was past her breaking point in moments, and he was rewarded with her pulling him tight against her as her legs shook with her orgasm.

“Please, now, now, I want you now,” Darcy chanted, pushing him gently away.

He barely had time to push himself to his knees when she was on him, pushing him to kneel as she straddled his lap. She sunk down on him with no warning and no preamble and he huffed out a groan at the tight, quivering wetness of her. He grinned at the position, one of his favorites as her breasts bounced in his face with every shimmy of her hips as she rode him fast and hard.

“You feel so good,” he whispered, before taking a mouthful of nipple and breast, sucking heartily she whimpered and he unlatched his mouth and looked up at her beautiful face, twisted in pleasure. “My Darcy, my girl, always so sweet to me.”

“Yours,” Darcy nodded, already to the point of incoherence. “Always yours, baby. Always.”

Her words broke him, he gripped her hips in his hands and began to rock his body into hers, meeting her thrusts with powerful precision. She began a low whine as her orgasm rolled over her again, the whine turned into a loud, short wail as she shattered against him.

Steve's moan was drenched in pleasure as he continued to stroke within her quivering walls.

“One more, sweetheart, one more for me,” he murmured against the flushed skin of her throat, finding another speck of sugar and groaning at the sweet taste of it combined with the saltiness of her sweaty skin. “You're so beautiful when you're coming for me...just one more...”

She felt boneless, and her energy was flagging, but she clenched at him with her core every time he bottomed out inside of her. It was as if her second orgasm never ended as it blended into the third, this time, Steve pulled her down onto his erection, pressing as deep inside of her as he could as he joined her, his release combining with hers, making a mess of them both.

“Oh god,” Darcy collapsed against him. She grinned as he somehow managed to maneuver out of his kneeling position without pulling out, lying back fully, holding her hips so that she remained against him even as he began to soften inside of her.

“I'm going to buy you cannoli every day,” Steve huffed breathlessly. “Every damned day for the rest of our lives.”

“Hmm,” Darcy nodded. She shifted her body and felt him leave her. She squeaked as she felt the mess dribbling down her thighs. She was suddenly full of energy again and tried to unwrap Steve's arms from her before he passed out.

“Don't go,” Steve pouted, making adorable grabby hands at her. “Let the chicken burn.”

She leaned in and kissed his lips gently, pulling away a moment later to see his eyes shut with heavy sleep.

“You goof,” she grinned. “I love you, Steve”

He hummed in his sleep and her eyes widened, a slow, small grin settling on her face. She reached for the box of cannoli that they had thankfully not been squashed in their endeavors and gave him another kiss before shimmying off the bed carefully. She paused and looked back at him, her grin now huge, bright and blinding.

  
  


“I love you, Steve. And I'll have JARVIS wake you up when dinner is ready.”

* * *

“Pancakes. I require pancakes. And coffee,” Natasha strolled into Darcy's apartment. Apparently she had over indulged in too much red wine during their little family dinner the previous evening.

“Greasy food might work better,” James smirked at her from his place on Darcy's couch. Alcohol had different effects on all of those that were serum enhanced. Nothing touched Steve, even the Asgardian meade had little to no effect thanks to his super metabolism. James could feel the beginnings of a buzz if he had enough to drink, but it quickly went away. Natasha had to consume a lot of alcohol to feel the warmth for a little while, but unlike Steve or James, she felt it the next day in the form of headaches.

“Yes. Something. Also coffee,” Natasha demanded. She arched an eyebrow at James and demanded, “Take me to coffee or I will be forced to bring violence upon you.”

James chuckled at Natasha's dry humor. He had really missed that. And her dry humor really worked well with the newly discovered sarcasm of Bucky Barnes. They made quite the pair.

“Where is our kitten?” Natasha demanded. “She would never laugh in the face of my need.”

“I don't want to talk about it,” James rolled his eyes.

“Ah, yes. They're fans of morning sex,” Natasha nodded in understanding. James had been staying in Steve's spare room, but he would often retreat to Darcy's apartment when the young couple was overly enthusiastic in their amorous activities. It was every day for the last eight days.

“They're fans of all the time sex,” James huffed. “Like damned rabbits, all the damned time. I swear, if he gets her pregnant before he marries her, there will be so much hell to pay. I will murder him. For real this time. There will be a lot of murdering.”

“No murdering,” Darcy laughed as she opened the door and came in at the tail end of James' speech. “Steve's hungry. Let's go to the diner five blocks over. I want pancakes. And so much coffee.”

“Good choice, kitten,” Natasha smiled at her.

James huffed a laugh as he rose from the couch and went for his jacket and baseball cap, knowing Steve's undercover uniform was nearly identical except for the colors. He shook his head in amusement as Natasha and Darcy walked arm in arm to catch up with Steve.

“My girls are two peas in a pod.”

* * *

“Another!” Darcy slammed her mug down on the table, giving the waitress a wink as she filled up all the coffee mugs at the table. She grinned as Steve reached his fork in front of her face to pick up the last three-quarters of a pancake she had abandoned on her plate. She looked across the table at James, who had his fork extended to her plate as well, a wrinkle of his nose stating his displeasure that Steve had gotten there first.

“Trash compactors, the both of you,” Natasha chuckled. She gave a look to the waitress and said, “Two large slices of your freshest pie to top these two off, please.”

“Two coconut cream, coming right up,” the waitress smiled before walking off.

“Dunno if I've ever had coconut cream,” James furrowed his brow as he tried to access any memory of it.

“It's got a ridiculous amount of sugar, you'll love it,” Natasha assured him. During their time in the Red Room, Yasha had been known to eat tablespoons of sugar throughout the day when the need struck him.

“I do like sweet things,” Jame smirked at her in that specifically assaulting way of his, one eyebrow arching suggestively.

Darcy gripped Steve's hand under the table and bit her lip in an effort to hide any excited squeaking sounds as James let his head tip towards Natasha's invading her personal space. Steve squeezed her hand and bent his neck so that his mouth was against her ear.

“You're adorable,” he whispered. “I love you.”

“Hmm,” Darcy smiled. “Love you too.”

Steve's eyes went wide as his mouth opened into a gape, his cheeks flushing pink very quickly. He turned her to face him, his eyes searching her smiling face, his hands on her arms, slowly moving up and down her skin.

“Can you repeat that?” he whispered.

“I love you, Steve,” she told him easily.

James and Natasha were openly staring at them. Natasha proud and smiling. James with a soft look on his face. Steve let out a forceful breath that bordered on being a delighted laugh before he kissed her, chaste and gentle and slow.

“Alright, break it up,” James ordered. He gave Natasha an annoyed look when she pinched his thigh mercilessly. “We're in a public place!”

An odd glinting of the late morning sun had both James and Natasha looking away from each other and out the window of the diner.

“ Darcy,  _ hide _ ,” James ordered.

Steve pulled away and pushed at her shoulders gently, before looking back to where James and Natasha were staring. He turned around and Darcy was gone, he hadn't even heard her rush away. James and Natasha were both out of the booth too, Natasha getting her guns ready as Bucky began checking his body for the dozen weapons he had hidden on his person. Steve looked down at his empty hands. His shield was back in his room at the Tower.

He went to the counter, were the waitress had her hands full of plates of pie as Bucky and Natasha went to fortify the front door, ushering the other patrons out of the restaurant quickly.

“Go lock yourself and anyone else back there in the freezer,” Steve ordered the waitress.

She had disappeared for a few seconds before the door swung open again, revealing Clint, his bow strapped to his back, Steve's shield in his hands.

“Hydra,” Clint said tersely, tossing the shield to Steve with practiced ease. “JARVIS tracked them into the city and they came straight for you. Tony thinks they activated a tracker in Barnes' arm.”

“You will be letting Tony take the damned thing apart when we get back,” Natasha ordered James gruffly.

“Yes ma'am,” Bucky saluted her.

The quartet met the threat as they descended on the thankfully empty diner. Hydra sent in a squadron of twenty people, severely over-estimating their worth. James could have taken all twenty of them down on his own.

“This feels off,” Clint furrowed his brow. “Where's Darcy?”

“Hiding,” Natasha told him as she took another piece of Hydra scum down.

“Seriously? How well has that worked out for you in the past?” Clint rolled his eyes. “These guys are a distraction. They're going to try to get their hands on her.”

“She'll remain hidden,” Natasha assured him.

“What makes you so sure?”

“ Her father asked her to. She's never disobeyed  _ him _ .”

* * *

Hydra was dispensed with by the time more backup arrived in the form of Maria and a team of Stark Industries security. James turned to an anxious Steve with an all too easy smile and he nodded at him, as if to reassure his friend that the brief bout of violence hadn't triggered anything more terrifying within him.

"Thank you," James said to Clint.

"It's fine," Clint muttered.

"No, you've protected Darcy when I couldn't.  I owe you," James promised.

"I'll let you know when the prank wars start again," Clint waved him of before becoming endlessly fascinated with his bow, signaling the end of the slightly awkward conversation.

“Time to find the kitten,” James smirked at Steve.

“Ten bucks says it takes him fifteen minutes,” Natasha threw out there.

“Darcy can't be that good,” Clint shook his head. “Make it twenty if he finds her in less than five minutes.”

It took seventeen minutes. She had stuffed herself in the industrial sized washing machine in the basement of the building and covered herself with dirty aprons before closing the lid. James laughed at the sight of her and bopped her on the nose.

“Good job, kitten,” he helped her out of her hiding place and hugged her to him with a good deal of strength. “We'll go and get you candy now.”

“I'm twenty-six years old, pappa!” Darcy scoffed.

“What's your point?” he furrowed his brow.

“It had better be enough candy for a twenty-six year old woman.”

* * *

  
** Chapter Thirteen: I Wish I Could Live a Little More **

**New York City, 2014**

After that first Hydra attack, the Avengers, James and Sam (who were rapidly included into the fold), left nothing to chance. Darcy never went out alone. Tony and JARVIS worked relentlessly to make the Tower even more fortress like. Maria Hill obsessively pored over all tower employees. Jane never even let Darcy work alone, always right on top of the girl in the labs.

And when Darcy's safety was secured, James, Steve and Natasha went on the offensive, finishing what James started. The Avengers would ferret out the bases and burn them to the ground.

Two months after James was brought in, Hydra was in fractured pieces. They were at such a point of weakness, that most days JARVIS would simply report the Hydra presence to local police and have them brought into custody.  Darcy was super excited to get to leave the Tower on her own, if by on her own she had two Stark Industries tails, a Coulson approved Shield tail, a GPS tracker implanted behind her ear, a panic bracelet, and her phone constantly relaying audio feed to JARVIS.  She was _totally_ independent on her trek to Clint's apartment building though.  Totally.  She had received a text from Kate.  _911 Step Dad problems_.  So she would deal with her security entourage if it meant making sure Clint was okay.

He had seemed fine for the last two months.  But Clint, like his spy brethren, had always kept his emotions pretty close to the vest. 

And he must have been playing it close to the vest, if the boxes of stuff in the apartment hall were any indication. 

"Hey...you..what's going on?  You leaving?" Darcy wondered. 

"Hey kiddo," Clint nodded at her in greeting as he avidly emptied his fridge of multiple pizza boxes, opening them and tossing the cold slices haphazardly onto a plate to make a tower of cold pizza.  "Where's your security?"

"Outside," Darcy promised.  She reached out and grabbed a slice of pizza and chomped down on it.  She chewed and swallowed before asking again, "So, you're leaving?"

"Just bugging out for a little while," Clint nodded.  "Phil has a couple of green kids that he could use some help on."

"Oh," Darcy nodded.  "Is this---about my dad?"

"Just want a change, is all," Clint shrugged. 

Darcy furrowed her brow.  She had thought that Clint and her mother's dalliances were no strings attached friends with benefits dalliances.  She hadn't known any real feelings were involved.  Suddenly, she felt terrible for the man who really had been like a step dad to her since 2011. 

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," Clint insisted.  "You know what you can do for me, though?  Be safe. Keep those tails and don't be cute and try to run off and lose them."

"I won't," Darcy promised.

"I'm not going to be here to bail you out when you go running off to save puppies or civilians.  I swear, if I hear that you went rogue, I'll come back and superglue Cap's hands to his junk so you can't have access to it anymore," Clint threatened. He gave her a small smile, "But if you need me, you call me.  Understand?"

"Okay," Darcy nodded.  She sniffled and said softly, "I'm sorry you feel like you have to go.  I'm sorry you're hurting."

"You know, it was supposed to be nothing but comfort," Clint shrugged again, adding another few slices to his pizza tower.  He leveled a knowing look at Darcy and wondered, "How is that no strings, no feelings thing going with Cap?"

"I love him," Darcy admitted.

"Gotta love when a girl takes after her step-dad," Clint snorted.  "You do know that he bought you a ring, right?"

"He keeps it in his right pants pocket all the time," Darcy nodded.

"You gonna break his heart?" Clint smirked, knowing the answer to that question.

"I'm gonna say yes," Darcy promised.  She smiled at him softly.  "Will you come back when he asks?"

"Make sure there's a party, little bit.  And loads of booze.  I'll be there with bells on."

* * *

James, Steve, Sam and Natasha had just returned from a brief, twelve hour mission, Darcy welcoming them back with hugs and kisses and promises of a still warm dinner after they had washed the stink of whatever sewers they had been climbing around in.

“ Ugh, Steve, baby, I love you, but you smell  _ awful _ ,” Darcy wrinkled her nose at him.

“But you still love me, right?” Steve grinned at her.

“Like I could ever stop now,” Darcy laughed at him. She let out a whoop of giddy laughter when Steve picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. “Put me down you smelly asshole!”

“I'm going to need help in that shower,” Steve waved at his friends. “Sorry, Buck.”

  
  


“Asshole,” James grumbled as Steve carried Darcy away. He glared at Natasha and said, “Punk still didn't ask her to marry him. He's had the damned ring for two months now. What's he waiting for?”

“I would wager Christmas,” Natasha nodded. “It's a special time of year for them and you know what a sappy romantic Steve is.”

“That's weeks away yet,” Sam shook his head. “She'll get it out of him before that.”

“We'll see,” Natasha smiled. “Shower time. We really do smell awful.”

“Need help washing your back?” James smirked at her as Sam rolled his eyes and walked away grumbling to himself about how he needed to find someone to wash _his_ back.

“Couldn't hurt,” Natasha replied back easily. “Is that something you're ready for?”

“I---yes?” James answered.

“That didn't sound like an enthusiastic yes. Besides, maybe I'd like to be wooed a little, Barnes. Did you ever think of that?” Natasha asked with no small amount of mirth.

“Oh, darlin', I don't know if you could handle that,” James laughed. “I used to be one smooth bastard.”

“We'll see.”

* * *

Darcy and Steve had quietly begun moving things out of her apartment, adding them to his place instead. At the same time, James was moving his meager possessions into Darcy's rapidly emptying apartment, and suddenly one Monday, he woke up realizing that it was now his apartment, and Darcy and Steve were living together.

It was a pretty nice arrangement. He had the privacy he needed after several lifetimes of being alone, but he was so close to both Sam and Steve and Darcy, that it didn't seem too lonely. And Natalia was around more than she was away. They were slowly circling one another, comfortable touches shared and quick, reflex-like kisses when they parted from each other's company.

James jerked away one night, the nightmares that would plague him three out of the seven nights of the week had been more intense than usual.

“JARVIS?” he questioned.

“Agent Romanoff is en route, Sergeant Barnes,” the AI answered faithfully.

She crawled into the bed next to him in less than five minutes, opening her arms and letting him fall into a comforting embrace. She was blissfully silent as her hands ran through his hair, her touch soothing and gentle.

“You're getting better,” she finally said after ten minutes. “You're very strong, Yasha.”

“I have something to look forward to,” he mumbled, his mouth against her neck as she continued to stroke his hair.

“We both have something to look forward to.”

* * *

“Baby, it'll be fine. Mom and Dad will be with me,” Darcy promised Steve. “It's just a fundraiser for a local city council person that I support. Believe me, she doesn't want the security hassle of having Captain America along.”

“I'll miss you,” Steve pouted as he kissed her again.

“You're cute when you're all pouty,” Darcy giggled.

“You're cute all the time,” Steve retorted.

“You're both making me sick to my stomach.  You're gonna give me the diabetes,” Sam grumbled. “C'mon, Rogers. Walk me down to the garage. If I don't visit my mama this weekend, she's going to have my hide.”

“See you next week, Sammy. Be careful!” Darcy blew him a kiss.

Sam caught the kiss in his right hand and made a big show of shoving it against his face repeatedly. Steve rolled his eyes and walked with Sam.

“Alright man, I'll have your special Captain America Smithsonian stuff when I get back,” Sam said quietly as they walked away from Darcy.

  
  


“Thanks,” Steve grinned.

“You really asking her, huh?” Sam shook his head, bemused at his love struck friend.

“Its been killing me to wait, but Christmas...three weeks. I can wait a little longer,” Steve nodded. He pulled the ring box he always carried with him out of his pocket and stared down at the ring with a dopey smile. He had a big plan and he absolutely had to have one of those damned stuffed Captain America bears that only the Smithsonian gift shop sold. “She's gonna say yes, right?”

“Steve, I can tell you, with 100% certainty, that she will absolutely say yes,” Sam nodded. “And if you doubt she will, tell her that Bucky told you you can't sex her anymore without making an honest man out of you.”

* * *

The political fundraiser was a cute little affair, it was half a mile away from the tower, set up in a hotel conference room to look like a carnival. The city council woman was popular amongst younger voters, and Darcy was fascinated with her forward thinking platform. She really thought the woman was going places, and Darcy wanted to get closer to watch it happen. She had even managed to convince Jane to come along, having convinced her that her candidate needed the extra support.

In the end, it wasn't Hydra. It was just a deranged asshole with a gun who wanted to shoot up a room full of liberal leaning young men and women.

In the end, the Stark Industries security and SHIELD security and JARVIS listening in on her phone didn't help.  It was just too quick.

In the end, neither James or Natasha could have anticipated it happening. Everything was easy and carefree one moment. The next moment, someone had fired five quick shots.

In the end, it didn't matter that Darcy could hide quicker and better than nearly anyone else on the face of the planet.

In the end, not even Steve could have saved her.

In the end, the first bullet from that asshole's gun found its way forcefully into Darcy's stomach.

She crumpled to the ground in a heap before James or Natasha could jump the ten feet they had been separated to catch her. They followed her to the ground, on either side of her wounded body. James' metal hand went to the wound which was weeping blood at too fast of a rate to be fixable.

The gunman had been tackled to the ground by the SHIELD security and Jane was hitting her Jarvis button on her phone with shaking hands. Three other people were down on the ground with bullet wounds. One was already dead.

“Told you it was my life that would get me into trouble, not yours,” Darcy wheezed, coughing and wincing when she felt the warm blood in her mouth.

“Kitten, please, stay with me,” Natasha begged, watching as James' hand tried to stop the too easy flow of her blood from her abdomen. “Keep talking...talk to me.”

“I remember...I remember everything,” Darcy's eyes slowly moved between her mother and her father. “You used to---to make me hide. And you would sneak me chocolates, both of you, so I got two and you never knew it...”

Her words were coming slower and were becoming slurred. Her blinks more prolonged.

“Darcy? Honey, stay with us,” Jane asked from behind Natasha. “Thor is coming, he's bringing Steve. Just, keep talking to us.”

“Where is the damned ambulance?” Natasha demanded harshly, her voice broken and jagged, the worry thick in her throat, the sob on the edge of breaking through.

“Oh God, Steve,” Darcy panicked. She looked to James with suddenly wide eyes. Steve had lost so much and she was dying, and she hadn't wanted to mean so much to him, she had fought against him every step of the way over the last few years, hidden from how much he loved her, afraid that she would ruin him. And she _was_ going to ruin him now.

Steve who had given up everything to save the world time and time again. Steve who had patiently waited for her to admit she loved him. Steve who was finally assembling a happily ever after.  Steve who had carried a ring box in his pocket for two months.   She was going to have to leave him behind and it would break him apart. Darcy knew how much he loved her. She knew and it was all too late and her death would be the end to his happiness.

“Kitten, it's okay,” James whispered, leaning down and kissing her cheek, his stubble tickling at her skin. “You just worry about keeping those gorgeous eyes open.”

“ Please look after him for me,” Darcy whimpered. “ _ Please _ .”

“Don't think it can be done,” James shook his head with a sad smile.

He was feeling helpless and lost. There was nothing he could do but keep the pressure on her wound, praying it was enough to keep her alive until the paramedics arrived. The one driving force he'd had since 1992 was the urge, the persistent need to protect her. The thought of her safety was so intricately wound into his brain after years under Hydra that it was ever present. The need to do something for her now, to keep her breathing and alive was like a blaring alarm in his brain right now. Keep her alive. Keep her safe. Keep her talking.

“The punk is always rushing head first into trouble,” he sniffed harshly as his tears slid out of his unblinking eyes.  If he just kept her looking at him, she couldn't slip away. “No wonder my baby girl wound up with him. Trouble magnets, the pair of you.”

Darcy was gasping now. Each breath was painful and the sound of her struggling to breathe made Natasha's skin crawl. She remembered the hundreds of nights she had heard that soft little snore from the girl, as a baby and as an adult. It had been soothing to her after the first few months of Darcy's life with her in Russia, when she had been sickly and wheezing and gasping for breath. The little snore was a reminder that Darcy was safe and warm and well cared for and  _ alive. _

A crash at the front door to the conference room had everyone looking up except for James and Natasha, whose eyes never strayed from Darcy, looking down at her steadily, as if they would blink and she would disappear.

“Over here!” Jane called out, waving her arms.

Steve sprinted to them, Thor close behind. Both were in civilian clothes, but Steve gripped his shield, and Thor held Mjolnir in his grasp. Steve took in a harsh breath at the sight of her, his Darcy, laying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, Bucky's hands pressing against a lethal wound to her gut. He dropped the shield and fell to his knees, blue eyes swimming with tears as he knelt next to James, his hand reaching out to cup her cheek, wincing at the blood that fell from the corner of her mouth.

“Sweetheart?” he questioned.

“Should have let you come along,” Darcy managed to wheeze out. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance. “Shouldn't have wasted time.”

“No, Darce, we didn't waste anything,” Steve shook his head.  Steve had seen plenty of life-ending gunshot wounds in his lifetime.  He knew this was one of them.  He could feel an intense stabbing pain all throughout his body as he watched her blinks become longer and longer.  She was dying, each breath closer to her last.  He put on his bravest smile and leaned in to kiss her forehead.  “Stay with me.  Our time isn't done yet.”

“Love you,” she whispered, eyes blinking closed.

“Oh God,” Steve choked out. “Please don't leave me, sweetheart. Please. I love you, please stay with me.”

“Darcy, open your eyes!” Natasha shouted the harsh order at her. Her girl disobeyed. “Darcy!”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Fourteen: It's Above and Beyond Me **

“Darce, please, please, don't leave me,” Steve sobbed, bending again so that he could kiss her cold forehead. “I can't do it without you, please.”

Natasha's entire body crumpled with the force of her cries and James looked to her, feeling her pain, his right hand reaching for her shoulder, even as he kept his hand on Darcy's wound. He could feel the light in their life slowly snuffing out as Darcy's heart beat slowed.

Thor watched, pained and he murmured something in Jane's ear as she clung to him, shaking with sobs. She pulled away nodding rapidly, her eyes wide and suddenly eager.

“Heimdall!” Thor shouted.

James snapped his attention to Thor momentarily before going back to Darcy, her eyes closed, her heartbeat so slow it was practically non-existent.

“Thor has an idea,” Jane explained. “We're taking her to Asgard.”

“All of us,” Natasha confirmed.

“Of course,” Thor nodded.

Steve barely had time to grab his shield before the portal opened. The light was blinding suddenly, forming a circle around Darcy and her loved ones.

The trip was brief and James barely had a moment to marvel at where they had landed before a group of strangers reached for Darcy. He glared at them and made a move to defend the prone girl when Natasha reached a hand out to him and shook her head.

“As her parents, you and I must discuss a few things,” Thor said quietly as the healers rushed Darcy away, Steve and Jane quick to follow. Thor held James and Natasha back and he smiled at them sadly, “Darcy will not survive this wound without Asgardian assistance.”

“That's what we're here for, right?” James furrowed his brow.

“Not medical assistance,” Thor shook his head. “We have a remedy...used on our warriors who have been mortally wounded. Brewed from Iðunn's apples.”

“Then give it to her,” James demanded. “Now, give it to her now.”

“Yasha,” Natasha said softly, her hand going to his and squeezing. She felt something slot into place inside of her when he entwined their fingers and gripped hers tightly.

“She will be changed,” Thor revealed. “In that she will hardly ever change.”

* * *

“Stevie, I need to talk to you,” James called from the doorway to Darcy's room where the healers were working on her.

Natasha walked into the room and stood shoulder to shoulder with Jane, nodding at Steve before watching the work the healers were doing carefully.

“Is she going to be okay?” Steve wondered of his friend, looking so much younger in his worry than he should. “What did Thor say?”

“So...we've been alive almost a hundred years,” James furrowed his brow. “I was out of the ice for at least ten years altogether...never aged a damn day.”

“Yeah, it's the serum,” Steve nodded. “Nat's a lot older than she looks too. It's going to take a hell of a long time for us to look our age.”

“Yeah, but Darcy, Darcy is normal,” James said softly. He watched as a healer brought in a tray with a vial full of golden liquid. “You know her better than I do, punk. I mean, I knew how to make her giggle when she was three, you know her secrets now. Way of the world, right? The father gets replaced by a big dumb boy.”

“Buck, come on,” Steve shook his head in confusion. “What's going on?”

“Thor has this---magic thing,” James was at a loss. “He says it'll work. She'll be good as new in a day or so.”

“Okay, then do it,” Steve nodded eagerly, embracing the bloom of hope that flared in his chest.

“Two things,” James took a breath, readying himself to explain what was about to happen.

Darcy's cries of pain echoed throughout the stone halls of the palace. Steve's eyes widened in shock and he went to dash for her, but James held him back, just barely.

“It's gonna hurt her,” James revealed, straining to keep Steve from running back into the room. “A lot. Thor said it's changing her fate, her insides...it's painful.”

“Let me go!” Steve growled at his best friend, eager to go to Darcy, whose banshee wails of pain were the loudest and most terrifying thing he had ever heard.

“You can't do anything for her now,” James insisted, fighting his own urge to give in and go and hold the girl that was in pain. “None of us can touch her until its done. We don't want to risk it not working, so calm the hell down!”

Steve drew in heaving breaths as he stopped struggling and stood at the doorway, his hands clenching his shield tightly. He looked to Bucky as Darcy continued to wail.

“What's the second thing?”

* * *

“ _ Darcy.” _

“ _ Of Pemberly.” _

“ _ Your name is Darcy, now kitten.” _

“ _ Me to tell you how---how ardently,” the little girl stumbled over the big words a little, but her diction was perfect, the accent identical to the one Natalia had used to read the story to her.“I admire and love you.” _

“ _ I love you too, Darcy,” Natalia reached for the girl and pulled her into a hug, trying to keep her tears at bay as she tried to memorize the feeling. That perfect contentment that holding the baby gave her. The way Darcy clung to her and pressed her soft, velvety cheek against her neck, chubby fingers stroking the shell of her ear. _

“ _ Don't cry,” Darcy whispered in Russian. _

“ _ English, now, please, kitten,” Natalia sniffled. “You are to go with your pappa, you must speak English. And be a good girl.” _

“ _ No. It's too hard,” Darcy shook her head, pulling away and looking up at her mother with an impish grin. “Where are we going?” _

“ _ You are going to go live in America,” Natalia smiled. “You'll find a new family, and friends, and you will be safe, and happy.” _

“ _ No,” Darcy looked at her Talia with wide, confused eyes. She was perfectly happy just where she was. She didn't need anything new. “You're my mamma. Yash is my pappa.” _

“ _ I must say goodbye to you, kitten,” Natalia shook her head. “I don't want to. If it were up to me, I would hold you close to me every day. I would watch you grow and I would love you until my last breath and even after that. But I must say goodbye, so that you can grow and can be safe. I love you.” _

“ _ I love you, mamma,” Darcy nodded, her little fingers wiping inefficiently at the tears that had fallen from the corners of Natalia's eyes. She kissed her cheek and smiled, “I'll see you when I come home.” _

* * *

Darcy blinked her eyes open, seeing that familiar sapphire looking back at her, the eyes slightly red and wet, but looking relieved.

“Mamma,” Darcy whispered.

“I'm right here, kitten,” Natasha smiled down at her. “How do you feel?”

“Alive,” Darcy breathed out a chuckle. “How am I alive?”

“Thor brought you to Asgard,” Natasha revealed. She looked to the door where James was walking in. He came to stand behind her at Darcy's bedside, smiling down at the girl with fond adoration. Natasha felt a warmth in her chest when James wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Yasha and I had to make a decision, and I hope that you agree it was the right one.”

“Oh God, am I Valkyrie?” Darcy sat up suddenly looking down at her body, marveling that the pain that had been so intense when she had been shot was gone. She looked down the white linen shift she had been changed into after the change was finished and furrowed her brow at the smooth skin of her stomach, not a trace of a wound to be found.

“Not unless you want to,” James laughed. “I think poor Steve's brains will fall out of his head if you dress up like that Sif lady.”

“You were dying,” Natasha continued to plow ahead with her story, knowing that between James and Darcy, all rational conversation could be easily derailed. “Thor brought us to Asgard, and the healers gave you medicine that is usually used on the mortal wounds of demi-gods.”

“The apple?” Darcy's eyes widened. “Jane said that when she and Thor get married she'll have to take it...to live as long as he does...did, did they give it to me?”

“It was the only way,” James nodded, biting his bottom lip anxiously, worried that she would react badly to the fact that her lifespan had just extended dramatically.

“Darcy?” Natasha whispered after a few extended moments of silence. “Are you upset with us?”

“Am I upset with you?” Darcy looked at them in confusion. “Why would I be upset with you?”

“Oh thank God,” James blew out a relieved breath.

“I'm---I'm not going to get older than Steve...or you two,” Darcy shook her head in amazement. “I'm never going to have to leave you.”

“I will never let you leave me,” Natasha smiled genuinely at the girl she called her daughter. “Never again.”

“Stevie's going to have to get used to his in-laws,” James chuckled.

“He likes me well enough,” Natasha looked up to James with a smirk.

“Where is he?” Darcy wondered, inching her way out of the bed carefully, mainly so that Talia and Yasha didn't scold her. She felt great. Better than great actually.

“We made him take a sleeping potion,” Natasha admitted. “He agreed to it, he was out of his mind with worry.”

“He's in the room across the hall,” James gestured with a sharp nod of his head to her door. “Go on, kitten. We have all the time in the world. Go let him know you're okay.”

They accepted her kisses gratefully before watching her run out of the room. James squeezed Natasha's shoulder and she looked up at him with a soft smile.

  
  
  


“All the time in the world,” she repeated.

“I'd say we earned it,” James nodded, leaning down slowly, licking his bottom lip with serious intent.

“I hate to admit it,” Natasha sighed dramatically as he kissed her forehead, then her lips briefly. “But I think you may be right for once.”

“Had to happen eventually,” James smirked, kissing her again, longer this time. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” Natasha replied automatically. “For what?”

“For you and your little kitten-girl,” James smiled. “I don't think I would have survived without you.”

* * *

Darcy smiled down at Steve as he rested, a crease of worry between his brows, his pouty bottom lip pushed out in a frown. She looked down and saw the shield by the side of the bed and went for the piece of paper he still kept behind the harness.

_ The undersigned do hereby agree to remain friends above all else, and to each retain an equal right to call all shenanigans off with no reason necessary _

She searched the room and came up with something resembling a pen in the bedside table and revised the contract, initialing it and smiling decisively. She put the contract down before climbing up on the bed with Steve, straddling his body and putting her hands on his chest.

“Steve,” she said softly. No response. A little louder, “STEVE.”

Nothing.

She rolled her eyes and shouted, “NO FANDRAL, I DON'T WANT TO SEE IF THE GOATEE TICKLES.”

He twitched in his sleep. She rolled her eyes and bent forward, gently kissing that pouting, worried frown until she felt his arms move, his hands going to her forearms as he came back to the land of the living.

“Sleeping Beauty awakens,” she smiled against his mouth.

“True love's kiss works after all,” he smiled right back. She was a miracle. A living, breathing miracle in his arms, and she was his. His hands ran up and down her arms and he wondered, “How do you feel?”

“So good,” Darcy hummed, letting him pull her against his chest, one hand at the back of her head, cuddling it against his shoulder, the other hand rubbing up and down her back reassuringly. “I love you.”

“I'm never going to get sick of hearing that,” Steve admitted.

“You better mean that, because you're kind of stuck with me for the long haul now,” Darcy laughed.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Steve kissed the top of her forehead. “So much.”

“Oh good, then you can initial that,” Darcy waved her hand at the paper on the table.

Steve picked up the contract that had remained tucked into his shield for three years. The paper had been high quality, but after being dropped into a river and seeing countless battles, it was beginning to look a little worn. He smiled at her and read out loud, “The undersigned do hereby agree to remain best friends above all else, and to each retain the right to love one another for the rest of their long-ass lives and have as many shenanigans as superhumanly possible.”

“Amenable terms, Colonel States?” Darcy kissed his collarbone absently before sitting back up so that she could stare down at him.

“One revision,” Steve reached for the small pencil stub he kept in his front pocket. He handed it to her and watched her reaction carefully.

“Remain best friends and spouses above all else,” Darcy read in a whisper. She looked back up at him and asked seriously, “You do know that Bucky Barnes is going to be your father-in-law, right?”

Steve shifted and reached into his right pocket and pulled out the ring box he had been carrying around non-stop for nearly two months. He popped it open and there was a small pearl ring, with two modest diamonds on either side of the pretty shimmering pearl.

“He helped me pick it out,” Steve told her. “I have to tell you, sweetheart, if you don't agree to marry me, we can't have any more sex. I'm not running the risk of defiling my best pal's baby girl any more.”

“If I say yes, will you defile me right away?” Darcy proposed as she wiggled on top of him. He groaned involuntarily and she laughed. “I know, I know, I'm going to be the death of you.”

* * *

**Six Months Later**

“Really good dinner, sweetness. Totally tasty.”

“Don't call her that.”

Sam smirked at the simultaneous reaction from Steve, Bucky and Tony Stark. It was one of the perks of his close relationship with Darcy Lewis soon-to-be Rogers. Steve got adorably possessive (Sam didn't have to be her therapist to know that it was her hidden kink). Bucky got irrationally protective (everyone knew that Steve was the only acceptable man for his daughter). And Tony was insanely jealous that Sam took up what he called  _ precious sass ammo from his adopted daughter _ .

While Bucky and Tony had formed a tentative friendship, Bucky drew the line when Tony joked about adopting Darcy or being Darcy's biological father. She had both of her parents with her now, thank you very much. It had only taken one joke from Tony about jointly walking her down the aisle to have Bucky routinely using the little office Darcy had in the workshop to clean his rifle obsessively while shooting intense glares Tony's way.

Besides, both he and Natalia were walking her down the aisle before she would take her place next to Darcy with Jane and he would take his place next to Steve with Sam.

“So, before I bring dessert out, I have some activities we could pick from,” Darcy grinned. “Monopoly.”

“HELL NO,” Clint scrunched his face up in disgust. “Cap's a tyrant.”

“Pictionary,” Darcy offered.

“Half of the people at this table can converse with their eyebrows,” Jane rolled her eyes. “No thank you.”

“I have an idea,” James smiled at Darcy, conversing his intentions to her with his eyebrows. “Hide.”

Darcy cackled giddily as she ran from the room.

“First one to find her doesn't have to do dinner cleanup,” Sam suggested.

“You're so on, Parakeet-boy,” Tony laughed.

“Using JARVIS is cheating,” Pepper warned him.

“I would never compromise Miss Lewis' whereabouts,” JARVIS replied steadily. “She has asked me to announce that the games can now commence.”

  
  


“She's hidden already? This is going to be so easy,” Sam chuckled as he hopped out of his chair and ran from the room, eager to find her.

One by one, each of the family night dinner guests ran from the room in a separate direction until only Steve, Natasha and Bucky remained.

“So, when I find her in five minutes, you want me to keep her occupied to give you two some privacy?” Steve smirked at his soon to be in-laws. He'd discovered what they were doing less than two weeks after they had returned from Asgard. He imagined it had been the same all those years ago in Russia. Tell Darcy to hide so they could get fifteen minutes to themselves before heading out to find her.

Now they made it a group activity to get more than Darcy occupied.

“Five minutes?” Natasha looked at him skeptically.

“I know my girl,” Steve said confidently, strolling out of the room with his hands in his pockets, whistling innocently.

“Smarmy punk,” Bucky wrinkled his nose in exaggerated disgust.

“Now, now, we have at least the next half an hour before we're interrupted,” Natasha smirked at him. “Let's not waste time thinking about your dumb best friend.”

“Definitely not wasting time anymore,” Bucky waggled his eyebrows at her before grabbing her hand and rushing to their favorite spot in the common rooms, a generously sized closet where Darcy kept all of the blankets and pillows she used for movie night, along with all of her board game collection.

“Agent Romanoff, I am to advise you and Sergeant Barnes that Captain Rogers has found Miss Lewis,” JARVIS said with surprising quietness.

“Where was she, JARVIS?” Natasha wondered as Bucky blew out an exasperated breath against her throat before kissing her with more urgency. It was a race against the clock now. Would Steve be able to keep her hidden from the rest of the team and occupied enough to give them time to finish up?

They would both be lying if they said the pressure didn't add to their enjoyment.

“Miss Lewis was hiding in the latest of Sir's suits.”

“Our girl is so smart,” Natasha chuckled. Tony would never think she had the audacity to touch one of his suits.

“Takes after my old lady,” Bucky nipped at Natasha's earlobe. He pulled away very suddenly and looked at her with absolute honesty before he shook his head in stunned amazement. “Love you.”

"Hmm, love you too."

* * *

* * *

The End


	19. The Widow's Girl Alternate Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: The Widow's Girl: Alternate Ending
> 
> Summary:  
> This is an alternate ending to "The Widow's Girl". Read at your own risk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Not Rated  
> Archive Warning: Major Character Death  
> Category: F/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov, Darcy Lewis/Steve  
> Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Darcy Lewis, Darcy Lewis &  
> Natasha Romanov  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve  
> Rogers  
> Additional Tags: alternate ending to The Widow's girl, super duper sad  
> Series: Part 2 of The Widow's Girl  
> Stats: Published: 2015-12-19 Words: 5190

WARNING:  MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH IN THIS ALTERNATE ENDING

 

  
  


** Chapter Fourteen: It's Above and Beyond Me **

“Darce, please, please, don't leave me,” Steve sobbed, bending again so that he could kiss her cold forehead. “I can't do it without you, please.”

Natasha's entire body crumpled with the force of her cries and James looked to her, feeling her pain, his right hand reaching for her shoulder, even as he kept his hand on Darcy's wound. He could feel the light in their life slowly snuffing out as Darcy's heart beat slowed.

Thor watched, pained and he murmured something in Jane's ear as she clung to him, shaking with sobs. She pulled away nodding rapidly, her eyes wide and suddenly eager.

“Heimdall!” Thor shouted.

James snapped his attention to Thor momentarily before going back to Darcy, her eyes closed, her heartbeat so slow it was practically non-existent.

“Thor has an idea,” Jane explained. “We're taking her to Asgard.”

“All of us,” Natasha confirmed.

“Of course,” Thor nodded.

Steve barely had time to grab his shield before the portal opened. The light was blinding suddenly, forming a circle around Darcy and her loved ones.

The trip was brief and James barely had a moment to marvel at where they had landed before a group of strangers reached for Darcy. He glared at them and made a move to defend the prone girl when Natasha reached a hand out to him and shook her head.

“As her parents, you and I must discuss a few things,” Thor said quietly as the healers rushed Darcy away, Steve and Jane quick to follow. Thor held James and Natasha back and he smiled at them sadly, “Darcy will not survive this wound without Asgardian assistance.”

“That's what we're here for, right?” James furrowed his brow.

“Not medical assistance,” Thor shook his head. “We have a remedy...used on our warriors who have been mortally wounded. Brewed from Iðunn's apples.”

“Then give it to her,” James demanded. “Now, give it to her now.”

“Yasha,” Natasha said softly, her hand going to his and squeezing. She felt something slot into place inside of her when he entwined their fingers and gripped hers tightly.

“She will be changed,” Thor revealed. “In that she will hardly ever change.”

* * *

“Stevie, I need to talk to you,” James called from the doorway to Darcy's room where the healers were working on her.

Natasha walked into the room and stood shoulder to shoulder with Jane, nodding at Steve before watching the work the healers were doing carefully.

“Is she going to be okay?” Steve wondered of his friend, looking so much younger in his worry than he should. “What did Thor say?”

“So...we've been alive almost a hundred years,” James furrowed his brow. “I was out of the ice for at least ten years altogether...never aged a damn day.”

“Yeah, it's the serum,” Steve nodded. “Nat's a lot older than she looks too. It's going to take a hell of a long time for us to look our age.”

“Yeah, but Darcy, Darcy is normal,” James said softly. He watched as a healer brought in a tray with a vial full of golden liquid. “You know her better than I do, punk. I mean, I knew how to make her giggle when she was three, you know her secrets now. Way of the world, right? The father gets replaced by a big dumb boy.”

“Buck, come on,” Steve shook his head in confusion. “What's going on?”

“Thor has this---magic thing,” James was at a loss. “He says it'll work. She'll be good as new in a day or so.”

“Okay, then do it,” Steve nodded eagerly, embracing the bloom of hope that flared in his chest.

“Two things,” James took a breath, readying himself to explain what was about to happen.

Darcy's cries of pain echoed throughout the stone halls of the palace. Steve's eyes widened in shock and he went to dash for her, but James held him back, just barely.

“It's gonna hurt her,” James revealed, straining to keep Steve from running back into the room. “A lot. Thor said it's changing her fate, her insides...it's painful.”

“Let me go!” Steve growled at his best friend, eager to go to Darcy, whose banshee wails of pain were the loudest and most terrifying thing he had ever heard.

“You can't do anything for her now,” James insisted, fighting his own urge to give in and go and hold the girl that was in pain. “None of us can touch her until its done. We don't want to risk it not working, so calm the hell down!”

Steve drew in heaving breaths as he stopped struggling and stood at the doorway, his hands clenching his shield tightly. He looked to Bucky as Darcy continued to wail.

“What's the second thing?”

* * *

“ _ Darcy.” _

“ _ Of Pemberly.” _

“ _ Your name is Darcy, now kitten.” _

“ _ Me to tell you how---how ardently,” the little girl stumbled over the big words a little, but her diction was perfect, the accent identical to the one Natalia had used to read the story to her.“I admire and love you.” _

“ _ I love you too, Darcy,” Natalia reached for the girl and pulled her into a hug, trying to keep her tears at bay as she tried to memorize the feeling. That perfect contentment that holding the baby gave her. The way Darcy clung to her and pressed her soft, velvety cheek against her neck, chubby fingers stroking the shell of her ear. _

“ _ Don't cry,” Darcy whispered in Russian. _

“ _ English, now, please, kitten,” Natalia sniffled. “You are to go with your pappa, you must speak English. And be a good girl.” _

“ _ No. It's too hard,” Darcy shook her head, pulling away and looking up at her mother with an impish grin. “Where are we going?” _

“ _ You are going to go live in America,” Natalia smiled. “You'll find a new family, and friends, and you will be safe, and happy.” _

“ _ No,” Darcy looked at her Talia with wide, confused eyes. She was perfectly happy just where she was. She didn't need anything new. “You're my mamma. Yash is my pappa.” _

“ _ I must say goodbye to you, kitten,” Natalia shook her head. “I don't want to. If it were up to me, I would hold you close to me every day. I would watch you grow and I would love you until my last breath and even after that. But I must say goodbye, so that you can grow and can be safe. I love you.” _

“ _ I love you, mamma,” Darcy nodded, her little fingers wiping inefficiently at the tears that had fallen from the corners of Natalia's eyes. She kissed her cheek and smiled, “I'll see you when I come home.” _

* * *

Darcy blinked her eyes open, seeing that familiar sapphire looking back at her, the eyes slightly red and wet, but looking relieved.

“Mamma,” Darcy whispered.

“I'm right here, kitten,” Natasha smiled down at her. “How do you feel?”

“Alive,” Darcy breathed out a chuckle. “How am I alive?”

“Thor brought you to Asgard,” Natasha revealed. She looked to the door where James was walking in. He came to stand behind her at Darcy's bedside, smiling down at the girl with fond adoration. Natasha felt a warmth in her chest when James wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Yasha and I had to make a decision, and I hope that you agree it was the right one.”

“Oh God, am I Valkyrie?” Darcy sat up suddenly looking down at her body, marveling that the pain that had been so intense when she had been shot was gone. She looked down the white linen shift she had been changed into after the change was finished and furrowed her brow at the smooth skin of her stomach, not a trace of a wound to be found.

“Not unless you want to,” James laughed. “I think poor Steve's brains will fall out of his head if you dress up like that Sif lady.”

“You were dying,” Natasha continued to plow ahead with her story, knowing that between James and Darcy, all rational conversation could be easily derailed. “Thor brought us to Asgard, and the healers gave you medicine that is usually used on the mortal wounds of demi-gods.”

“The apple?” Darcy's eyes widened. “Jane said that when she and Thor get married she'll have to take it...to live as long as he does...did, did they give it to me?”

“It was the only way,” James nodded, biting his bottom lip anxiously, worried that she would react badly to the fact that her lifespan had just extended dramatically.

“Darcy?” Natasha whispered after a few extended moments of silence. “Are you upset with us?”

“Am I upset with you?” Darcy looked at them in confusion. “Why would I be upset with you?”

“Oh thank God,” James blew out a relieved breath.

“I'm---I'm not going to get older than Steve...or you two,” Darcy shook her head in amazement. “I'm never going to have to leave you.”

“I will never let you leave me,” Natasha smiled genuinely at the girl she called her daughter. “Never again.”

“Stevie's going to have to get used to his in-laws,” James chuckled.

“He likes me well enough,” Natasha looked up to James with a smirk.

“Where is he?” Darcy wondered, inching her way out of the bed carefully, mainly so that Talia and Yasha didn't scold her. She felt great. Better than great actually.

“We made him take a sleeping potion,” Natasha admitted. “He agreed to it, he was out of his mind with worry.”

“He's in the room across the hall,” James gestured with a sharp nod of his head to her door. “Go on, kitten. We have all the time in the world. Go let him know you're okay.”

They accepted her kisses gratefully before watching her run out of the room. James squeezed Natasha's shoulder and she looked up at him with a soft smile.

  
  
  


“All the time in the world,” she repeated.

“I'd say we earned it,” James nodded, leaning down slowly, licking his bottom lip with serious intent.

“I hate to admit it,” Natasha sighed dramatically as he kissed her forehead, then her lips briefly. “But I think you may be right for once.”

“Had to happen eventually,” James smirked, kissing her again, longer this time. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” Natasha replied automatically. “For what?”

“For you and your little kitten-girl,” James smiled. “I don't think I would have survived without you.”

* * *

Darcy smiled down at Steve as he rested, a crease of worry between his brows, his pouty bottom lip pushed out in a frown. She looked down and saw the shield by the side of the bed and went for the piece of paper he still kept behind the harness.

_ The undersigned do hereby agree to remain friends above all else, and to each retain an equal right to call all shenanigans off with no reason necessary _

She searched the room and came up with something resembling a pen in the bedside table and revised the contract, initialing it and smiling decisively. She put the contract down before climbing up on the bed with Steve, straddling his body and putting her hands on his chest.

“Steve,” she said softly. No response. A little louder, “STEVE.”

Nothing.

She rolled her eyes and shouted, “NO FANDRAL, I DON'T WANT TO SEE IF THE GOATEE TICKLES.”

He twitched in his sleep. She rolled her eyes and bent forward, gently kissing that pouting, worried frown until she felt his arms move, his hands going to her forearms as he came back to the land of the living.

“Sleeping Beauty awakens,” she smiled against his mouth.

“True love's kiss works after all,” he smiled right back. She was a miracle. A living, breathing miracle in his arms, and she was his. His hands ran up and down her arms and he wondered, “How do you feel?”

“So good,” Darcy hummed, letting him pull her against his chest, one hand at the back of her head, cuddling it against his shoulder, the other hand rubbing up and down her back reassuringly. “I love you.”

“I'm never going to get sick of hearing that,” Steve admitted.

“You better mean that, because you're kind of stuck with me for the long haul now,” Darcy laughed.

“I love you, sweetheart,” Steve kissed the top of her forehead. “So much.”

“Oh good, then you can initial that,” Darcy waved her hand at the paper on the table.

Steve picked up the contract that had remained tucked into his shield for three years. The paper had been high quality, but after being dropped into a river and seeing countless battles, it was beginning to look a little worn. He smiled at her and read out loud, “The undersigned do hereby agree to remain best friends above all else, and to each retain the right to love one another for the rest of their long-ass lives and have as many shenanigans as superhumanly possible.”

“Amenable terms, Colonel States?” Darcy kissed his collarbone absently before sitting back up so that she could stare down at him.

“One revision,” Steve reached for the small pencil stub he kept in his front pocket. He handed it to her and watched her reaction carefully.

“Remain best friends and spouses above all else,” Darcy read in a whisper. She looked back up at him and asked seriously, “You do know that Bucky Barnes is going to be your father-in-law, right?”

Steve shifted and reached into his right pocket and pulled out the ring box he had been carrying around non-stop for nearly two months. He popped it open and there was a small pearl ring, with two modest diamonds on either side of the pretty shimmering pearl.

“He helped me pick it out,” Steve told her. “I have to tell you, sweetheart, if you don't agree to marry me, we can't have any more sex. I'm not running the risk of defiling my best pal's baby girl any more.”

“If I say yes, will you defile me right away?” Darcy proposed as she wiggled on top of him. He groaned involuntarily and she laughed. “I know, I know, I'm going to be the death of you.”

* * *

“Really good dinner, sweetness. Totally tasty.”

“Don't call her that.”

Sam smirked at the simultaneous reaction from Steve, Bucky and Tony Stark. It was one of the perks of his close relationship with Darcy Lewis soon-to-be Rogers. Steve got adorably possessive (Sam didn't have to be her therapist to know that it was her hidden kink). Bucky got irrationally protective (everyone knew that Steve was the only acceptable man for his daughter). And Tony was insanely jealous that Sam took up what he called  _ precious sass ammo from his adopted daughter _ .

While Bucky and Tony had formed a tentative friendship, Bucky drew the line when Tony joked about adopting Darcy or being Darcy's biological father. She had both of her parents with her now, thank you very much. It had only taken one joke from Tony about jointly walking her down the aisle to have Bucky routinely using the little office Darcy had in the workshop to clean his rifle obsessively while shooting intense glares Tony's way.

Besides, both he and Natalia were walking her down the aisle before she would take her place next to Darcy and he would take his place next to Steve.

“So, before I bring dessert out, I have some activities we could pick from,” Darcy grinned. “Monopoly.”

“HELL NO,” Clint scrunched his face up in disgust. “Cap's a tyrant.”

“Pictionary,” Darcy offered.

“Half of the people at this table can converse with their eyebrows,” Jane rolled her eyes. “No thank you.”

“I have an idea,” James smiled at Darcy, conversing his intentions to her with his eyebrows. “Hide.”

Darcy cackled giddily as she ran from the room.

“First one to find her doesn't have to do dinner cleanup,” Sam suggested.

“You're so on, Parakeet-boy,” Tony laughed.

“Using JARVIS is cheating,” Pepper warned him.

“I would never compromise Miss Lewis' whereabouts,” JARVIS replied steadily. “She has asked me to announce that the games can now commence.”

  
  


“She's hidden already? This is going to be so easy,” Sam chuckled as he hopped out of his chair and ran from the room, eager to find her.

One by one, each of the family night dinner guests ran from the room in a separate direction until only Steve, Natasha and Bucky remained.

“So, when I find her in five minutes, you want me to keep her occupied to give you two some privacy?” Steve smirked at his soon to be in-laws. He'd discovered what they were doing less than two weeks after they had returned from Asgard. He imagined it had been the same all those years ago in Russia. Tell Darcy to hide so they could get fifteen minutes to themselves before heading out to find her.

Now they made it a group activity to get more than Darcy occupied.

“Five minutes?” Natasha looked at him skeptically.

“I know my girl,” Steve said confidently, strolling out of the room with his hands in his pockets, whistling innocently.

“Smarmy punk,” Bucky wrinkled his nose in exaggerated disgust.

“Now, now, we have at least the next half an hour before we're interrupted,” Natasha smirked at him. “Let's not waste time thinking about your dumb best friend.”

“Definitely not wasting time anymore,” Bucky waggled his eyebrows at her before grabbing her hand and rushing to their favorite spot in the common rooms, a generously sized closet where Darcy kept all of the blankets and pillows she used for movie night, along with all of her board game collection.

“Agent Romanoff, I am to advise you and Sergeant Barnes that Captain Rogers has found Miss Lewis,” JARVIS said with surprising quietness.

“Where was she, JARVIS?” Natasha wondered as Bucky blew out an exasperated breath against her throat before kissing her with more urgency. It was a race against the clock now. Would Steve be able to keep her hidden from the rest of the team and occupied enough to give them time to finish up?

They would both be lying if they said the pressure didn't add to their enjoyment.

“Miss Lewis was hiding in the latest of Sir's suits.”

“Our girl is so smart,” Natasha chuckled. Tony would never think she had the audacity to touch one of his suits.

“Takes after my old lady,” Bucky nipped at Natasha's earlobe. He pulled away very suddenly and looked at her with absolute honesty before he shook his head in stunned amazement. “Love you.”

"Hmmm.  Love you too."

* * *

“Steven, do you promise to love the Lady Darcy for the rest of all eternity? Through life and death and forever after?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Lady Darcy...”

“Yes. Absolutely, yes I do.”

The small group gathered for the wedding laughed at Darcy's eagerness. Thor, who was officiating shrugged and continued.

“You are bound to each other, for the rest of all time. May your love only grow, may your family be as strong as as the roots of Yggdrasil,” Thor held his hands over Darcy's and Steve's and they grinned at each other to feel the warmth, to feel some kind of magic take hold, bonding them forever. Thor grinned at them happily. “You may kiss your life's partner, Steven.”

* * *

“Oh! One more gift!” Darcy grinned, holding out a small wrapped box as Steve wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed as gently as he could.

James took the shiny green box while Natasha pulled at the red bow wrapped around it, letting it fall at their feet. James lifted the lid and Natasha pulled away at tissue paper.

“Oh my God,” Natasha breathed, lifting the silver photo frame out. Etched into the silver was the word _grandchild_ and inside the frame was a picture of an ultrasound showing a tiny blip of a fetus, thirteen weeks along.

“Really?” James looked up at Darcy and Steve, too easy tears in his eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah, Buck,” Steve nodded, his own eyes watery and shining with happiness. “I'm gonna be a dad!”

“Stevie, I'm so happy for you...and I hope its a girl, and I hope she tortures you the same way you've been torturing ME for the last five years!”

* * *

“What were you thinking you incredible asshole?!???!”

“Darce, sweetheart, calm down,” Steve put up his hands as she punched him repeatedly in his shoulder. If she could reach, he was sure she'd have socked him in the eye. But her overly large, two days late pregnant belly limited her range of motion.

“YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!” she shrieked at him. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?”

“I was thinking that there was a bus full of people that were gonna die,” Steve said as gently as he could. “It's kind of my job to make sure that doesn't happen.”

“Your job SUCKS!” Darcy grumbled. She sniffed and in a matter of mere seconds she was bawling. “I hate your job.”

“I know, sweetheart, I know,” Steve nodded. “I know it didn't look like I was being careful, but I promise I was.”

“You told me all those years ago that you couldn't do this without me,” Darcy reminded him. Her hand went to the swollen belly that was their baby girl. Little Maggie Rogers was taking her sweet old time, despite the fact that Darcy had told her she had been running out of room weeks ago. “I can't do this without you, Steve. You have to remember that.”

“I will, Darce, I promise, I'll always come home to you,” Steve swore, putting his hands down out of their defensive stance and reaching for her. He breathed the smell of her hair in and sighed with contentment as her baby bump rubbed against him. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Darcy sniffled. She let out a squeak and looked down between their bodies. “I think my water just broke.”

* * *

The baby wailing in the darkness of night had Darcy groaning and rolling over in bed, swatting at Steve's face.

“Your turn,” she grumbled.

“She doesn't want what I can give her,” Steve shook his head. Maggie would no doubt try to suckle at Steve's massive pecs, but she only got more pissed at there not being anything there. “You didn't pump today, 'member?”

“Just bring her to me and hold her while I sleep,” Darcy waved her hand.

Steve chuckled and got out of the bed, going to the cradle and picking up his seven month old daughter. She was all big blue eyes and honey colored curls, fat and soft and beautiful. She quieted when he held her, cuddling against his chest and he felt a bone-crushing contentment as he slipped into bed beside his sleeping wife.

Maggie didn't seem to want to nurse, she just wanted to be held, so Steve happily did that, lying down and cuddling the baby girl between his body and Darcy's.

“I love my girls,” Steve sighed, watching as they both slept, an identical soft snore echoing in the dark room. “My perfect ladies.”

* * *

“Graymamma and graypappa, Mags don like new baby.”

“Is that so, little Mags?” James smiled down at the two and a half year old little girl. “What did sweet little Joseph ever do to you?”

“He cryin' all the time,” Maggie tattled. “Wahwah crybaby!”

“You used to cry all the time,” Natasha reminded the little girl. “Yesterday you cried because your father didn't know which socks you wanted to wear.”

“Nuh uh,” Maggie disputed. She held up a tiny finger and explained theatrically, “Mags cry cause Daddy lost the socks. Cause the monster ate them and daddy didn't smash it. And den Unca Sammy said you doin' it wrong! And den he call aunt Sharon and laugh at daddy.”

James stifled a laugh while Natasha pulled on every skill she had to keep her face straight. While Maggie didn't possess her mother's talent with language, she certainly had the flair for the dramatic story telling, complete with ridiculously exaggerated facial expressions.

“When Joey gonna be a funner baby?” Maggie wondered. “he only eats. Is boring.”

“Sooner than you think, baby girl,” Natasha shook her head, marveling at the little girl who had gone from cuddly, swaddled lump to talkative, charming troublemaker in the blink of an eye. “You'll be causing all sorts of trouble with him in no time.”

* * *

“MOMMY!”

“MOMMY!”

“ ** MOMMY!” **

“Mommy ran away!” Darcy shouted from the bathroom. Her six-year-old and four-year-old were doing battle with one another over the equal distribution of legos. And she was sitting on her toilet, staring at the little plastic wand that she had just peed on. Two definite lines appeared and Darcy laughed. “One pill. I missed _one_ pill. Super sperm! You and your mother fucking super sperm!”

“Darce? Sweetheart?” the keeper of said super sperm called out from the front door to their soon to be overcrowded apartment. “Where are you? Why does Mags have Joey stuffed under the couch?”

Steve opened the bathroom door and looked in to see Darcy in a bout of hysterical, silent laughter, waving a stick around in the air.

“I hate your sperm!” Darcy managed to wail.

“Sweetheart?” Steve whispered. He got down on his knees in front of his wife and looked at her with big blue, concerned eyes. “It's going to be okay.”

“Says you,” Darcy grumbled. “You don't know that.”

“Yes I do, I know it'll be okay,” Steve smiled at her. “I have you. Nothing could go wrong.”

* * *

“DARCY!”

Darcy's eyes blinked open once more, hearing her mother's harsh shout.

“Nice dream,” she whispered. She looked between her mother, her father and finally Steve. “We called her Maggie. And then we had Joey. And if this ones a girl, it should be Thalia or Jamie...”

“Okay,” Steve nodded at her. He had no idea what she was mumbling about. Her words were a jumble, running together. “Sweetheart, keep talking to me, I can hear the paramedics, they're on the way.”

“Hey big thunder,” Darcy smiled at Thor. “Got any magic up your cape?”

“Lady Darcy---I, I wish that I could be of assistance,” Thor promised.

“S'okay,” Darcy tried to smile. “If I have to go, wanted you all here. I miss...I miss Clint. And Sammy...”

“Well just hold on, cause you can see them when they visit you in the hospital,” Natasha promised.

James felt her pulse jolt through the sensors in his metal arm. He turned wide eyes away from Darcy for just a moment to look at Natasha in a panic. They had tried so hard. They had given her up when they needed her most. They had tried to protect her, to shield her from anything that could hurt her, to give her a life she deserved.

It was all for nothing. Darcy gasped for air. Her heart gave another odd jolt. And then there was nothing. The beating of her heart was gone. The light in those big, blue expressive eyes went cold. Steve's shout of pain was the loudest thing James had ever heard and he felt himself being shoved away as Steve pulled Darcy into his arms, cradling her lifeless body in his arms, his body convulsing in sobs.

James looked to Natasha, her face blank even as a storm raged in those sapphire blue eyes. She rose from her kneeling position and walked slowly towards where security was leading the man who had taken Darcy from them. James was quick to follow her, wrapping his arms around her so that she couldn't do what she wanted, which was to murder the man and anyone else who would get in her way of doing so.

“No, Natalia, no,” James shook his head. He held her tight, despite her using every ounce of her strength to try to get away. “No.”

“Our girl,” Natasha whispered. “He took our kitten.”

“I know, I know,” James nodded.

“I don't know what to do if she's not here,” Natasha shook her head.

“I don't either,” James acknowledged, his voice barely heard. He looked back to Steve, who was still crying as his body shook with his grief, Darcy still limp in his arms. “She'd want us to help him.”

“There is no help for him,” Natasha choked out. “There's nothing for any of us.”

The paramedics finally arrived, only to pronounce her dead. Natasha felt as if they might as well have pronounced Steve dead too. She watched in sorrow as James tried to get Steve to let go of Darcy, only to have the man hold her even tighter. It took both James and Thor to pull him away, and they could barely hold on to him when he tried to go after her when the coroner came along.

“C'mon pal, c'mon, lets go,” James put his hand on Steve's shoulder and squeezed. “Let's go home.”

“I don't have a home without her, Buck,” Steve shook his head. He shrugged Bucky's touch away, looked down at the shield that was laying in a pool of Darcy's blood and choked back another wave of sobs. He left it lie before turning around and walking slowly away.

* * *

The next time anyone saw Steve was at Darcy's funeral. Sam and Bucky both approached the man who was watching from a distance, looking like an entirely different man. In less than two weeks, Steve seemed smaller, as if he hadn't eaten a thing and let his super metabolism destroy every ounce of muscle from his body. His eyes were bloodshot and red, his face covered in scruff.

“Hey, Steve,” Sam said softly as he walked towards his friend. “I've missed you.”

“I'm not coming back,” Steve shook his head.

“Okay,” James nodded, ignoring Sam's angry look. “Alright, Steve. I understand.”

“If you need us, please, call us,” Sam begged. Steve had no response, he simply turned and walked away. He felt like he had lost both of his best friends in the span of a week. If Steve didn't reach out for help or accept the help any of them would eagerly give, he had no doubt that he would be joining Darcy in no time. Sam's heart ached with it.

* * *

“Would this have happened if we hadn't let her go?” Natasha whispered as she and James sat in Darcy and Steve's apartment amongst the boxes that were scheduled to go into storage. All of Steve and Darcy's things crammed into dozens of boxes. Her girl's whole life, ready to go into permanent storage.

“Would she have been a kindhearted girl that just wanted to give money to a politician that she believed in?” James shrugged. “Probably not.”

“We should have kept her then,” Natasha nodded. “Held on for as long as we could have.”

“Yeah,” James nodded. He looked down at the ring box that Steve had never been able to give their kitten-girl. It was empty. James had insisted she be buried with it on. “We should have kept her.”

 


	20. A Super Soldier Package Deal (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: A Super Soldier Package Deal
> 
> Summary:  
> Darcy Lewis knew that Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes came as a package deal. A two-for-one special. A buy one get one free deal. An order now and we'll throw in this free formerly brainwashed assassin for a limited time only offer.  
> So when she started dating Steve a few months ago, she knew she'd be seeing a lot more of Bucky Barnes.  
> But she still had no idea how much and how soon and HOW much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Explicit  
> Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Category: F/M, M/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, background sam  
> wilson/natasha romanoff, Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky"  
> Barnes/Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel)  
> Additional Tags: happy fake b-day jesus. here have some porn, WinterShieldShock,  
> bucky and steve come as a package deal, bucky and steve are  
> sneaky bastards when they really want something, hint: they want  
> darcy, darcy can't do feeings the right way, the black widow is the  
> greatest person in the universe, dumb characters making dumb  
> choices that are entertaining to read?, butt stuff and threesome stuff  
> and dubious dating practices, Voyeurism  
> Stats: Published: 2015-12-25 Completed: 2016-01-09 Chapters: 14/14  
> Words: 55369

** Chapter One: Sharing is Caring **

Darcy Lewis knew that Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes came as a package deal.

  
  


A two-for-one special.

  
  


A buy one get one free deal.

An order now and we'll throw in this free formerly brainwashed assassin for a limited time only offer.

So when she agreed to go out on a dinner date with Steve Rogers a few months ago, she had a feeling she was going to start seeing a lot more of Bucky Barnes. Natasha and Sam had even warned her as much.

But she still had no idea how much and how soon and how  _ much _ .

* * *

“Aren't the two of you done yet?”

Steve heaved a heavy sigh and Darcy gaped like a fish as Bucky stood outside of the restaurant that Steve and Darcy had just had a very nice first date together. Seriously, it had been the nicest date Darcy had ever been on.  Darcy still couldn't believe it was actually happening.  Steve had thought she had turned him down at first due to the hysterical laughter that had followed his asking her out.  Once she had calmed down she called Natasha and asked if super soldiers could get concussions or brain damage.  Eventually she managed to shrug and give a vaguely confirming vowel sound.  And she had been so glad she did.  Steve was just the right amount of sweet and snarky and sassy all tied up in one of the prettiest packages she had ever seen. She was totally willing to let him slide right on past first base and into second.

And when she had been about to suggest going back to her place in the tower for  _ coffee _ , there Barnes was, smirking at the two of them, petulant and smarmy and obnoxious in that effortlessly sexy way of his that just made her want to slap him upside his head.

“Seriously?” she demanded. “I'm going to hit you, Sarge.”

“Aww, don't do that Princess,” Bucky gave her his best sexy, smirking face. He stood between Steve and Darcy and wrapped his metal arm around her shoulders before wrapping his other arm around Steve's. “Let's go and get some ice cream.”

* * *

 

Two weeks after their first date found Darcy pinned underneath Steve's bulk on her couch, her tongue licking the shell of his ear as he panted above her, his hands gripping her outer thighs as he ground his fully clothed lower half against her fully clothed lower half as if they were two teenagers in an empty house for the first time together.

“Is it too early to tell you that I want to bang you like a screen door in a hurricane?” Darcy murmured in his ear before finding that spot just behind his ear lobe that had him losing a bit of his higher motor function.

“Is it wrong that I don't care if its too early?” Steve groaned against her.

They had managed to have six and a half dates in the last two weeks, each one interrupted at some point by Bucky. The movie date at an incredibly old movie house in Brooklyn had seemed private enough, until the lights went up and she had turned to see Bucky smiling down at her from the seat behind where she and Steve had spent the better part of _It Happened One Night_ filthily making out.

“Next time you can sit between us, Princess,” Bucky had waggled his eyebrows at her before getting a face full of stale popcorn thrown at him.

The three and a half lunch dates (the half had ended due to a call to assemble), had gone swimmingly, except for the fact that Bucky had shown up at the end of each of them, finishing anything on Darcy's plate and acting as the world's worst chaperone as they walked back to the Tower, offering to show Steve how to kiss a pair of perfectly pouty lips properly.

A trip to the Met had found Bucky standing shoulder to shoulder with a bored Darcy as Steve stared endlessly at painting after boring painting.

“Let's go make out in that corner,” Bucky suggested, winking at her lewdly.

“Thats _never_ going to happen, Sarge,” Darcy scoffed, storming away.

“One day, you're going to eat those words.”

So on their sixth date, a simple homemade dinner at Darcy's apartment in the Tower, Darcy couldn't help but take advantage of her locked door and privacy protocols upheld by JARVIS as she put the chicken in the oven before climbing Steve Rogers like a very sexy tree.

They had been making out on the couch for half an hour, Steve had his hands up Darcy's sweater, contently groping two large handfuls of Darcy's perfect breasts as they rutted against each other like horny teenagers.

“Don't worry, I made sure the chicken is okay,” Bucky grinned down at them. “Least you could do is take her shirt off so we can all see what's got you nearly coming in your pants, Rogers.”

“C'mon, Buck,” Steve groaned. “Give us a minute.”

“It'll only take a minute?” Bucky mocked. He gave Darcy a very sexy look and promised, “Princess, I would take you apart for at least an hour.”

“GET OUT!” Darcy screamed at him, all the while trying to keep her hysterical giggles contained.  Barnes was an irritating son of a bitch, but he was a hilariously irritating son of a bitch. 

* * *

 

“Why does he do it?” Darcy wondered, three weeks later as she lay cuddled against a sweaty and exhausted Steve in her bed. She had managed to increase the security of her apartment, thanks to Natasha so that Bucky had not been able to interrupt the daily sex sessions she and Steve had started two weeks ago. “Is it just a part of his brain that's broken now? Like...no boundaries?”

“No, he's always been like that,” Steve shrugged. “Think he likes you.”

“Huh, weird,” Darcy nodded. “Is---is that going to be a problem? For the two of you, or for you and me?”

“It's only a problem if you want it to be a problem, sweetheart,” Steve mumbled lazily, his blinks becoming prolonged as sleep threatened to overtake him. He aimed a lazy kiss at her forehead and said, “He thinks you're perfect. I agree.”

“Huh...very weird.”

* * *

 

Steve's first away mission since he and Darcy started dating was a two week long disaster. Darcy had been obsessed with watching the live feed, terrified that this fantastic guy who was rapidly becoming _hers_ was going to wind up smashed against a jungle ground with his insides becoming his outsides.

She was in hour 18 of her obsessive live feed watch when her front door was blasted open forcefully and Bucky strode in with a reassuring smile, a case of beer and three extra-large boxes of pizza. He sat down next to her and looked up to the ceiling.

  
  


“JARVIS, cut Darcy's access to the feed off. Protocol Steven Grant 4211. Passcode fucking punk.”

“Protocol enacted, Sergeant Barnes,” the AI cheerfully relayed, replacing the feed of the action with old propaganda footage of Steve from the 40's.

“HEY!” Darcy growled at him. He wrapped his metal arm around her shoulder and hauled her in close. “We talked about boundaries, Sarge.”

“Yeah, yeah, I don't get to touch cause you can't keep your panties from melting when I do,” Bucky grinned at her. “You'll drive yourself into the looney bin if you keep worrying about every idiot move Stevie makes. Take it from someone who knows.”

Darcy allowed herself to take some comfort in the strong embrace he had her in.

“Why aren't you out there with him?” Darcy wondered softly. “Don't you usually watch his back?”

“Yeah, he's got Wilson and Nat for this one,” Bucky smiled at her with a softness she didn't know he had possessed. “Sides, I wanted to help _you_ through this. I sat this one out.”

“ Oh,” Darcy's eyes widened as she looked over at him in stunned wonder. “That's...that's  _ nice _ , Sarge.”

“Now, let's eat this pizza and drink this beer and then I say we go to my tried and true method of my face between your thighs as a way to distract you.”

“Still a big fat nope on that end, Sarge. Keep trying though, I find it endlessly amusing.”

* * *

 

Bucky was waiting on the roof when the quinjet returned to the Tower with Steve and company. He meant to give his best pal a full report on how Darcy had made it through his absence and how he had helped every step of the way. It had felt very much like dating her the past two weeks. Shared meals, cuddling on the couch, they even went out of the tower for movies and shopping. He'd definitely been making progress and Steve was going to be over the moon about it.

The minute the star spangled suit appeared though, out of nowhere, a small, dark haired blur darted past Bucky and threw herself at Captain America, nearly knocking him over.

  
  


Sam rolled his eyes as he and Natasha walked off the aircraft and managed to maneuver around Darcy and Steve.

“Think your little lady missed you, Cap,” Sam laughed.

“Tell Hill the debrief will happen when I'm good and ready for it to happen,” Steve rasped out before he began walking backwards back onto the empty quinjet, Darcy wrapped around his entire body. He pulled away from the assault from Darcy's lips and managed a wink and a nod to a smirking Bucky.

“You seem to be taking this strangely, well,” Natasha arched a brow Bucky's way.

“Why wouldn't I?” Bucky shrugged back at her.

“Cause you have a crush on Lewis?” Sam wondered. He had just spent two weeks in a jungle battling between death, insane boredom, and the ever present _want_ to flirt with Natasha. He had zero patience left for Bucky's coy shenanigans where Darcy and Steve were concerned. “And also, you were sleeping with Steve three months ago.”

“Don't worry your pretty little head about it, handsome,” Bucky smirked. “Everything is going according to plan.”

“You're an idiot,” Natasha rolled her eyes. She gripped Sam's shoulders and nodded. “Let's go hit the showers, Wilson.”

“Yes ma'am, right away, ma'am.”

* * *

 

“Was Bucky good to you, sweetheart?” Steve murmured as he cuddled her to him on the small cot usually used for medical emergencies on the quinjet. One of his hands was stroking at the small of her back while she sprawled out on top of him, her head buried in the crook of his neck.

“Seriously? I just rocked your world and you're asking me about your dumb best friend?” Darcy huffed against his skin. She sucked on the place where his shoulder met his neck as hard as she could, smiling at the small mark she left and pouting when it immediately disappeared. “Clearly I'm doing something wrong here.”

“I disagree with you there,” Steve chuckled, feeling himself stiffening again as she continued to try and make her mark. “I was worried about you and it was his idea to look out for you while I was gone. Just wanted to make sure everything went okay.”

“ He was---he was  _ Bucky _ ,” Darcy shrugged. “Every other time he opened his mouth it was lewd and suggestive and ridiculous.”

“And the other times he opened his mouth?” Steve smirked.

“He was a giant sweetheart, which is just so totally wrong,” Darcy disputed. She shimmied against Steve until she was straddling his body, staring down at him with renewed interest as she felt him already rock hard again, and beginning to twitch against her backside. “Do you want me to talk about how Bucky made sure I had a healthy dinner every night while you were away while I ride you like a fucking bronco?”

“If you think you can, that'd be interesting,” Steve challenged in that sassy, trolly way of his. He actually whined in disappointment when she hopped off of him, only for her to climb back on, facing away and giving him a view of her naked back and perfect ass. His whine turned into a groan as she went up on her knees before sinking down on him, her hands gripping his thighs.

“He thought...he was being cute and sneaky,” Darcy huffed out as she bounced atop Steve, getting the perfect angle as he stroked against her inner walls so deliciously. “Sneaking veggies on pizza...in pasta...he made a—ahhh...”

Steve hands had been on her hips, gripping her tightly as she rode him. He brought his right hand to his mouth, sucking his index finger into his mouth before his hand went back to that beautifully round backside, spreading her cheeks and letting out a delighted groan as he saw her beautiful pussy spread wide by his cock. He let his index finger dance along the tight rosebud of her ass in the lightest of touches.

“This okay, sweetheart?” he murmured.

“Yes, yes,” Darcy nodded emphatically. She let out a breathy moan as he toyed with her gently. She rocked her hips against him and felt his finger probe inside of her just barely. “Feels good, baby.”

“It does,” Steve grinned at her. He wished that he had the bottle of lube he kept in his bedside table, but the sweet arousal from her cunt was dripping down onto his thighs as she rode him and he lubricated his finger as best as he could before easing it back into her opening. “Tell me more about Bucky.”

Darcy unintentionally clenched her inner walls around Steve at the mention of his best friend, getting another throaty groan from him.

  
  


“He—he took me shopping, cause---I needed---I needed,” Darcy stammered as Steve's finger probed her ass in slow strokes while she continued to ride his cock. “Something---oh God, Steve!”

“You're doing so good, sweetheart,” Steve praised her. “Did you have a nice time with Bucky?”

“mmmhmmm,” Darcy hummed, rocking her hips wildly against him, bearing down on both of his intruders into her body. “So nice...so good.”

“Me or Bucky, sweetheart?” Steve asked as she rapidly approached her orgasm.

“Both,” she managed to grit out as she felt herself going over the edge, her eyes falling shut as she ground herself against him, her cunt convulsing around him in erratic flutters, her ass clenching around the single finger he had worked into her in a tight grip. She let out one short wail of pleasure before biting down on her lip as she rode out the rest of her high.

Steve groaned as he could feel her pulsing around him as she came on his cock and he felt his balls tighten in response. He managed to pump his hips into her a half dozen times before he felt himself coming inside of her convulsing pussy.

“Darcy!” he whispered, the flutters of her around him too much to handle as he flooded her with his release.

“Strange pillow talk,” Darcy muttered breathlessly as they both came back down from their highs.

Steve stayed silent, his finger no longer inside of her, but both of his hands were again on her hips, massaging soothing circles against her skin. He decided to wisely not mention that every time he had said Bucky's name, she had felt like she was coming just a little bit around his dick.

“You two done in there yet? If not, can I come watch?”

“BOUNDARIES, SARGE!” Darcy screamed at him. She reluctantly pulled herself off of Steve and squeaked when Steve's right index finger drew a line across her wet, swollen lips, finger pushing some of his release that had begun to drip out of her back up into her. “You keep that up and we'll never get off this plane, babe.”

“Damn,” Steve sighed, petting her some more, fascinated with the way she felt under his finger tips, her thighs coated with both of their release. “Alright, sweetheart. You head back to your room. I should go debrief.”

“Okay, I'm going to go shower and then go straight to bed. No stopping for clothes or anything,” Darcy winked at him before climbing off of him and the cot. She kissed his lips, lingering before she reached for the dress she had abandoned moments after getting onto the plane. She popped it over her head and walked off the quinjet. She gave Bucky a salute and said, “He's all yours, Sarge.”

“I'm happy to share,” Bucky winked at her.

“In my dreams,” Darcy rolled her eyes before stepping around him. She paused and slapped Bucky on the ass. “If you guys will make out in front of me, I might consider it someday.”

“Name the time and place!” Bucky called after her as she ran back towards the penthouse door. He shook his head before walking on to the plane, not surprised to see Steve laying on the cot without a stitch of clothing on. “Now that's just playing dirty.”

“Should have felt her, Buck...every time I said your name, she got wetter,” Steve sighed. “You did a good job while I was gone.”

“How long do you think it'll take to convince her?” Bucky wondered, inhaling through his nose deeply, his serum enhanced sense of smell taking in every last delicious note of Darcy's smell. He bent over and retrieved the pair of pink satin panties Darcy had left behind. He pocketed them without an ounce of shame on his face and admitted, “I'm getting a little lonely here, punk.”

“Give it a couple a weeks,” Steve shrugged. “She'll be ours in no time.”

“Promise?” Bucky smiled.

Steve held up his hand and let his still wet fingers dance along Bucky's lips. He grinned when the man sucked them into his mouth, tongue swirling, sucking off every last drop of Darcy and Steve from them.

“Promise.”

* * *

 

** Chapter Two: Sharing is Hard Work **

Darcy Lewis had blown into the life of Steven Rogers and Bucky Barnes like a hurricane. One minute, they were happily going about their lives, rediscovering each other, riding out the mellow high of Bucky's rehabilitation being nearly complete, and doing what they could to protect the world. And the sex. Dear God the sex. Poor Sam. He had walked in on the pair of them in every compromising position that could be done in almost every space of the large apartment they shared in the Tower. Sam had only been slightly mollified when Bucky had gleefully reported that it was because he remembered it from before, and Steve rewarded the memories by reenacting the memories. Sam still told them it was oversharing.

Their lives were almost perfect at that moment.

The next minute, two brunette ladies that Thor adored had moved into the tower, and it had taken one overheard conversation between the two ladies and Thor for them to realize that as good as their lives had been going, they were missing one very Darcy Lewis shaped puzzle piece.

“I'm just saying, Darcy, you're looking for something that isn't there!” Jane laughed at her former lab assistant turned Stark Industries PR grunt worker in charge of all Avengers social media.

  
  


“Bull shit I'm looking for something that isn't there!” Darcy laughed as they watched the credits on the episode of Darcy's favorite show. “Those writers, and actors and directors know _exactly_ what they're doing. I mean, Dean and Cas have a love that most people can only dream about. They save each other, are each others biggest cheerleaders, and fuck each other with their eyeballs at every opportunity.”

“If there love is so true, then why do they not get to enjoy the benefits of it?” Thor wondered. “Physical comfort would help to banish the pain and horror of their lives. I have seen as such with my own friends.”

“Because middle America isn't ready for a homosexual pairing of a male angel with a male demon hunter,” Jane rolled his eyes.

  
  
  


“Which is TOTAL HORSESHIT, because their target audience, the only people watching after the last decade are totally hardcore shippers and want to see the boys french kissing and groping,” Darcy laughed. “I WANT TO SEE ALL THE GROPING!”

“Darcy likes boy on boy action,” Jane reminded Thor helpfully.

“She did question the Warriors Three most heartily at their last visit,” Thor smiled indulgently at the tiny woman he considered his little sister. “Fandral was most amused and made an offer for her to join.”

“That's never going to happen!” Darcy scoffed, her cheeks pinking up visibly. “I mean, I'll dream about it. Use the visuals as jet fuel to happy pants time. But it's totally never going to happen.”

“Ah! Captain! Sergeant!” Thor greeted more loudly than usual. “Please, come in and meet my Lady, Doctor Jane Foster and my lightning sister, Darcy Lewis.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Foster, Miss Lewis,” Steve smiled at Jane before looking down at a blushing Darcy Lewis. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder and said, “This is my best pal, Bucky Barnes.”

“No need for introductions,” Jane laughed. “Darcy still has a Bucky Bear she sleeps with.”

“JANE! You shut your fucking pie hole or I will shove Thor's left tit in it!”

“Ah, yes, the tiny superhero bear that protects the Lady Darcy in her dreams,” Thor smiled. He looked down at his phone, knowing he had snapped a picture of her cuddled against the bear somewhere. “She is most adorable with her stuffed beast.”

“Really?” Bucky grinned down at the adorably pink cheeked Darcy. “If you ever want an upgrade, Princess, I'd be happy to oblige.”

“Okay....that sounds fake, but okay,” Darcy rolled her eyes before rushing away towards the coffee bar. “Help me figure out how to make the most caffeinated thing in the world, Janie! Nice to meet you guys, bye!”

Bucky wasn't willing to let that just slide by, so he grabbed Steve by his shirt cuff and pulled him to follow Jane and Darcy. They did little more than observe her for the next half hour, watching as she made multiple beverages using Stark's state of the art equipment. She shoved multiple frothy concoctions at Steve and Bucky in a very short amount of time after she had taken a sip of each. They downed each of her experiments with a grin and a _Thank you_ .

  
  


“Seriously, in the last twelve minutes I've given you both enough sugar and caffeine to kill a small child,” Darcy smiled at them as she handed them both two caramel hot chocolates with three espressos in them. “How are you both still standing?”

“We have really quick metabolisms,” Steve smiled down at her, absolutely beguiled after listening to her chatter with Thor and Jane while she played with the coffee machines.

“So when Thor is off world, I have two people who will taste test whatever I can come up with?” Darcy asked eagerly.

Jane shook her head no at the soldiers emphatically behind Darcy's back. Thor only chuckled. Darcy was an excellent baker. Baking was a science, it had a recipe and formula that needed to be strictly followed. However, she was not the world's greatest cook, but that didn't stop her from experimenting anyway. Even Thor's godly stomach had been tested after one too many casseroles with five different kinds of carbs, meats and sauces.

“I'll put whatever you want in my mouth for you, Princess,” Bucky winked at her winningly.

“Uhm...okay?” Darcy pursed her lips in a frown. She looked to Jane and asked, “Help me unpack?”

“Fine, but you owe me the mini cheesecakes,” Jane insisted, letting Darcy grab her by the hand as she practically ran from the room.

Steve furrowed his brow and shared a look with Bucky before looking back at Thor, who shrugged at them.

“She doesn't do well with man whores,” Clint advised from the vents.

“There was a thing,” Natasha announced as she appeared from out of nowhere to stand next to Thor. “She's not the most trusting of girls anymore when faced with an overly flirtatious and charming man.”

“Huh,” Bucky nodded. He turned to Steve and the two of them simultaneously left the common room and began walking down the hall the elevator. “Remember that thing we always wanted to happen when we were dumb kids?”

“Yeah,” Steve acknowledged with a fond grin. It hadn't taken a lot of thought for the both of them to realize at the age of 19 that they both liked men and women. The men part they had covered. Bucky had been on the lookout since 1939 for the woman part of the equation though. Steve had often drawn their ideal gal on cold winter's nights, blending what he and Bucky thought was the perfect woman. Pillowy lips. Long, dark, curling hair. And curves for days.

Steve had thought he found the right gal in Peggy, but she had been less than receptive to sharing and more specifically sharing him with Bucky. This gal though...she looked like she could be persuaded. It was more than the looks. Steve and Bucky's dream girl had been a firecracker in their imaginations, able to hold her own against each of their specific brands of sass. She'd been smart, and sweet and foul-mouthed and kind.

They had often joked that they had created the impossible woman in their head and that they'd never find her. Apparently it had only taken a couple of decades on ice to get them to her.

Steve's grin never slipped as he looked back at Bucky, who was clearly remembering every little conversation and pillow talk session they had about their imaginary girl. Steve took a deep breath and said, “I think we might have found her. We'll have to bother her some more to be sure it's her.”

“ Yup,” Bucky nodded again and stopped in front of the elevator. He reached out and gripped Steve by the shirt front, pulling him towards him and kissing his lips hungrily. Their kisses hadn't been gentle since Steve went through his Erskine assisted growth spurt. Not that Bucky was complaining. Hard, hungry, forceful kisses were something he definitely always wanted. But he wouldn't mind finding those pillowy lips that were soft and firm at the same time, too. Bucky released him and gave him a slow smirk. “That'll hold me over,  _ maybe _ . You gotta be quick though, cause you know I don't like being lonely.”

“You want _me_ to---”

“If she doesn't like overly flirtatious and charming men...”

“ _ Manwhores _ ,” Steve chuckled. His Bucky was definitely overly flirtations and certainly charming. And yeah, maybe in 1942 he had been a little too free in spreading his love around Brooklyn, but he wasn't quite a manwhore.

“I love ya, Stevie, but you're the exact opposite of overly flirtatious and your charm works on me, but it doesn't work on pretty dames so much. So she's not gonna think you're just playing with her,” Bucky explained gently. “And you're the last person in the world that could screw up. I have faith.”

“Buck---I'd be courting her proper,” Steve warned. “That means you and me...I want to gain her trust, we can't be fooling around on the side...”

“ Yeah, I know,” Bucky smiled. “It'll be worth it. So go on, go and court the girl and do it right. Cause I want that girl to be  _ our  _ girl.”

“Yeah. Me too, Buck.”

* * *

 

At the end of Steve and Darcy's first month of dating, they began spending the night together nearly every night, splitting time evenly between her apartment in the Tower and the apartment that Steve and Bucky shared in the Tower. Bucky really preferred when they stayed in his apartment.

Where he could hear them.

Darcy wasn't overly loud, not by any means. She wasn't a screamer. But enhanced hearing was better than surround sound, so Bucky _always_ heard what was going down behind Steve's closed door. Stark may have soundproofed the apartment for others, but he and Steve (and he suspected Natasha) could always hear what was happening. So no, Darcy didn't scream. She was not even close to being loud.

What she was, was sexy as hell in Bucky's opinion.

She made this delicious, small moaning sound when Steve's tongue was in her mouth, like she just couldn't keep the arousal or satisfied delight contained. When she was on top, she would breathe hard through her nose, vibrations trickling out of her throat in rich and contented purrs. When she was under Steve, or when Steve was behind her, her mouth would fall open and little broken, halting moans would squeak out of her throat amongst the heavy, labored breaths.

Bucky's favorite was when Steve would spend long periods of time with his head between her thighs. That was when his Princess would talk.

“Baby, yes, yes, so good,” Darcy whimpered from behind Steve's door, where Bucky knew, he just _knew_ Steve was licking and sucking and nibbling at Darcy's sweet pussy in that single-minded, focused, determined way of his.

Their Steven had a talented mouth, that was for damned sure.

Bucky reclined on the oversized couch in their living room, where he had been when Darcy had dragged Steven in by his rumpled shirt front. She had thrown Bucky a wink before pushing Steve towards his bedroom.

“Enjoy the show, Sarge!” Darcy called out when she slammed the door shut.

He certainly planned to. Darcy knew he could hear. He had told her as much after her first sleepover. She had blushed the prettiest shade of pink, arched a devious little eyebrow at him and shrugged. So there he was, listening to her soft moaned words, Steve's contented rumbles and the filthy sounds of sex, his hand in his sweat pants, lazily pulling and tugging on his painfully hard cock. He could picture himself shoulder to shoulder with Steve, both of their mouths on her, driving her into a frenzy over and over again until she was limp and boneless and blissed out.

“Oh god, I'm gonna---oh jesus,” Darcy whispered, the words getting stuck in her throat as she chased her orgasm.

Bucky grabbed a bottle of lotion he may or may not have swiped from Darcy's bag a few weeks ago (he bought her a replacement once he knew the cocoa butter scent that she slathered on herself everyday). He squirted a dollop in his right hand and his senses were filled with the smell of her before he went back to his erection and stroked himself with a firmer grip than usual, mimicking an all too familiar grip of one Captain America. Steve's grip, Darcy's scent, the sounds of Steve's lips and tongue smacking wetly against Darcy's flesh and those soft words of hers cutting off abruptly as she fell over the edge, letting out one small, hushed _Yes_ .

Bucky smirked as he heard the bed jostling and he could see her pushing Steve away, because he knew Steve would have wanted another half hour at least to keep tasting her, to have her coming all over his face over and over again, if he could.

“Fuck me, please,” Darcy whispered, her voice begging slightly. “I want to feel you fill me up, baby, please, now...I want you.”

Bucky bit his lip to stifle his own groan. He knew Steve could hear it though, but Darcy couldn't.

He knew he was being a little creepy, jerking his dick to the sounds of them getting off, but at that moment he couldn't care. He'd make up for the invasion of privacy somehow later. He shut his eyes and let his imagination run wild. Darcy let out another of her small throaty moans and Bucky could see, he could feel himself sinking into her wet heat, could feel the smash of her beautiful breasts against his chest, could see that beautiful face with her mouth open as he pumped his length inside of her over and over again until she was coming around him, squeezing him.

And by God, he'd do anything to keep on fucking her right through it. He'd wait till Steve was behind him, burying his cock into him, driving him into their girl. And then they'd come together, sweaty and slippery and filling each other up.

Bucky groaned again as he quickened his pace, his hand jerking over his length in time to Steve's thrusts into Darcy, who was close again to coming.  She was a responsive little lady, Steve's record of getting her to orgasm in one night had been seven.  Bucky was determined that when he got the opportunity, he would move heaven and earth to shatter that record.  And he knew that if he and Steve could work together, if Darcy would allow it, they could scramble her brains until she was a puddle of a girl on the bed.  He heard Steve move on the bed, and he knew the punk had gripped her legs higher, driving into her at a different angle, making her let out a gasp as his length rubbed against her silky, warm walls just so.

His balls tightened and he was spilling over into his fist as Darcy came around Steve's dick. Steve let out a groan of his own as she clamped down on him.

“God damn, you feel so good,” Steve gasped.

Bucky imagined that Darcy's cunt was clutching at Steve's cock, fluttering around him and gushing that sweet wetness on him and Bucky smirked lazily at the tell-tale choking sound that Steve always made when he was coming.

Bucky stared down at the wet spot on the front of his sweatpants and rolled his eyes. They had to make some progress soon. He was getting a little lonely all by himself.

“ Keep it down in there, would ya?” Bucky called out, knowing they could  _ hear  _ his filthy smirk. “Unless you're inviting me in, then by all means, keep up the racket!”

Darcy  _ laughed.  _  “ Keep jerking off, Sarge! If you can ever outlast Steve, I'll think about it.”

* * *

 

Steve's courtship with Darcy had gone swimmingly. Apparently his snarky sense of humor and troll-like tendencies hit all of Darcy's attraction buttons. Bucky was sure that Steve's perfect ass and perfect everything else also hit all of Darcy's attraction buttons. The girl was human, after all.

Bucky began his attack immediately. He would flank Darcy while she was distracted by Steve's wonder abs and perfect baby blues and he was sure that before the end of two weeks, she'd be eager to get a little menage a three started up. He was relentlessly flirtatious with her, and damned near inappropriate whenever he could get the chance. He had basically been in her periphery  _ constantly  _ during the first four weeks of her relationship with Steve.

The boys were hoping for some sort of Pavlovian response there, they supposed. If Bucky's face or voice popped into the apartment directly after an orgasm, maybe she would start to think of Bucky during the orgasms. Then maybe she'd start wanting Bucky to make the orgasms happen.

Their plan of attack wasn't brilliant. But they were two super soldiers who had been frozen in different kinds of ice for nearly seven decades. Their only successful experience with jointly wooing a woman had been the eager French ladies of the night who had taught them plenty in return for whatever fee they had been paid.

Bucky and Steve were convinced that they were doing it the right way.

A few days after the return from the jungle, Bucky and Steve found Natasha sitting at their kitchen table first thing in the morning, obsessively sharpening her small knives. Steve nodded to her before going directly to the fridge, if either super soldier was going to make it through their run, they would need a couple thousand calories of breakfast foods.

“Hey Red,” Bucky greeted, sitting next to her and checking her work. He nodded in approval and asked, “To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”

“What are you doing with my Darcy?” she demanded.

“ _Your_ Darcy?” Steve demanded from the kitchen island, cracking an egg a little too enthusiastically into the bowl and having to fish out the shards of shell.

“She is the closest female friend that I have,” Natasha shrugged. “We drink vodka and cuddle.”

“That all?” Steve wondered.

  
  


Bucky gave him a warning look.

“Don't be dense, Cap,” Natasha rolled her eyes. She leveled a glare Bucky's way and demanded, “Is this a game for you?”

“Nah, I love her,” Bucky easily admitted.

Steve smiled and went back to cracking eggs. It wasn't a lie or an exaggeration on Bucky's part. Steve knew that. He had declared his love for Darcy after that date at the Met where Steve had ignored the pair of them and left them to their own devices. He had found them three hours later, after he had managed to barely resurface from his art coma, sitting outside of the gift shop, tossing M&M's into each others mouths and laughing up a storm. Apparently they had found plenty to keep each other occupied without Steve and had a great time together. Bucky had told him that very night that _I love her now, so if you even think about messing this up, I will make you pay, punk_ .

“You've got to be kidding me,” Natasha arched an accusing eyebrow at him.

“He's not,” Steve shook his head.

“Do _you_ love her?” Natasha demanded of Steve.

  
  


“Getting there,” Steve shrugged. It was true enough. He was on the precipice. He knew he _could_ love her, but the only thing holding him back was wondering if she could love both of them. If she couldn't...well, he'd protect his heart if she couldn't. “Buck always falls a little faster though. Always has. He's more reckless in that way.”

“And you're more reckless in all the actually dangerous ways so that makes up for it,” Bucky smirked. “And Darcy is reckless with that perfect mouth of hers, so what a trio we are.”

Natasha watched as Bucky picked up one of her knives and tested the balance of it, flipping it in his hands easily before he gave her an approving smile. He placed the knife back in its proper place on the table before asking,

“How are things going with Wilson?”

“He is terrific in bed,” Natasha admitted easily.

“He seems like he'd apply himself properly,” Bucky nodded.

They remained silent as Steve began bringing food to the table as it was finished. Toast and butter and a heaping plate of scrambled eggs and a huge tupperware container of cut up strawberries and blueberries. Natasha put away her knives and helped herself to a plate of breakfast and watched them thoughtfully as she ate.

“You two haven't---”

“Not since I asked Darcy out to dinner the first time,” Steve shook his head. “Wouldn't want to break her trust like that. Buck's been good about it.”

“I find my entertainment where I can,” Bucky gave Steve a wink.

“ What if she says  _ no _ ?” Natasha wondered. “Something will have to end if she says no.”

“Hoping that doesn't happen,” Bucky shrugged. “Doing my best not to let it happen. Got any advice since you know, she's your cuddle buddy?”

Natasha considered the available advice she had. In all honesty, if Bucky and Steve were being truthful about not having physical relations with each other while Steve was dating Darcy, she approved of their tactics thus far. Steve was the personification of safety and trust. Bucky was charming to a ridiculous degree. Darcy was never judgmental about who other people chose to love and Natasha knew after one or two nights of too much vodka that she would never be completely opposed to being the filling in a boy on boy sandwich.

She had been talking about Coulson and Barton at the time, and Natasha had cringed to hear the girl talk about it. Coulson was too old for her. She chuckled around a mouthful of toast. The ninety-something set of men in front of her had somehow not registered as _too old_ .

“I think that you need to come clean with her,” Natasha said honestly. “Continue to do what you're doing, but do it as openly and honestly as you can. Tell her exactly what you want from her so that she knows what she's getting into.”

“I have been telling her what I want from her,” Bucky shrugged. “I've never wanted any girl like I want that girl, Nat.”

“Telling her you want to watch is not getting the job done,” Natasha rolled her eyes. “She's fond of you both, but I know she's worried about Bucky's advances. She doesn't want to hurt your friendship. She deserves to know that she'd be hurting a lot more than friendship if she walked away.”

“We'll talk to her,” Steve promised. The last thing he wanted to do was to make their girl upset. And he definitely didn't want to lose her to a misunderstanding. “She's been having a rough week at work. Can you run security options for us, Nat? See where we can take her for a little mini-vacation?”

“I can do that, Steve,” Natasha smiled at him. “She'll be happy to get out of the Tower.  And it will provide the three of you a private opportunity to discuss a lot of things.”

* * *

  
  
  


** Chapter Three: Sharing is Stressful **

A few days after Natasha's breakfast chat with the boys, the Avengers and their support team had to be at a charity event in downtown Manhattan benefiting various places the Avengers had destroyed in the last few years. Whoever planned fancy $10,000 plate dinners on a Tuesday could rot in special hell, because Darcy did not appreciate having to wear borrowed fancy dresses and borrowed ridiculously expensive jewelry on a Tuesday night, fuck you very much.

She was sitting at a back table, three stark pads in front of her as she rapidly approved or denied any social media that the Avengers wanted to tweet, facebook or instagram.

Steve's tweets were almost always approved. (There may have been a few political rants against right-wing conservatives that she had to edit the curse words out of). Thor was actually trusted to control his own instagram. He was no idiot, and had been schooled to be the leader of the freaking universe at a very young age. He knew his way around publicity and diplomacy and Darcy adored him even more for it.  She still got final say on any picture she was a part of though.

Natasha's official twitter account only ever released tweets when in conjunction with charity. Darcy would post a picture of the Avengers arriving somewhere and provide a link for Nat's millions of followers to donate to.

Natasha's _unofficial_ twitter account was the one she actually controlled. And Darcy followed her, but never tried to reign in Natasha's vicious defending of innocent people from internet trolls.

Clint's feed had to be constantly monitored for profanity and accidental porn. Darcy would let most profanity through so long as he made it comic book style with the occasional # and ! Substituting a letter. But the man was either terrifically bad at cropping pictures of himself or terrifically amazing at it, because Darcy had to turn down way too many bathroom selfies of Clint with his butt reflected off the shiny door of his shower. Also, who microwaves something naked, takes a picture, only to have their junk reflected in the microwave window? She could see it happening the first time by accident, but she had turned down at least a dozen posts where he had  _ accidentally  _ done it again.

Tony was harmless, but prolific. He mostly wanted her to find the funniest crap on tumblr and repost it to his facebook. She liked to find the stuff that made it seem like he and Steve were secretly canoodling.

Bruce was all motivational quotes and hipsterific tea pictures. Easy peasy.

Sam. Sam was a problem. Sam had spent a good portion of his adult life controlling his own social media accounts. He was not used to being censored or reigned in at all. And an offical Avenger couldn't have “fuck this” as his bio line. Darcy had invoked a favor from Natasha to change Sam's mind about that.

“WILSON!” Darcy hissed from her table. “You are not allowed to post that Senator Wooley looks like an inbred trailer park dweller from South-south-south Carolina!”

“But it's funny AND true,” Sam huffed.

“BE NICE!” Bucky slapped the back of Sam's head. “Stop giving my girl a headache.”

“Thanks, Sarge!” Darcy shook her head in amusement at Bucky's choice of words.

His girl. Some days it felt like it.

She was practically living with Steve and Bucky. While they had tried to split their time between apartments, Steve had started to insist on spending the night in his apartment, claiming that he worried about Bucky being lonely or having nightmares.

Whenever Steve left for short missions, Bucky would happily grab at the duties of everything boyfriend: cuddling with her on the couch, ordering her favorite foods and watching her favorite things on television, holding her hand and taking her to wherever she needed to go outside of the tower.  It was sweet and adorable and right, and there were many, many times when Darcy had to check herself from reflexively kissing him goodbye or hello.  Steve didn't help matters there.  He was encouraging of Bucky treating Darcy right, and would ask her if  _ Bucky was sweet to her  _ all the time.  Especially in bed.  Especially, especially when he was buried inside of her. 

And the night of the fundraiser, Steve had told Bucky and Darcy that they would be each others dates since he would have to do the dancing monkey show.  He had given Darcy a long, lingering kiss and murmured that he couldn't wait to see the both of them when all was said and done.  So Bucky was the one who had picked her up at her door and stared at her for a full 90 seconds, his mouth gaping as he took in her burgundy halter top dress with the plunging neckline, low cut back and tight lines that clung to every curve on her body.

“You're the prettiest damned thing I've ever seen,” he had promised her.  She had had to curl her hands into fists and dig her fingernails in her flesh to stop herself from throwing herself at him and licking his mouth open.

And when they had arrived at the event, he had taken fifteen minutes to walk her around the room and show her off. The official Avengers had to do red carpet work, (Bucky was still thankfully exempt from that kind of shit show), and while Darcy was responsible for the social media, she didn't have to try and get any of the Avengers to behave on the red carpet.

Although she could probably do a fair sight better job at it than her asshole boss.

She and Bucky waited at the end of the red carpet line and Bucky seemed to proudly show her off to every one of his co-workers as they came in from their interviews.

“Isn't she pretty, Dr. Banner?  Prettiest lady at this party.”

“Don't be jealous Stark, Pepper will be back from Malibu on Friday.”

“No, Nat, you can't cuddle her, she's keeping my arm warm and me happy and I'm not losing her to you for the night.”

“You're the craziest person on the face of the planet,” Darcy shook her head at a grinning Bucky, who stared down at her in what almost looked like manic happiness.

“Just like having you on my arm, Princess,” Bucky shrugged. He grinned as Steve finally finished his last interview and walked up to take Darcy's other arm.

“You look absolutely amazing, sweetheart,” Steve smiled at her.  He turned the smile to Bucky and Darcy made a mental note of how it didn't change one bit between the two of them.  Happy, proud and full of adoration.  “How long until we can go home?”

“Have to stay for the first course, at least,” Darcy warned him. “And I already made sure that you can't do that fake call to assemble thing that you guys did last month.”

“We had a call to assemble,” Steve laughed. “That pizza back at the tower wasn't going to eat itself.”

“If you can make it to the second course of dinner and refrain from tweeting any foul language about the Fox news correspondent, I promise to make it worth your while,” Darcy waggled her eyebrows at him. She turned to Bucky and said, “You're free to listen, of course.”

“I'd rather watch,” Bucky leered at her.

  
  


“You and me both,” Darcy laughed before they arrived in the ballroom and she went to her private little table in the back, ten feet away from the Avengers' table, with her Stark pads as she started filtering through the tumblr posts and tweets about #AvengersRedCarpetAssemble.

“You're really good at your job,” Bucky watched her work, pulling up a chair next to her and handing her a small plate full of canapes, no olives, because he knew she couldn't stand them. He watched as Darcy scrolled through a million different feeds and dashboards, reblogging and sending things to all the Avengers in seconds. “I'm so impressed, Princess. You're really amazing at all this stuff.”

“Stop being such an adorable sweetheart or I will be forced to smoosh your face,” Darcy warned him, taking something wrapped in buttery flaky dough and popping it into her mouth.

“ Please, smoosh my face,” Bucky laughed. He didn't think he had every used the term  _ smoosh  _ before, but he'd use it again, because she choked with laughter around the canape she had thrown in her mouth. He patted her back gently, leaving his hand there, his fingers running circles on the bare skin above the low cut back. “I'd like a smoosh in your chest area if you're willing. I'd let you suffocate me in your cleavage, if you would want to, cause honey, what a way to go. I'd die a happy and fulfilled man.”

“That's it,” Darcy hopped to her feet, gripped the back of Bucky's head and shoved his face into her boobs. It wasn't the first time she had smashed an Avengers' face into her cleavage. She actually realized that Bucky was the last of them to find that place of honor. She looked down at the ding of one of her Starkpads and shook her head. “Clint! Retake that selfie, you can't post that one cause I'm in the background with Barnes' face in my boobs. Oh my god!”

Bucky's tongue swept one firm line along the line that her perfectly packaged breasts made and he couldn't contain a contented groan as his hands went to her waist and held her tight. Her hands in his hair were firm, but she wasn't pushing him away. If anything she was gripping him a little tighter to her and he took another delicious taste of her flushing skin.

“Ahem.”

Bucky huffed out in annoyance, and his warm breath against her slick skin caused goose bumps to break out. He turned his head barely, his hands still gripping her waist, his head still happily against those fabulously soft breasts. He smiled lazily at Steve, who was staring down at them with unrestrained amusement.

“I don't know how you ever walk away from her,” Bucky sighed. “I want to keep my face right here forever.”

“I'd never get anything done,” Darcy rolled her eyes. She wouldn't have felt guilty at Steve catching her with someone's face in her boobs. It had happened before after all. Sam had declared the practice as therapeutic weeks ago.  Clint had drawn up a rotation schedule.  But this was a step or two above just having someone's cheek against her bosom.  This was foreplay.  In public.  With her boyfriend's best friend.  And she was _enjoying_ what Barnes was doing.

And Steve clearly didn't mind one bit. He licked his lips minutely and his eyes were slowly going between Bucky's mouth and Darcy's eyes, that lazy, aroused smirk of his lifting up the corners of his lips.

Darcy had a realization that her apple pie Captain America boyfriend was secretly kinky as all get out.

And she didn't really think that was a bad thing at the moment.

“You taste so good, does she always taste this good?” Bucky demanded, turning his head and taking another lick against her skin. Sugary and just a little like chocolate. She let out a sharp little breath as he continued to lap and mouth at her skin.

“Yes, she absolutely does,” Steve grinned, maneuvering his body to provide some kind of privacy as Darcy still held Bucky's head to her breasts, her eyes shut as Bucky continued to taste her skin. “Not that I'm complaining, but what happened here?”

“Sarge has been cute as shit all night,” Darcy sighed, finally pushing him away just enough so that he couldn't get his mouth on her skin anymore. She felt a stab of want go through her at the dazed, hungry look on Bucky's face, his lips wet and shiny. “Since he was so nice, I felt he deserved a reward. It was only supposed to be a smoosh, but he's a perv with no boundaries.”

“He's nice an awful lot, sweetheart,” Steve reached out an arm for Darcy's shoulder, trapping a seated Bucky between them. “What kind of reward system should we give him for being so nice all the time?”

“Fuck,” Darcy breathed out, looking between a hazy, desirous Bucky and a sinfully smirking Steve. She shifted under Bucky's hands and pressed her thighs together as tight as she could. Her imagination ran wild. Bucky and Steve were closer to each other than your average pair of best friends. They touched an awful lot, but Darcy assumed it was because Bucky was a reincarnated octopus. He touched everyone. A lot.

She could see it. She could see Bucky mouthing at her breasts working her over and working inside her, and Steve behind him, pounding himself into Bucky with the same determined accuracy he did for her.

“Oh god,” she breathed, her brain feeding her rapid fire images of all sorts of ways they could combine each others important parts. The middle would be a highly coveted position. She felt a full body shudder as she could see herself between them, both of them inside of her, stretching her limits and her body to their will.

Steve had always been especially open to anal play. He'd pulled out the bottle of lube one night and she thought it had been for her.

It had been for him and she had enjoyed herself immensely while learning an awful lot about what Captain America liked in the bedroom.

But he had been opening _her_ horizons for it ever since that time on the quinjet. Bucky had cheekily complained the morning after Steve had worked two of his fingers into her ass as he took her from behind. She had never made a louder wail when coming against him. Bucky had definitely noticed and complimented Steve on getting her there.

“What're you thinking about, sweetheart?” Steve asked her softly, leaning in, his body hard against Bucky's back, his mouth going for her lips briefly before moving to her jaw.

“Stuff?” Darcy managed to squeak out.

“Fun stuff?” Bucky murmured up at her, his chin resting on her breasts. He moved minutely, placing a few soft, wet kisses against her collarbone.

“So fun,” Darcy nodded. She shook her head and pushed against the both of them, taking heavy breaths as she looked around the crowded event, making sure no one was paying attention. The only interested party had been Tony Stark, whose eyebrows were waggling so much at her that they threatened to detach from his face at that point. “I should---I have to work.”

“Okay sweetheart, we'll talk later,” Steve promised, squeezing her hand and giving her a reassuring smile.

“Tonight, we'll talk tonight,” Bucky promised. It was time to come clean with their girl.

Eight very special cell phones rang out a very specific tone and Steve actually cursed under his breath.

“Avengers assemble!”

* * *

 

All of the Avengers were called to the Nation's capital, where an attack of what looked like straight up aliens paired with a bunch of no good human assholes armed with alien tech was happening on Capitol Hill. Darcy spent the next eight hours back at the tower in the common room, her three Starkpads becoming four Starkpads as she monitored the live tweets from the citizens caught in the crossfire.

“JARVIS? Can you get a message to Steve or Tony? There are a bunch of civilians trapped in a building near the fighting,” Darcy chewed on her thumb. “I'm retweeting their location to you now.”

“Yes, Miss Darcy, I've relayed the information to the team,” JARVIS replied. “Captain Rogers sends his thanks to you, he and Wilson are en route to evacuate the building.”

“Cool, no one else has said they're within the three mile parameter,” Darcy checked the twitter feed again. “Tell Brucie that he has a three mile Hulk playground ready for him.”

They had realized how helpful social media was for attacks in public places. 911 was often jam packed with calls during emergencies, and Darcy had discovered a few weeks ago that people would tweet out what was happening and if they were in danger. She had set up an official Avengers Evacuation twitter and she and JARVIS monitored it aggressively.

Social media saving the world since 2016.

“Can you bring up the live feed, J-money?” Darcy asked.

“I'm afraid that I cannot,” JARVIS admitted. Instead the large screens in the common room were filled with adorable kitten and puppy videos interspersed with the standard Captain America propaganda footage, now with even more shots of Bucky as well. “Sergeant Barnes has enacted a specific protocol during his absence.”

“Override it,” Darcy ordered.

“He only wishes for you not to worry yourself,” JARVIS explained patiently.

“Pepper?” Darcy had dialed the number to her bosses' bosses' bosses' boss in no time and had her on speaker. “Can you override JARVIS so I can watch the feed?”

“Darcy, honey...” Pepper's concerned face appeared on the Starkphone. “James and Steven---”

“ _Please_ Pepper,” Darcy let her voice wobble as she looked down at the phone with her big blue eyes full of tears. “I just need to make sure they're all okay...please?”

“JARVIS, please override James' protocol,” Pepper sighed. She was a sucker for Darcy Lewis' tears. But she still cared enough about James' and Steve's wishes as well as Darcy's mental well being. “Put her on a thirty second delay and please cut the feed before any injury should happen.”

“Done, Ms. Potts,” JARVIS wearily announced, and the pre-programmed _Keep Darcy occupied_ footage disappeared and was replaced with ten live shots of all the action.

It seemed calm at the moment. Steve and Sam were rapidly evacuating the civilians Darcy had alerted them to, loading them on to large armored cars on one of the feeds. The rest of the Avengers were strategically placed, waiting to defend while the enemy regrouped inside a large parking lot.

“Miss Lewis, a delivery is on the way to the common room floor and you have a phone call.”

“Put it through J-money,” Darcy smiled as she walked backwards to the common room door, her eyes never leaving the feed.

“Princess?” Bucky's voice came over the intercom. “You liking the kittens and puppies? And you know, my handsome face and Steve's pretty eyelashes?”

“Uhm, sure?” Darcy shook her head in amusement. One of the SI security men handed her a box of pizza and a bag full of food.

“Stevie and I had JARVIS get you dinner,” Bucky revealed. “And, I'm sure you'll have leftovers for breakfast too.”

“The two of you are just...too much,” Darcy sighed. She opened the pizza box and was not surprised to see it had green peppers on it. She tried her best to abstain from most vegetables, but Bucky always snuck them in. She looked down at the bag and saw it was full of candy and energy drinks.

“You did a good job with those civilians. Sammy said you saved about a hundred souls today,” Bucky said softly.

“Just---please be careful. Please?” Darcy whispered. “And make sure Steve is careful...or something closely resembling careful.”

“I'll do my best, Princess,” Bucky promised. “I lo---we'll see you real soon.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded, sitting back down in front of the feed.

One of the cameras was on Bucky, and she watched through the delay as he spoke, saw the soft look on his face replaced with a cringe and a sheepish expression before he ended their communication. He stood with a far away smile on his face for a few minutes before Steve returned to him and they shared a short conversation.

Steve shook his head in amusement at something Bucky said before clamping a hand on Bucky's shoulder and squeezing with no small amount of comforting force. Bucky looked at him with that same soft look that he had on his face when he was talking to her earlier and Darcy furrowed her brow at the image.

Bucky was looking at Steve with no small amount of love on his face.

_Interesting_ .

* * *

 

Darcy fell asleep with her face on a Starkpad to the quiet sounds of the feed, which were not exceptionally exciting throughout the night. Both sides were waiting, planning and plotting well into the night. It was Thor who realized why the enemy was waiting out the darkness. The alien weapons were weak without the solar power.

Darcy startled awake to the sound of thunder and repulsors and her eyes darted around to the suddenly very busy feed. All nine of the Avengers were kicking ass and taking names. Steve had the shield flying constantly. Sam was buzzing around on wings, a flying bowling ball of destruction as he knocked enemies to the ground. Tony had dropped Clint up high and the arrows were flying down quickly, while Tony went on to work on disabling the enemy's only means of escape in the large floating hovercraft at the top of the parking lot. Rhodey was up top as well and the two began tearing the thing apart piece by piece. Natasha hitched a ride on the Hulk's back and looked competent enough to take out the entire enemy force in hand to hand combat alone.

Thor was working back to back with Bucky, who had left the sniper rifle behind in favor of a hand gun in his right hand and a dangerous looking knife in the other. They were making easy work of the aliens, whose weapons were not fully charged, but still seemed to be ridiculously strong, and strangely good at various forms of martial arts.

The fight was winding down when suddenly Steve sent his shield flying out of the camera feed from his screen and it appeared to be zooming towards Thor and Bucky.

And then the feed cut out entirely.

“JARVIS!” Darcy screamed. “JARVIS bring it back up, bring it back up now!”

“I'm sorry, Miss Lewis, I am under direct orders from Ms. Potts not to bring the feed back up to you,” JARVIS relayed as gently as he could. “A quinjet is en route to the Tower and their estimated time of arrival is thirty minutes.”

“Oh God, oh GOD,” Darcy whimpered, panic overtaking her as her hands began a steady tremble. The course of the action and the cut off could only mean that either Steve, Thor or Bucky had been hurt. And some one was coming back to the tower because they were hurt. She made a run for the roof where the quinjet would land and stood outside waiting for it, despite the fact that it was steadily pouring rain down on her head. She paced the length of the roof and searched the skies for the quinjet.

“Darcy, what the hell are you doing?” Jane demanded as she ran out onto the roof with an umbrella and a raincoat in her hands. “JARVIS said you were being batshit insane.”

“Someone is HURT and no one will let me know who!” Darcy screeched at Jane, pushing away the woman's arms as she tried to hand her the raincoat and shield her with the umbrella.

“Honey, calm down, I'm sure everything is fine,” Jane promised her.

“It could have been THOR, how can you be calm?” Darcy demanded petulantly.

“Thor is a GOD, he'll be fine,” Jane assured her. “And if he's not, I will bend time and space to bring him back and kick his ass.”

Darcy let out a bark of laughter immediately followed by a strangled sob. Jane's eyes widened at Darcy's uncharacteristic show of panic. The girl was never cool as a cucumber, but she always took difficult situations and applied copious amounts of sarcastic humor to it. She didn't go into a blind panic.

“Are you worried it's Steve?” Jane wondered, pacing with Darcy along the roof, holding the umbrella over her head.

“ Yes...and no,” Darcy wrinkled her nose in annoyance. She brought her hands up to her eyes, where a few manic tears had blended in with all the rain water. “I'm fucking  _ everything  _ up here, Janie.”

“Honey, tell me what's wrong and I can help you fix it,” Jane said sternly. Jane never pulled out her stern voice with Darcy. She had never had to before. Darcy was the level headed one of the operation. Darcy was usually the one with the stern voice.

“I'm just...I really like Steve,” Darcy insisted. “I think I'm falling in love with him.”

“Well, that's...good?” Jane was beyond confused.

“And---there's...there's...” Darcy struggled.

“Oh my gosh, Barnes,” Jane gasped.

The quinjet had landed mostly silently, the noise being hidden by the torrential downpours. Darcy still had no idea it was behind her. She was staring at Jane in frightened disbelief.

  
  


“Am I that obvious?” she demanded. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, I'm messing it all up.”

“NO, Darce, BARNES!” Jane pointed.

Darcy turned and sure enough, Bucky was being led off the quinjet by Steve and Thor. He was conscious, he didn't appear to be in a terrible amount of pain, but he wasn't walking under his own power. His arms were wrapped around the shoulders of Thor and Steve. Darcy's eyes traveled the length of him from head to mid thigh, where she saw a large gash on his right thigh, the fabric of his black pants ripped, and bloody bandages peeking through.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Bucky, what did you do?!” Darcy yelled at him as she ran to meet them. “If you die, I'll _kill_ your ass, you fucking idiot.”

“Darcy, do not fear,” Thor smiled at her. “Your lover will recover. He is mighty and brave and saved my life more than once on this day.”

“M'okay, Princess,” Bucky assured her with a lazy smile.

“Come on, out of the rain, everyone,” Steve ordered, walking towards the Tower entrance. He gave Darcy a tight smile, the stress evident on his face. He took in her bedraggled, completely soaked through appearance with a grimace. “You trying to get yourself sick, sweetheart?”

“You guys trying to get yourselves killed?” Darcy sassed right back, following them regardless. Jane was at her side and gave her a funny look. “What?!?”

“Did Thor call Bucky your lover?” she whispered.

“Fuck.”

* * *

 

“I threw the shield to block the spear, but it didn't get there in time. Bucky deflected the spear though, but it wound up in his leg,” Steve revealed to Darcy. He had her wrapped up in two or three fuzzy towels and her whole body tucked against his, his chin on top of her damp hair. “It bled a lot before it started healing up on its own, so he's weak, getting a bag or two back from what he's banked. He's going to be fine, sweetheart.”

“When the feed cut out, I was---I just panicked,” Darcy admitted in a whisper.

“I wish you hadn't of been watching,” Steve sighed in resignation.

“Fuck you, I should be able to watch and see if my guys are hurt or not,” Darcy insisted petulantly.

Steve pulled away and smiled down at her knowingly. “Want to go in and check on him with me?”

“No,” Darcy wrinkled her nose. He gave her a disbelieving look and she sighed heavily. “Yeah. Okay.”

He bent his head and kissed her gently, as if in reward for her reluctant honesty. Thirty seconds later she was standing with Steve at a chipper Bucky's bedside as he was hooked up to a few lines. The tear in his pants showed that the skin had completely healed, the only evidence a faint pink line that the spear had made.

“Doctor Cox says I'm lucky the aliens were too dumb to put any kind of toxin on the spear,” Bucky smiled at them. “Soon as the bag is done I'm free to go.”

“All that worry for nothing, sweetheart,” Steve smiled down at Darcy.

“You were worried too,” Bucky laughed. “Don't pick on our girl for liking me so much.”

“Idiot,” Darcy grumbled. “Crazy idiot.”

“Crazy for you, Princess,” Bucky sighed. “Love you guys.”

Bucky promptly passed out. The healing his body had done and the blood loss taking its toll. Darcy panicked and rushed to the bed, cradling his face in her hands.

“Stop babying him, he'll be fine!” Dr. Cox shouted from the nurse's station. “The idiot should have passed out an hour ago but he insisted on staying up to see his boyfriend and his girlfriend. Lucky son of a bitch.”

“We're not---he's not,” Darcy snapped back at Dr. Cox, pausing and unable to properly sass the doctor back. He looked genuinely disappointed at Darcy's sudden sarcasm impotency. “Fuck everyone and everything and the horse it all rode in on. I'm going back to my place.”

She pointed at Steve in warning. “YOU. Stay here and make sure he's okay. And make sure he gets a good nights sleep and loads of iron and a good breakfast. And just....fuck it.”

  
  


Darcy leaned in and kissed Bucky's temple tenderly before gripping Steve by his uniform and repeating her actions with him. She then stormed out of the room as angry as she could be.

“Progress,” Steve shrugged at a snoring Bucky. “Still gotta have that talk with her, jerk. I'm thinking it might go better than we expect though.”

* * *

  
  


** Chapter Four: Sharing is Surprising but Not **

“Fuck you very much, Marianne!” Darcy grumbled at her phone as she walked out of the Public Relations department.

“Problems at work, Princess?”

Darcy jumped in place and looked up from her phone to see Bucky leaning against the wall by the elevator, looking like sin poured into a pair of dark blue jeans and a tight white t-shirt. His black jacket was hanging over his left forearm. His body looked like the start of a female friendly porn movie, but his smile was genuine and his eyes full of real concern.

“How are you feeling?” Darcy had left Bucky passed out with Steve in the med bay 30 hours ago. The man currently looked like he could bench press her without breaking a sweat.

“Just fine, Stevie told you that you were worrying your pretty, gigantic, smart, loving brain over nothing,” Bucky smiled at her. “Now, tell me why you're upset, Princess.”

“The aging dinosaurs of the PR department, aka, my technical bosses, think that running the social media accounts for the Avengers doesn't count as real work, since I'm not typing up official press releases that no one actually reads anymore,” Darcy huffed. “I get nothing but passive aggressive shit from all of them. They basically accused me of sleeping my way into my quote _made up position_ end quote.”

“Want me to kill them for you?” Bucky asked, his brow furrowing.  His eyes flickered up towards the ceiling.  JARVIS should have told Pepper Potts about any unprofessional words towards Darcy.  He had happily reported to Steve about how Bucky sometimes made a running commentary about Steve's ass during training exercises.  Bucky had been forced into a sexual harassment seminar at the end of it.  He knew that Darcy's bosses should not be making comments like that.

“Are you---oh my God, are you serious?” Darcy's eyes widened dramatically.

“Well, Stevie says killing is bad now, but I'm a reformed weapon of mass destruction, some times good and bad get kind of hazy,” Bucky smiled cheekily at her, getting the response he wanted as she snorted at him in genuine mirth. “I mean, I could slash their tires...destroy their personal lives...rough them up a little. Killing might be a little much, but I'd do it if you wanted.”

“You're a secret sweetheart with a murderous streak,” Darcy laughed as they got on the elevator. She was unsurprised when Bucky wound his left arm around her shoulders and pulled her until she was flush against his side. She relaxed into the embrace and grinned up at him, “Adorable kitten thinks of nothing but murder all day...”

“That one of your internet jokes?” Bucky wondered, staring down at her in unguarded beguilement. His metal fingertips stroked at the skin just below the cuff of her blouse with a slow and lazy touch. The sensors told him that the soft touch was eliciting goosebumps and he felt his stomach flip over in the best of ways.

“Memes. And yes,” Darcy nodded. “If you'd let me make you a twitter account, I'd make that your bio line.”

JARVIS had the elevator moving steadily down to the garage levels and Darcy furrowed her brow as they decidedly did not head towards her apartment.

  
  


“Where are we going?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. You're being kidnapped,” Bucky grinned at her. He bent his head and placed a kiss on the top of her head before revealing, “Stevie and I were worried that you were working too hard, and then you definitely worried too much about us this week. You need to blow off steam.”

“Yeah, I had planned to screw my boyfriend's brains out all weekend while you listened and whacked your miniature winter soldier,” Darcy scoffed. “Nothing de-stresses a person like Steve's serum enhanced libido.”

“Preaching to the choir, Princess,” Bucky swallowed nervously.  It was as good of a time to drop the bombshell on her as there ever would be really.  Best to treat it like a bandage and just rip it off.  Casually.  Just sort of, gently drop it into her lap that the man she was currently dating and sexing was the man he had last dated and sexed.  He felt her tense against him and he let a friendly smile bend his lips as he joked,  “And while I'm not as super serum endowed as Stevie-boy, I've never had any complaints about size.”

“ Wait---what?” Darcy furrowed her brow. “Did---are you and--- ** what?!? ** ”

“It's been a little while,” Bucky shrugged. “But yeah, we used to, before you came along. I know you can understand what I'm talking about when I say that he does this thing with his tongue that's just really...”

“ ** What in the ever loving FUCK ** ?” Darcy shouted pushing herself away from him and standing in the far corner of the elevator. Her arms crossed in front of her, her face white and her eyes wide with shock. Sure, she had suspected that Steve and Bucky were closer than your average best buds, but it was still entirely shocking to have the world's greatest and scariest assassin casually referencing a shared boyfriend's tongue skills.  _ Before you came along _ .  She had the very startling fear that she had misread the situation entirely.  Bucky wasn't flirting with her, he was just waiting for the right moment to get rid of her.  “But---why aren't you---am I stepping on your toes? Oh GOD. Are you going to murder me in my sleep?”

“Princess, calm down,” Bucky managed a reassuring smile at her. She looked downright scared. She was actively trying to make herself smaller in the corner of the elevator and he knew that she honestly feared for her life at that moment just a little. The thought of that made him sick to his stomach. He gave her his most solemn look and promised, “I'd **never** hurt you. And you're not stepping on my toes. Stevie and I decided to take a break for a little while. He wanted to get to know you better.”

“ _ WHAT?”  _ Darcy breathed.

“And now that he knows you much, much better,” Bucky waggled his eyebrows at her. “I'd like to get to know you better.”

Bucky anticipated the slap, but he let her do it anyway. She deserved to get in as many slaps as she wanted. He winced a little though at the sight of her tears. Anger and sadness he could deal with though. At least the immediate fear had gone away.

“I'm not the kind of girl that can just be traded between best buddies---or whatever the two of you are,” Darcy said in a low, angry whisper. She could feel her blood boiling at the idea that Steve, sweet, kind, adorable Steve had dated her for the soul purpose of trading her off to his man trollop.

“ That's not what we want, Darcy,” Bucky promised her. “We want  _ you _ . We want it to be the three of us. All together. Dating. Being with each other.”

“ That's a lot to drop on a girl all at once,” Darcy shook her head in disbelief. She had fantasized about it.  _ Who wouldn't?  _ But it was another thing altogether for him to actually suggest it. In real life. All the teasing she had done about the two soldiers kissing made her stomach twist with guilt. “So—-you and Steve, you would...would...”

  
  


“Kiss?” Bucky wondered.

“Among other things,” Darcy nodded.

“Yup,” Bucky watching her very carefully as she processed it.

“Oh,” Darcy breathed, the mental image of that was very...very nice. “And you're not mad at me or...jealous?”

“Nah,” Bucky shook his head. “Been waiting to find the right girl to share him with.”

“Oh,” Darcy nodded. This had to be some kind of joke from the rehabilitated assassin. Just another thing to pick on silly Princess Lewis about. It seemed like kind of a cruel joke and she wondered if Steve was in on it. “Who told you about polyamory? Was it Stark? Cause I'll switch him to decaf, I swear.”

“Believe it or not, your generation didn't invent the threesome,” Bucky rolled his eyes at her.

“So, you just want---” Darcy furrowed her brow. If it was just about the sex, she could understand it. She did feel a little wounded though. Steve had really seemed to genuinely like her. It felt a little like it was working itself into something more. But if he and Bucky had been together before, it explained why it felt like he looked at her with something that looked a little bit like love but never actually said anything. If she was being honest with herself, it had felt like it was heading towards the hot threesome sex.  A few days ago Bucky had been mouthing at her breasts while Steve kissed her in a very public place.  She had wanted that too.  Still wanted it.  All the hot sex in all the different ways they could slot against each other.  And now she was getting a headache. She put her hand over her eyes and sighed, “This is---this is a lot.”

“Well, we have all weekend. No need to make any rash decisions in elevators,” Bucky gently reassured her as the elevator finally found the garage floor. He threw a thankful nod to the ceiling, knowing that JARVIS had slowed the elevator's descent. “Why don't you throw those headphones in your ears, listen to something fun and take a nap in the backseat?”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded again, completely dumbstruck. That sounded ideal actually. Even if she wouldn't sleep, she could think. She had a feeling that the weekend away they had planned would be full of tense negotiations regarding the who and the what and the when of it all with Steve. She stepped out of the elevator and the first thing she saw was Steve smiling down at her in that adorably adorable way of his. He opened the backseat of his SUV and held out an arm to help her in.

“Hi sweetheart,” Steve smiled at her. Her face was a fascinating mix of terrified, angry and bewildered. He had been wary to let Bucky break it to her alone, but Bucky had insisted that he be the one to come clean, and to do it before they whisked her away to a remote destination where she might feel trapped.   Steve supposed this was a good reaction, Bucky was serious, but not dejected. And Darcy was there sitting down in the backseat, not running back into the Tower away from them. He squeezed her hand once and asked, “Was Bucky nice to you?”

“Sure?” Darcy shrugged, feeling very shell shocked at everything that had just happened to her in the span of five minutes. She settled herself into the backseat and couldn't help but smile softly at the nest of blankets and pillows that had been set up. Her phone charger was dangling from the front seat, ready for her, and a to go cup of what she knew was her favorite tea was in the backseat cup holder.

Steve was the most thoughtful person she had ever met. And Bucky snuck in and showed that he was very nearly just as thoughtful as Steve. Her boyfriend.  _ His  _ boyfriend?

And they wanted to do the threesome-ing with her. They had used their thoughtfulness and adorableness in order to get her to do the threesome-ing with them.

She had no idea where they were absconding her to, but she sure as hell hoped there would be alcohol there.

* * *

“mmmhmmm....”

Bucky's face lit up at the sound of Darcy's sleeping moan from the backseat of the SUV. Steve chuckled at his response. The girl had started softly snoring five minutes into their ride. It was really no surprise. She had been up and running for nearly 48 hours non-stop at that point. They provided the soft warm place for her and she was out like a light. An hour into their drive and she had hit some sort of deeper sleep cycle, and now the sleepy moans had started. Steve knew what was coming next and he couldn't wait to see Bucky's reaction to it.

  
  


“She does this thing in her sleep...it's adorable and sexy and just...”

“Mmmmm...”

“That's just unfair,” Bucky shook his head, turning in the seat to look at her.

She had a seat belt on but had somehow managed to lay out across the backseat, five or six blankets piled on top of her, her head half buried underneath a pillow. The cup of tea she had rapidly consumed in the car was dangling from her fingertips, and Bucky reached out to take it from her, placing it back in the holder. He reached out to her hands again and drew a gentle line from her wrist to the tip of her index finger with his fingertips.

  
  


He sucked in a breath when she grasped for his hand, holding it close and pulling him towards her. He unclicked his seat belt and leaned his upper body towards the back seat as she drew his right hand to her chest, forcing it flat and pressing it against the line of her cleavage.

  
  


“Huh, she's being chaste,” Steve smiled, his eyes darting between the road and the view from the rear view mirror. “You know how some people sleep walk?”

“Sure,” Bucky breathed, watching her sleep in unguarded fascination, a warm feeling settling over him at the feel of her soft skin beneath his fingertips.

“Well, our girl is a little more of a sleep...groper?” Steve offered.

“ _ Fun _ ,” Bucky grinned. He couldn't wait to sleep next to her and let her grope to her heart's content.

“We're here,” Steve pulled the car into a long and extended driveway.

They were borrowing one of the many Stark Industries owned vacation homes for the weekend. This one in a small beach town in New Jersey that Darcy had often said was one of her dream vacation spots as a poor ward of the state when she was an orphaned little girl. They could have used the Stark Jet to go to any tropical destination on the face of the planet, but both Steve and Bucky thought Darcy would be most excited with a falling apart boardwalk and the cool blue-gray waters of the Atlantic that she had dreamed about as a kid.

The beach bungalow looked more like a ridiculously appointed suburban McMansion, but they were beach front, and they had plenty of privacy afforded to them by the expertly manicured landscapes surrounding the house. There was a hot tub and an in-ground pool in the back of the house next to a large grilling area with a fire pit and tons of cozy and elegant seating.

“You want to bring her inside?” Steve smiled at Bucky.

“Absolutely,” Bucky nodded, extracting his hand delicately from Darcy's grip and hopping out of the vehicle. Steve went for the bags, while Bucky went for the back door unwrapping the blankets before carefully scooped Darcy into his arms. He grinned at the feel of her sleep warm curves pressed against him and actually had to bite back a delighted laugh as she began to wriggle against him. The bridal carry he had hoped to carry her in changed and he adjusted her body so that her legs wound around his waist, her arms around his shoulders and her head against his chest. His hands were on the round fleshy globes of her bottom and he grinned at a smirking Steve, who had all of their bags in one hand.

He could feel her kisses through his t-shirt as they made it through the door.

“Princess?” he murmured.

“Mmhmm,” she moaned back, placing her lips on his clavicle, tongue swiping out in a tickling caress.

“Sleep walking,” Steve reminded him.

“Jesus,” Bucky blew out a breath as she continued to lick and kiss at his skin in her sleep. Her thighs tightened against him and he could feel her hips shimmy against his abdomen. “I know you're the picture of high morals, punk, but how do you manage to not take advantage of all this sleepy softness?”

“I woke up one morning to her mouth all over me,” Steve admitted. “It's not easy to get a sleeping person's mouth off of your erection. When I finally got her awake she said she kind of---really _liked_ it and I should have let her finish her dream out.”

“Shit,” Bucky groaned as Darcy lazily sucked on his skin. “Where can I drop her before she makes me come in my pants?”

“Better to just put her on the couch,” Steve shrugged. “We'll figure out the bed situation later.”

“My vote is the biggest bed,” Bucky waggled his eyebrows at Steve before gently placing Darcy down on the couch, chuckling at her grabby hands as he disentangled himself from her.

“You think she'll go for that?” Steve wondered hopefully. Bucky had told him word for word how the conversation went with Darcy in the elevator. He was eager for her to wake up so he could add his own reassurances to her.

“She was confused and upset, but I don't think she's opposed to it. Just got to get her to believe it's real. We'll see how she feels when she wakes up.”

* * *

Darcy mostly felt hungry when she woke up. And when they had explained that they were in Avalon, New Jersey, she had excitedly began chanting about pizza and burgers and ice cream and they laughed at her enthusiasm before walking the two short blocks to the town's main street. Darcy went to order pizza, while Steve went to another restaurant to order burgers and Bucky returned to the both of them in between, juggling three double scoop cones of ice cream, all different flavors.

“Didn't know what you liked, Princess,” Bucky held out a cone with a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of strawberry. “Just feel free to lick whatever you want.”

“You damn well know she likes chocolate the best,” Steve rolled his eyes as Darcy maneuvered the pizza boxes and licked away at the chocolate scoop. His own arms were full of bags, so he leaned in and went for the cone that looked like butter pecan and vanilla fudge swirl and took a large lick of his own.

“Clearly the milkshakes would have been a poor idea,” Bucky smirked between the pair of them, Darcy and Steve still happily licking away at the ice cream held in his hands. “Best idea ever.”

* * *

 

They had made it back to the beach house and demolished the food that they had procured at a leisurely pace. Darcy and Bucky had made a game of the french fries, tossing them at each other's mouths, allowing Steve to catch the rebounds before they hit the floor.

“Sunset?” Darcy grinned between Steve and Bucky in excitement.

  
  


“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” Steve smiled down at her indulgently. He still wanted to talk things out, but he didn't have the heart to wipe that happy, goofy grin off of her face. She was marginally stress free for the first time in two weeks, and he didn't really feel like putting more on her plate at that moment.

Taking a smile off of Darcy's face was akin to drowning a damned kitten in Steve's book.

She was out of the house and running towards a spot in the sand where they could see the sunset behind them and the way the colors reflected off the ocean in front of them in a heartbeat, and Steve and Bucky were quick to catch up, sitting next to where she had flopped down in the sand. She remained quiet, and Bucky and Steve followed her lead as the sun sank behind them in hues of oranges and pinks.

“This was a really great idea, guys,” Darcy finally whispered as an inky black darkness began to settle around them. She shivered slightly as a cool ocean wind whipped around them.

“C'mere, Darce,” Steve held open his arms. He laughed when she lifted the bottom of his sweatshirt up and shimmied her way beneath it with him. Bucky's metal hand reached out and tore at the neckline so her head could fit through with Steve's.

“So damned cute, the both of you,” Bucky chuckled.

Steve felt Darcy tense against him and he kissed her forehead. “You and Bucky have a good talk today, sweetheart?”

Darcy shrugged.

“You're not mad at us, are you?” Steve prodded. “I promise, we weren't trying to trick you. Just wanted...just wanted to see if you'd like us and it seemed more normal for one of us to date you before both of us did.”

“You guys haven't you know---” Darcy waggled her eyebrows and made a smacking noise with her lips.

“Not since we made the decision to try to win you over,” Bucky promised her.

“I feel bad,” she shrugged. It seemed wrong for them to deny themselves of each other in an effort to woo her. She wasn't worth all that.

“Don't,” Steve shook his head. “Please don't.”

“What can we do to make you not feel bad, Princess?” Bucky wondered.

“You can kiss,” Darcy shrugged again. “Kiss right now. Please?”

“Don't have to tell me twice,” Bucky chuckled, leaning in and pressing his mouth against Steve's.

Darcy's eyes widened at the feel of Bucky's scruff against her own cheek as she sat in Steve's lap, chest to chest with him beneath his sweatshirt. She took small slow breaths through her parted lips as she felt Steve's chest begin to rumble with a pleasured sound as Bucky's tongue stroked against his lazily. Their kissing looked well practiced and comfortable and lovely. Darcy was hit with a shot of regret over the desire that had been ever present since Bucky had told her everything earlier in the day.

Who was she to stop that sort of loveliness from happening all the time?

“I mean...you should kiss all the time,” Darcy whispered when they pulled apart a few inches, staring at each other with soft happiness. “I don't want to get in the way of all this.”

“You would never be in the way,” Steve promised her. His nose nudged at her cheek until his lips could slot against hers, trying very hard to kiss away all the doubt he knew she felt.

Bucky's right hand was on her cheek, his thumb stroking at the soft flushing porcelain skin of hers as he watched them kiss. He opened his mouth to speak three times before finally he managed to spit out,

  
  


“Can I kiss you, Princess?”

Darcy whimpered against Steve before giving the slightest of nods. Steve drew his lips away from hers at the feeling of her approval and Bucky wasted no time in hungrily devouring those pouty lips that had captivated him for months. For decades if they were going by how long Steve had been drawing their imaginary perfect girl.

She was an enthusiastic kisser to say the least. In moments he had gone from sucking on her bottom lip to having her completely control the kiss, her tongue running along his teeth before swirling against his own. Her hands were trapped underneath the sweatshirt with Steve, but Bucky could feel them moving, rubbing against Steve's skin, scratching against hard muscle as she kissed Bucky senseless.

“Oh,” she whispered when he finally pulled away.

If he hadn't of pulled away he would have been hard pressed to stop himself from begging to let him take her right there on the beach.

“You're the closest damned thing to perfect I've ever seen,” Bucky shook his head in wonder. He gave Steve an apologetic shrug and said, “And I've seen this idiot naked, so...that's pretty perfect.”

“Smooth talker,” Darcy rolled her eyes at him. “I still---I have my reservations about this whole thing...”

“Okay,” Steve nodded. “We'll only do what makes you comfortable, sweetheart.”

“Well, I like making out and I like watching you guys make out, so lets go back to the house, and find the biggest bed we can and we can do that for...for a good long while.”

“Seriously,” Bucky grinned at her before kissing her lips with bruising force before pulling away and doing the same to Steve. “Seriously, perfect.”

* * *

Darcy woke up the next morning with her hands down Bucky's pants.

She certainly had not meant to do that.

They had made out for nearly an hour in the king sized bed in the master suite of the house before all three of them suddenly felt their energy sap away and one by one they had drifted asleep, Darcy in the middle of a super soldier sandwich. The sun wasn't quite up yet, and both of the boys seemed to be sleeping deeply.

Bucky hadn't even stirred at the hands in his pants. Well, he hadn't stirred except for the happy erection she held in her hands.

To be fair, Darcy couldn't help the things she did in her sleep. She'd discovered her nocturnal adventures when she was 19, sleeping in a bed with her friend who just happened to be gay and who had decidedly not been interested in her sucking on his earlobe or her hand fondling his lovely ass.  It had been mortifying and she felt like an asshole about her perverted nocturnal side.

It wasn't until Steve, sweet, blushing, painfully aroused Steve woke her up from her sleep walking attempts at sucking him off that she realized in the right circumstances, in a safe spot with a safe person, the idea of her highly adventurous sleepy alter ego was kind of a turn on. And by kind of, she meant absolutely she had no reservations about sleepily doing whatever Steve was willing to let her do.  And then hearing about it from him in the morning and doing it all over again awake.

And Bucky didn't seem to mind her hands at that moment. He had a heavenly grin on his sleeping face and she could feel the length of him in her soft grip, hard and happy and twitching.

“Oh boy,” she breathed before carefully extracting her hands. She scooted backwards a half inch and there was Steve, and little Captain America saluting her backside and she just _knew_ she had probably spent the last half hour sleep-rubbing her ass against his sweat pant covered crotch. “Oh hell.”

She very, very carefully creeped out of bed, and it said something about how safe and happy the two men must have felt at that moment, because there was no super soldier or super assassin awareness as she managed to tiptoe out of the bed and towards the bathroom. When she returned, they were still where she had left them, in the exact aroused state she had left them. She scribbled a note and placed it in between them where she had previously been before hurrying out of the room and out of the house.

She grabbed her phone from the charger she had placed it on in the kitchen and smiled at the text waiting for her.

_ If you are in any way uncomfortable, I will come and retrieve you. _

She took her purse before she dialed up the number as she snuck her way out of the house, grabbing Steve's ruined sweatshirt and tossing it over her head quickly.

“Are you okay?” Natasha asked over the other side of the line.

“ _ What?no, sleeping now...Nat, not yet...let a man recover _ .  _ Four times in one night and no superserum here. Must. Sleep. _ ”

Darcy laughed as she heard Sam's sleepy rambling in the background. She shook her head as Natasha obviously made her way out of bed and into another room to continue their conversation.

“I'm freaking out a little,” Darcy admitted quietly. “Did you know about this?”

“I may know a few things,” Natasha nodded. “What has you concerned?”

“Did I break them up?” Darcy asked honestly. Natasha appreciated blunt and straightforward honesty. And quite frankly, Darcy just wanted blunt and straightforward answers.

“They stopped having physical relations together in order for Steve to date you,” Natasha admitted.

“ Why would Bucky agree to that?” Darcy shook her head in dismay as she walked away from the house towards the main street of the small town. “I mean, they're obviously totally in love. I mean the way they  _ kiss _ , Nat-Nat. It's like the movie ending kiss to a Hallmark movie, with the swelling music, and the emotional emotions, and the schmoopy, all encompassing, never ever going to quit you kind of love! Why would he give that up so easily?”

“ Darce, James gave it up so that they could get  _ you _ ,” Natasha insisted.

“That's crazy talk!” Darcy scoffed. “That's the epitome of crazy talk. That's the craziest talk that ever did talk.”

“They are two pansexual, polyamorous men, who have dreamed of bringing the perfect girl into their relationship since before Steve was amped up on Erskine's super serum,” Natasha said bluntly. “I've seen his sketchbooks that Shield had squirreled away from the 40's. There are two books entirely devoted to a girl who looks exactly like you.”

“So---”

“It's not just physical,” Natasha cut her off. “Steve is smitten with you. I've never seen the idiot happier. I'm genuinely afraid of how insufferably pleasant he will be if he secures the both of you in a relationship.”

“But Bucky is---”

“Bucky is in love with you,” Natasha reminded her.

“ ** WHAT? ** ”  Darcy shouted. A few joggers on the main road gave her strange looks.

“He told me that he had never wanted any girl the way he wanted you,” Natasha continued, now seriously annoyed with James and Steve.  She had told them to come clean.  To tell Darcy everything about what they wanted from her.  The fact that James was after her  _love_ and not just hot threesome sex was one of the most important things they should have told the girl.  She sighed and said in her bland way of hers, “I have no reason to believe he was lying, but I would need several hours alone with him in an interrogation room to confirm the truth of his words.  He should have told you these things himself.”

“He---what? That's insane!” Darcy laughed, bordering on hysterically cackling. “He doesn't even know me.”

“It happens quickly for some,” Natasha smiled over the other end of the line. “You're a very lovable young woman for an elite group of people. Like---olives. A person will know if they love olives very quickly.”

“I am so disappointed in your metaphors. I, for one, _despise_ olives,” Darcy rolled her eyes. She stopped in front of a bakery, standing at the end of a line already ten people long at the crack of dawn. “I refuse to believe that he loves me, Nat-Nat...it's just...too bizarre. We've known each other for three months! That's---just. NO. Steve doesn't even love me for Christ's sake!”

“I feel that I've reached the end of my usefulness in this elliptical argument,” Natasha chuckled dryly. “I'm going to go wake up Wilson and make the most of my morning. You should think about doing the same.”

“Yeah, you go sex up Sammy. I'm going to make sure Bucky admits he was exaggerating before the end of the day!” Darcy insisted churlishly before Natasha hung up on her. By that time the line of people had quickly moved and she stood at the bakery case and gave her order of two dozen cinnamon rolls and two dozen of their world famous sticky buns.

Heh. Sticky buns. When she got back to the beach house, there were hopefully going to be some sticky buns in house already.

She huffed a sigh at her own juvenile sense of humor. This is why she couldn't seriously be apart of a polyamorous triad. She took her purchases and wandered out of the bakery, intent on walking three blocks down the road to the Wawa convenience store to get approximately four gallons of coffee. She had made it one block before she heard the ridiculously fast footfalls behind her. Before she could turn though, she was wrapped up in an embrace from behind that lifted her off of her feet. Her bags from the bakery fell to the ground and she let out a panicked squeak. One arm around her waist was normal, and the other around her chest and shoulder was metal.

“What the hell, Princess?” Bucky breathed into her ear, barely out of breath from the serious sprint he must have taken to get to her so quickly. His nose nuzzled against the top of her head as he pulled her back flush against his front and squeezed her with no small amount of super strength.

“Breathe...need to breathe...” Darcy whispered.

He let up on his grip and turned her to face him. He looked insanely worried as he searched her face for any sign of tears or unhappiness. Finding none, he kissed her lips gently, barely making any contact.

“You had me worried out of my mind,” Bucky sighed, his forehead laying against hers.

  
  


“I left a note!” Darcy insisted.

“ _Leaving. Use the privacy to do the do_.” Bucky recited her note to her with no small amount of annoyance. “Can you understand why I would read that and think you bolted and were going to... _leave_ us?”

“I'm not very good at letter writing,” Darcy squirmed. She looked down at her bags and said, “Can you please pick up the breakfast before a brave seagull attacks it?”

“Let me hold you a minute more,” Bucky smiled at her, going in for another gentle kiss.

“Nope,” Darcy evaded the lips and managed to maneuver herself so that she could pick the bags back up. “Where's your boyfriend?”

“What?” Bucky furrowed his brow.

“Where's your Steve?” Darcy rephrased her question.

“ _Our_ Steve ran in the opposite direction, we figured one of us would find you,” Bucky explained. He turned and squinted down the straight main street and could see the blonde head of hair nearly a mile away. He waved his arms at the man in the distance and turned back to Darcy. “What's the matter, Princess?”

“Nothing,” Darcy peevishly insisted. “Just...a little bird may have told me something disturbing, is all.”

“A little bird or a little spider?” Bucky rolled his eyes.

“You don't _love_ me,” Darcy muttered under her breath. “Steve doesn't even love me.”

  
  


“Hey, you don't get to tell people who they love and who they don't,” Bucky muttered right back. “And for the record, yeah, I do. You can't do anything about it, neither. I love you, you crazy girl, and I want you for me and Stevie and I'm gonna want you with us forever.”

“You're an IDIOT!” Darcy hissed back at him. “What are you? An overly hormonal fifteen-year old girl trapped in a genetically enhanced 97 year old male body?”

“Calm down, Darcy,” Bucky shook his head at her in disappointment. Things had been going so well.

“I'll calm down, I'll calm down plenty when I call up Nat and ask her to pick me up,” Darcy huffed.

“Hey now, no, come on, we're having a nice time!” Bucky shook his head as Steve was about 90 seconds away from running up on them. “What can I do to make you happy again? It's gonna break Stevie's heart if you run back to the Tower.”

  
  


“I hardly believe that, since he'll have you to make him feel better. But if you want me to stay then you have to admit that you were exaggerating to Natasha,” Darcy crossed her arms in front of her. “Admit that you don't love me.”

“I---Jesus fucking Christ---” Bucky spat out. He wrinkled his nose at her in annoyance as she pulled out her phone and began composing a quick text. Steve's footsteps getting closer and closer. “Fine, fine, alright. I was...I didn't mean it.”

“You're just doing this for Steve,” Darcy goaded. “And sex.”

Bucky huffed out an annoyed breath, his hands balled into fists at his side. Darcy looked up at him expectantly and he could see her pulse jumping under the pale skin of her throat. She was scared out of her mind and he knew her fight or flight response was heavily leaning towards flight.

“Whatever you say, Princess,” he mumbled, looking down at the ground in morose dejection that made Darcy wince.

“Hey! What's wrong?” Steve demanded as he came to a stop in front of them. His concerned gaze darted between two seriously upset brunettes and he couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the short amount of time that had passed. They had all fallen asleep happy the night before. Then he had been woken up by a panicked Bucky waving a note in his hand and shaking him roughly. Now it looked like someone had stolen away Bucky's favorite toy and Darcy was red faced and guilty looking.

“Nothing,” Bucky shrugged. “Princess got us breakfast, is all.”

“That's awful nice of you, sweetheart,” Steve smiled at her, reaching out and taking the bags from her hand. “But next time, wake one of us up so we can walk with you. Wouldn't want someone snatching up our best girl.”

 

* * *

 

** Chapter Five: Sharing is a Sneaky Piece of Work **

Steve watched his two brunettes carefully throughout a stilted and silent breakfast. Darcy looked flustered and the slightest bit angry, but mostly just needlessly defiant. She had looked like that when they had debated the merit's of pineapple on pizza three weeks into their relationship.

And Bucky was, for lack of a better word, morose. It looked as if someone had taken away his favorite thing in the world. He had given Steve that look before too, namely the time when Bucky had realized that Steve's new enhanced body was permanent. Bucky had been plenty fond of the smaller Steve's body. It had taken him weeks to learn to love the body Steve currently inhabited.

“Thanks for getting up so early to get us breakfast, sweetheart,” Steve smiled at Darcy. “How'd you know Bucky was so fond of the walnuts?”

“Lucky guess,” Darcy shrugged, pushing around the remains of her own walnut covered sticky bun on the plate.

The fact that she hadn't cracked a _nuts_ joke was telling.

“So, what did the two of you want to do today? Fair warning, we do have to go to the shops in town. I promised Natasha some salt water taffy,” Steve smiled with what he hoped was enthusiasm. “And Pepper would like some fudge.”

“That sounds nice,” Bucky smiled at Steve softly. “You and I can never have enough sweet stuff.”

“Yeah,” Steve chuckled. JARVIS ordered sugar and flour by the pallet, and Darcy spent a lot of her free time baking. It really de-stressed her and made her happy. And they'd eat anything she gave to them, and that made her even happier.

  
  


“Good thing we've got our Princess here, then,” Bucky caught Darcy's eye as she viciously stabbed at the walnuts on her plate. Any devastation or moroseness had suddenly disappeared from Bucky's face and a bright smile with determined eyes replaced them easily. She didn't believe he loved her, and Steve had never said it to her.

That was fine. He'd _show_ her. He'd keep on telling her until he beat down that stubborn wall between her brain and her heart.

“Cause she's the sweetest?” Steve arched a brow, his hand reaching over the table and stroking along the top of Darcy's. He frowned when she pulled away.

“Sweetest rationed sugar on the planet,” Bucky sat back in his chair and placed his hands lazily behind his head. “S'why I love her so much.”

Darcy was _stewing_ . Steve's eyes widened as he looked between a smirking, challenging Bucky to an absolutely livid Darcy. So that was it. Darcy had the l-bomb dropped on her. He squirmed in his seat. He knew part of Darcy's reticence resulted from him being unable to tell her that he loved her. It had to be strange hearing it from Bucky before hearing it from the man she was technically dating the last few months. To hear the words from the best friend/former lover of the man who had made love to her for the past few weeks was definitely a strike against them. A big strike.

Darcy threw the fork down on her plate before pushing herself off from the table and stomping to Bucky's chair on the opposite side of the small table. Steve watched with wide eyes as she stared down Bucky, her hands curled into fists at her hips.

And then she whipped her t-shirt up and off of her head.

She stood before Bucky for a full minute, her anger making her bra covered breasts heave up and down. She rolled her eyes at the delighted way his eyes lit up at the sight of her in a bra and tiny cotton shorts. It looked like his birthday had come early. Yeah. This wasn't love. This was sex and she'd prove it to him.

She climbed onto his lap and simultaneously ground herself against his crotch and began to devour his lips all at once.

“Mmphhhh.”

Was the only sound Bucky managed to get out before Darcy's tongue delved into his mouth, licking against his tongue with long, firm strokes as she continued to rub the warm heat soaking through her shorts against his sweat pants. He was almost instantaneously hard against her, his hands going for her hips to still her.

She pulled away from kissing him to look at Steve, who was watching with a glazed look in his eye and the hints of a smile curving at the corners of his lips.

“Tell me Steve, does your boyfriend like it hard and fast or slow and deep?” Darcy wondered, moving Bucky's hands from her hips to her breasts. Her grin was predatory when Bucky squeezed and groped at her with a muttered curse. “What's the best way for me to get him to come in his pants?”

“Slow and deep,” Steve's voice was rasping and gravely.

“Interesting, since you like it hard and fast,” Darcy smirked, grinding herself against Bucky exactly how he wanted it, slow, up and down, his erection straining against his pants. She could feel him through the thin layers of fabric that separated them. Bucky had told her he went commando before in one of his brazen overshares at the beginning of her relationship with Steve. She was glad to have that information now.

Speaking of what Steve liked, she smirked at him as his hand went below the waist band of his own sweatpants as he got his hands on himself. He definitely was not opposed to watching.

“C'mere baby,” Darcy smiled at him. Steve stood up and shuffled to stand next to them, his eyes still darting between a blissed out, panting Bucky and a downright victorious Darcy. She unclamped Bucky's right hand from her breast and led it to the hem of Steve's pants. “Let us get you off.”

“Jesus, Princess,” Bucky groaned as she never stopped the slow grind of her hips against him. He could feel the wet heat of her as his mouth went to the swell of her breasts, mouthing at her, pleased with the red, wet marks he made on her porcelain skin.

Steve groaned as two very different but familiar hands worked against his stiff length. Darcy's focusing on his tip, her thumb rubbing languidly against his slit, spreading the fluid that was steadily leaking out down his shaft to where Bucky's hand was swiftly moving up and down at the base of his cock.

“We're gonna make him come all over our hands,” Darcy murmured into Bucky's ear. “And when he does, you're next. Outlast him this time, Sarge, and I'll give you a nice reward.”

  
  


“God, oh God, so damned good,” Steve groaned as Bucky tightened his grip ever so slightly, increasing his speed, his fist bumping into Darcy's at a rapid pace.

“Feel how wet I am, Sarge?” Darcy continued to spew filth into his ear.

She never talked this much unless Steve was going down on her. Bucky had a blip of realization at what she was doing but it was too far gone for it to stop.

“Imagine how good it's gonna be, you filling me up, I'll be so good for you, all wet and hot and tight for you,” Darcy promised. She stroked lower, and put her hand on top of his as he continued to stroke Steve at a punishing pace. “And you can have your Stevie inside you at the same time. Won't it feel so good, Sarge?”

“Fuck, god damn,” Bucky groaned, closing his eyes as he tried to stave off his climax. Darcy was making it incredibly difficult.

“You heard what I can do to Steve when he gets me off,” Darcy smiled. “I can get you to come inside me without you even moving, I promise you, Sarge.”

“Stevie, if you don't come right now, I swear to God,” Bucky mumbled under his breath as he continued to pull at Steve hard and fast. But Darcy was still grinding against him, and he could feel all that delicious wetness, all that heat off of her and it was driving him out of his mind and all he wanted to do was pull her shorts off and thrust up inside of her.

“Yes,” Steve choked out in that tell-tale way of his and he was spilling over into their hands and against his boxer briefs.

Darcy pulled her hand out of Steve's pants slowly and held her spunk streaked digit's up, licking each finger languidly while heavy lidded eyes stared into Bucky's eyes. She swirled her index finger into her mouth, grinding down on Bucky with force.

“Fuck, yes, Darcy,” Bucky groaned, his metal hand at the small of her back shaking as he came hard. She kissed him deep, Steve's release on her lips too tempting not to suck right off. Long, delayed moments ticked by on the clock as they caught their breath. Finally he managed to speak, “What's my reward, Princess?”

Because he had outlasted Steve for the first time in a long time.

“Hmmm, you get to be the first person to have my ass, Sarge,” Darcy arched an eyebrow at him. She kissed him again, deep and slow and filthy enough to have him twitching in his pants again. “You'll be the only one I let fuck me there.”

“Oh God, fuck, shit,” Steve whispered the profanities as he watched Bucky's eyes grow wide and his mouth drop open with want.

Bucky furrowed his brow suddenly as Darcy climbed off of him.

She hadn't climaxed. She had worked he and Steve into a frenzy, she had made it as filthy and dirty and fun as possible, but she hadn't had the same amount of enjoyment she had given them. She had used every tool in her arsenal against them. She had used _herself_ as a tool against them. He realized she was making a very specific point. Her body, her mouth, her words were something they _wanted_ and _needed_ . Not, according to her, something they _loved_ .

“Sound good?” she smiled evenly at both of them. They managed identical slow nods, guilt dimming both pairs of blue eyes as they realized what she had done before she said the calm words, “Good. And now, neither of you are allowed to say that this is anything more than filthy, dirty, unholy sex. Because that's all this is. And that's all this is ever going to be. It's not love.”

She stomped her way back to the bedroom, locking herself in. The shower started to run and Steve gave Bucky a guilty look.

“M'sorry if I messed this up,” Steve grimaced. He could read the look on Bucky's face. He could see the disappointment and the worry there. “I should be able to tell her...I mean. She thinks...she thinks it's just about sex and that's my fault.”

“ Shit, Stevie, don't worry about it,” Bucky sighed. “I have an idea. It's going to be  _ hard _ .  But I'm really going to need your help on it.”

* * *

The trio traveled to Stone Harbor, a short distance from the beach house, and focused on shopping. Any discord or unease was gone. Darcy was perfectly pleasant to both of them, if a little more reserved than she usually was. As the day wore on, things started to feel a little more normal. Steve was currently the pack horse, arms laden down with bags and bags of things that Darcy had picked out for all of their friends back at the tower.

“There is absolutely no question that I'm getting that t-shirt for Clint,” Darcy laughed at the airbrushed t-shirt with the ridiculously cartoonish six pack abs on it. “But do I get a matching one for Son of Coul?”

“My vote is yes. Couples like to match,” Bucky nodded.

“Then why don't you have a star spangly uniform?” Darcy smirked at him.

“Black is better for my complexion,” Bucky flipped right back at her.

“Darce, look,” Steve held up frilly pink apron with the pretty scripted word _Sweetheart_ on the front. He grinned like the adorable, oversized puppy he actually was, getting a fond look from both Darcy and Bucky in return. “Would you wear it if I got it for you?”

“Of course,” Darcy smiled at him.

“Would you wear anything else?” Bucky mumbled cheekily.

“Is that what you want, Sarge?” Darcy looked at him with mock sweetness. “To see me stirring up something sweet in that apron and nothing else?”

“Maybe,” Bucky shrugged.

“It doesn't cover much, I'd get sticky all over,” Darcy winked at him. “What would you do then?”

“Get you a wash cloth?” Bucky offered with cloying innocence. “Maybe draw you a nice warm bubble bath?”

Steve rolled his eyes, but took the shirts Darcy wanted in addition to the apron and headed towards the cashier. Darcy glared at Bucky, her mouth turned down and pinched in annoyance.

“What're you playing at, Sarge?”

“Not playing,” Bucky insisted, his blue-gray eyes wide with that same obnoxious innocence. He leaned in and kissed Darcy on the cheek, his mouth miles away from hers. He pulled away when she tried to chase his lips with her own.

Darcy furrowed her brow as Steve returned. She approached him and gave his nervous squirrel-y expression to her own adorably exasperated scowl.

“What're you guys up to?” she demanded.

  
  


“Nothing, sweetheart,” Steve attempted to smile, but it didn't quite reach the very uncomfortable expression in his eyes. He watched as she popped up on her tip toes and went to kiss his lips and barely turned his head in time to have her lips land on his cheek. He swallowed nervously and tried to give her a cheerful look. “You hungry?”

“What's going on?” Darcy demanded.

"I just think, that we should slow the sex part down," Bucky revealed honestly.  "Until the feelings are there."

Darcy narrowed her eyes at him.

"Game on, Sarge," she growled before walking quickly from the store.

“You sure this is what you want to do?” Steve asked Bucky warily.

“C'mon, Stevie. Be strong,” Bucky patted him on the back. “No fun stuff till she can accept how we feel about her. She thinks it's only about sex. This will prove to her that it's not.”

“She's gonna play dirty, Buck.”

“I'm countin' on it.”

* * *

Dinner was at one of the nicer seafood shacks they found. It was dark and old and private, and once again the tension cleared for them to have fun and enjoy the company and conversation. The pink moscato that the waitress had recommended to them had helped, and Darcy was on her third overly full glass by the time dessert came around.

Alcohol went straight to their girl's head, her face pinking up prettily, her eyes glassy and her touches were flirty and lingering. Bucky had taken her hand off of his thigh a dozen times at that point, weaving his fingers with hers and squeezing gently, a soft smile on his face every time. She would pout, then grab her wine glass and take another long swallow.

“Another!” Darcy demanded, putting the wine glass down on the table with force. Not Thor worthy force, but force all the same.

“I'm cutting you off, sweetheart,” Steve shook his head in amusement.

“Fuck you very much, Steven,” Darcy flipped back at him. She smiled at the waitress across the room and gestured to her empty glass.

“Such filthy words from such pretty lips,” Bucky shook his head in amusement.

“Your dick had no problems with my filthy words this morning,” Darcy shrugged, her hand going to his thigh again and squeezing. She may have dug her fingernails into the fucking _edible_ flesh of his thighs. “One day I want to try to get you off with just talking dirty to you. Think I can manage?”

“I have every faith in your abilities,” Steve chuckled.

Bucky scowled at Steve before he took her hand off his thigh again, and brought her hand up to his lips, placing a chaste kiss there, “Princess, there will be a day when we can try out every little thing your devious mind can come up with. Promise.”

“Then let me feel you up under the table,” Darcy countered.

“That's not going to happen right now,” Bucky shook his head amiably.

“Fine, then when we get back to the beach house,” Darcy shrugged.

The waitress arrived with a tray full of every dessert on the menu and a refill of wine for Darcy. Darcy chugged back her wine before grabbing a spoon and going for the salted caramel and chocolate cake. She took a bite and let out an unabashed moan, a sound that ran true to what Bucky was used to overhearing from Steve's bedroom.

He suddenly felt very jealous of the dessert.

Darcy continued to take spoonfuls of the decadent treat into her mouth, moaning each time. He could feel her body temperature rising, and he could see the way she was clenching her thighs.

Steve, poor Steve, was red in the face as he stared at her with unabashed want and he knew that the man already had a hard on underneath the table. Darcy's dirty little moans and the indecent way she licked and sucked on the spoon were driving Steve into a frenzy.

  
  


The punk always liked a pretty visual, after all.

“Go to the bathroom, Stevie,” Bucky ordered and the man happily followed that order.  Bucky looked down at Darcy as she pushed another spoonful in her mouth, this time leaving a little caramel sauce on the side of her lips. The moan came and Bucky shuddered. “I know what you're doing, Princess, and it's not going to work.”

“What's not going to work?” Darcy looked up at him through her lashes and poked her tongue out to lick at that sauce on her lips ineffectively, making that sound in the back of her throat that was usually reserved for when Steve had his tongue in her mouth just so.

Bucky gripped her forearms suddenly and looked down at her with a small shred of what he was actually feeling. Unabashed desire and want and complete and total adoration. He leaned in and kissed her forehead, and pulled away and shook his head at her with no small amount of amusement.

  
  


“I absolutely love that you fight dirty, Princess,” he admitted. He kissed her forehead again, his thumbs moving up her arms to stroke at the inside of her elbows, she shuddered and he made a mental note of the unusual erogenous zone. “I love you, Darcy.”

“I'm going to go see if Steve needs some help in the bathroom,” Darcy grumbled, pushing his hands away and darting towards the men's room Steve had disappeared in.

She poked her head into the bathroom and saw that only one stall was occupied. She stepped in and walked up before knocking on the stall door gently.

“Baby? You need a hand?” Darcy wondered.

“Fuck, Darce, not now,” Steve begged.

  
  


“Need a mouth?” Darcy offered.

“Sweetheart, no,” Steve begged.

“Need any old part of me at all?” she cajoled.

“Mmphh,” Steve managed to get out, trying to keep himself contained as he jerked off in the thankfully spotless and empty restroom.

“Should I send in Bucky, instead?” Darcy wondered glibly. “I don't think all three of us would fit in there, baby.”

He let out a frustrated breath and she peaked through the crack on the bathroom stall. His eyes were closed and his head tilted back, his right hand gripped tightly as he tugged on his erection quick and hard.

“C'mon, baby, I want to help you,” Darcy wheedled. “Let me take care of you.”

“Bucky'll kill me, no,” Steve gritted out before he bit back a small choke as he managed to bring himself over the edge.

“You guys suck!” Darcy hissed at him before stomping her way out of the bathroom and then straight out of the restaurant. She had barely gotten to the end of the block before they had caught up with her, two super soldier slices of bread with a fluffy Darcy filling walking very quickly down the street.

She stormed back into the house and went straight for the bedroom, jumping into the bed and burying her head under the pillows. She let out a scream of frustration for a good fifteen seconds before succumbing to that fourth glass of wine and all the action of the day before passing completely out.

Steve and Bucky found her in the same state half an hour later and Steve sighed.

  
  


“You sure about this?”

“She's gotta at least admit to herself that what I'm feeling for her is real.  That we want her for more than her body.  That she fits with us in a different way than what she thinks," Bucky shrugged. “The minute she can not argue with me when I tell her I love her, is the minute I let her have her wicked way with me.”

“Buck---if she threatens to end it?” Steve wondered. His fear was evident and he didn't bother to try to hide it. Darcy had rapidly become one of the brightest spots in his long life. He didn't want it to end. He didn't want this wonderful thing between the three of them to end before it could begin.

“She won't, she cares, I know she does. She won't end it.  We won't let it go that far.”

* * *

** Chapter Six: Sharing is Not a Solo Activity **

Rather than face the temptation of being in the same bed with Darcy that night, knowing what she was capable of in her sleep, but unwilling to spend a night in a different room, Bucky and Steve each grabbed a pillow and slept on the floor on either side of the bed.

They woke up with the sun and quietly went about procuring breakfast. Steve went out and got the greasiest bunch of breakfast hash and pancakes and bacon he could find, along with the always requested four gallons of coffee. Bucky found the aspirin and water and had it waiting for her when she finally blinked her eyes open.

He held out both and smiled at her when she silently took it.

“You're pretty even when you're hungover,” Bucky shook his head in amusement.

“You're still a prick when I'm hungover,” Darcy glared at him. “Up for a round of morning sex, Sarge? Sloppy and deep and slow?”

“I'll be okay,” Bucky sighed. “Love you, Princess.”

“Fuck you, Sarge,” Darcy groaned as she threw the empty bottle of water at him before she buried herself under the blankets again. It didn't last long before she threw them off of herself and dashed to the bathroom, her bladder in desperate need of emptying.

When she returned, Steve was walking in with their breakfast takeout and smiled at her softly as he handed her a coffee.

“Feeling okay, sweetheart?” he wondered.

“I'll be okay,” Darcy nodded before taking a big swig of her coffee. “What time are we heading back?”

“Whenever you want,” Bucky assured her.

“Breakfast first,” Darcy sat back down on the bed and made grabby hands at the bags full of styrofoam containers. They tucked into the meal eagerly, Darcy regaining more human characteristics as the grease and the carbs hit her system, pulling out any leftover hangover feelings that she may have woken up to. She looked between the two boys as they battled with plastic forks over the last pancake and couldn't help but smile. “All shenanigans and sexual frustration aside, I just want to tell you two that I appreciate what you tried to do for me this weekend.”

“We just want to see you happy, sweetheart,” Steve promised her.

“Orgasms make me happy,” Darcy shrugged.

“Loving you makes me happy,” Bucky cornily replied. She scowled her fiercest scowl at him as she bit into a strip of bacon. “Now, see, if we can figure out how to make that stop, maybe orgasms can happen.”

“Hmm, I'm going to need to stop on the way home for some batteries, Steve.”

“Why batteries?” Steve innocently wondered.

  
  


“Because my vibrator is going to be getting quite the workout in the next few weeks until I can break the two of you like the weak men you are.”

* * *

Steve did not stop for batteries, but when they got back to the tower, Darcy went straight for the common room. She dumped the gifts they had gotten on the dining room table and looked up at the ceiling.

“Hey J-money?”

“Yes, Miss Lewis?”

“Can you get Tony up here? He can grab his seashells I found him and Pepper's fudge,” Darcy smiled. She sent a very dangerous look Steve and Bucky's way. “And I'd like to talk to him about building me a better vibrator.”

“He is currently _rushing_ to meet you,” JARVIS sighed in disappointment.

Tony bustled into the room with unrestrained glee, rushing towards the closet that they used for storage of Avengers Family Fun Night supplies. He pulled out a large gift basket and handed it to Darcy triumphantly. Inside were various bottles of flavored lube, tingling lube, heated lube, and _glittery lube_ along with quite a few (handmade) pamphlets with titles like _Polyamory and You: Learning to Share_ and _Helpful Hints: How to Properly Handle Two Penises_ and one pamphlet that made her snort _Beginner's Guide to Anal Love._

“You're depraved, Tony,” Darcy sighed.

“Thank you, Lewis!” Tony grinned maniacally at her. He looked back at the boys skeptically before looking back at Darcy. “Now, what's this JARVIS is telling me about a vibrator? Cause you shouldn't need it anymore. OH! Unless it's of the strap on variety, you know, to join in on the sword crossing.”

“Tony!” Steve admonished.

“There's enough dicks in this threesome,” Darcy laughed. “I just need a better vibrator to outlast Bucky and Steve's vow of chastity. Draw something up and get back to me?”

With that, Darcy picked up Natasha's salt water taffy and left the room, Tony turned his gape from her to the two blushing supersoldiers. He shook his head in disbelief and wondered, “You do know what she looks like, right?”

“Yeah,” Bucky grumbled.

“And you, Cap, you know what she's like in bed, right?” Tony demanded.

“Shut it, Tony,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“I mean, I don't know what it's like, so please feel free to share with the class,” Tony grinned again. “I mean, share it with Barnes too, so he knows what he's missing out on.”

“She's not---it's not the right time,” Bucky mumbled.

“ Well, just don't push her away,” Tony advised. “Lewis has got a notoriously short fuse. She tased Thor for scaring her, kicked Clint in the balls for picking on her, and turned my bots against me cause I wouldn't stop calling her  _ Boobs McGee _ . Holding out on the Vitamin D? Whew, she's gonna go for drastic measures there. The little lady loves sex. I've seen her internet history. Give her all of the sex.”

* * *

Natasha was waiting at her apartment door when the boys came by with Sam's gift. She uncrossed her arms before bringing up two hands and slapping each one upside the head. She then turned and walked into her apartment.

“ What part of  _ tell her everything you want  _ was too confusing of an instruction?” Natasha demanded, turning around and glaring at them as if they were someone she was particularly sick of interrogating.

“We did our best,” Steve lamely defended.

“ She knows  _ now _ ,” Bucky petulantly wrinkled his nose. “It was a lot to drop on her at once.”

“Steve, do you love her?” Natasha asked bluntly.

“I---I...” Steve stammered. He gave Bucky a guilty look and shrugged. “I could...I'm, I think I do.”

“Can you understand what this looks like to her?” Natasha sighed. “You made the decision to have Steve woo her, she now knows that the goal was to bring her into a relationship with both of you. She now knows that Bucky thinks he loves her.”

“Not think,” Bucky corrected her. “I love the girl, Nat.”

“And she may believe you,” Natasha nodded. “But then that leaves her with thinking that Steve is only doing this because you aren't exactly her type.”

  
  


“She thinks its only for sex,” Steve revealed.

“We're working on getting her to believe its not,” Bucky promised.

“Oh god, HOW?” Natasha demanded.

“By not having sex,” Steve shrugged.

They didn't try to stop her from hitting them again.

“You're withholding physical affection from her until she admits she has feelings for you?” Natasha growled.

“NO!” Bucky shook his head. “Just until she admits that its more than sex. You don't understand how she twisted it all up, she thinks we're using her, so we're not going to do that until she knows we're not using her. That we want her forever and we want her for more than that.”

“ Tell her that. Tell her  _ exactly  _ that and keep telling her that,” Natasha ordered. “If you screw it up, I will kill the both of you, I swear it. Get out of here and make it right!”

“Peanut brittle for Wilson,” Steve put the box on the table and grabbed an argumentative Bucky by the collar. “Darcy has your treats.”

Natasha reached for a knife that she kept under her coffee table and both super soldiers hustled away.

* * *

When Bucky and Steve had finished distributing the rest of the gifts, and getting a shovel talk from Thor, Jane, Bruce and Happy, they made their way back to their apartment. They were surprised to smell garlic and onion cooking, along with the heavy smell of some kind of cheesy sauce. Darcy was cooking. She smothered everything that wasn't sweet with some kind of cheesy sauce she knew how to make.

“Oh good, you boys are back, taste test this for me?” Darcy's voice rang out from the kitchen.

Bucky and Steve shared a look. Years of combat had left them with certain instincts. This  _ felt  _ like a trap. But she sounded so sweet and downright impish that both men felt powerless and didn't mind it one bit. They shrugged before walking into the kitchen fully, jaws dropping at what they saw.

Darcy standing behind their counter, stirring a bowl of something, wearing the apron Steve had bought her.

And not one other damned stitch of clothing.

“I made a casserole for dinner, it's in the oven, but I was inspired to make something yummy for dessert too,” Darcy shrugged impishly. She dipped a finger in the bowl and held out a finger full of something whipped and chocolatey. “Let me know if it's too sweet?”

“Fuck,” Steve breathed out, bypassing Darcy completely and rushing towards the bathroom. After nearly a century of living, Steven Grant Rogers had finally learned how to retreat from a fight he couldn't win.

Bucky was left comrade-less and Darcy blinked at him with absolutely falsified innocence as she held her finger out enticingly. He kept his eyes firmly on hers, not daring to look down at the way the apron top barely covered her ample breasts. He refused to let himself drink in the sight of the way the apron strings wrapped around her soft waist. He absolutely did not want to even try to take a peek at the way the ruffled skirt front of the apron tickled against the tops of her round, full thighs.

He had a moment of inner panic as he silently pleaded with whatever God would listen that she not turn around. He feared for his resolve if he had to see that beautiful round bare bottom (that she had promised would be his and his alone) taunting him.

“Don't know where your hands have been, Princess,” he managed to grumble out, his voice low and dangerous sounding.

“Oh, I washed them after I was done,” Darcy smiled at him beguilingly. “Cause when I got here, while you guys were meandering around the tower, I took a stop in Steve's bed. And I got all naked, and my fingers were in a place you definitely have no interest in whatsoever.”

Bucky may not have been born Russian, but he pulled on some of that learned Russian stoicism that had been so useful before. He wanted to wince. He wanted to show her just how much interest he had in all of her parts. He wanted to worship her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. He wanted his tongue where her fingers had been, tasting her and devouring her until she begged for him to stop.

“You're such a minx,” Bucky managed to tell her with a soft smile. “Love you, Darcy.”

Darcy wrinkled her nose at him, licking her finger quickly before shoving the bowl in the refrigerator. Bucky decidedly looked at the ceiling when she turned around to resist the temptation of seeing that naked rear end that he really, really wanted to bite. And maybe spank.

He felt a twitch along his hardened length and stifled a groan.

  
  


God, he wondered if she wouldn't enjoy a few playful swats on her firm bare cheeks.

“I'm going to go give Nat-Nat her gifts, she'll give a girl a cuddle,” Darcy huffed, walking towards the front door.

“You aren't going out in the hall like that!” Steve shouted from the bathroom.

Darcy rolled her eyes and grabbed a sweatshirt of Bucky's from the closet by the door, throwing it over her apron and skin ensemble. Bucky couldn't help but let out a groan as the fabric drowned her and went down to the tops of her knees. He cursed himself at the sight of Darcy's smirk. She didn't need the ammo of knowing what seeing her in his clothing did to him. He was a possessive son of a bitch on a good day when it came to what was his and Steve's. He had no doubt she would use it to her utmost advantage.

“Have fun jerking off, Sarge.”

* * *

“Cap just sent me a very angry text message about making sure Darcy is wearing panties,” Sam announced as he breezed into Natasha's apartment in the tower. His eyebrows went upwards as he took in the sight of Darcy swathed in what looked like Barnes' sweatshirt, cuddled up against Natasha, her usually mirthful face full of spiteful anger and dejection. “Uhm...mini vacation didn't go so well?”

“As his counselor, I understand you can't tell me everything,” Darcy mumbled as she pressed her face against Natasha's neck. “But seriously, why does Bucky say he loves me? I mean...what did you do to that boy in group therapy?”

“One, he's not in group therapy. Because what group of people could relate?” Sam held up a finger. He held up a second finger and demanded, “And two, he LOVES you?”

“See, that's a normal reaction!” Darcy cried out. She glared at Natasha briefly. “A normal reaction isn't OH YOU'RE FUCKING OLIVES. SOME PEOPLE LOVE YOU BUT YOU MAKE OTHER PEOPLE WANT TO VOMIT.”

  
  


“ You're lucky that  ** I  ** love olives,” Natasha rolled her eyes.

“So...the triad thing...” Sam sat on the far end of the couch, not willing to risk both Steve's or Bucky's wrath for accidentally touching or seeing anything on the girl.

“It's a threesome, not a triad!” Darcy disputed hotly.

“And that's the issue at hand, at the moment,” Natasha smiled at Sam. “Two-thirds of the three people are willing to admit they have feelings.”

“ONE-THIRD of the people _thinks_ they have feelings!” Darcy corrected hotly. “And that one-third won't shut the fuck up about it!”

“And one-third of the people is scared out of her mind,” Natasha petted Darcy's locks gently. “I know that love has not been kind to you in the past, but that doesn't mean you have to force it away for the rest of your life. You are not allowed to dictate how other people feel. And you shouldn't be playing this very dangerous game of trying to tempt them with sex while denying that feelings exist. You will only end up frustrated or doing something you regret.”

“I want a new cuddle buddy,” Darcy grumbled, extracting herself from Natasha and diving for Sam's end of the couch.

“No no no!” Sam cried out holding his hands up above his head as Darcy wrapped her arms around him. “Please, Darce, I don't want a shield and/or metal fist to the face. Please take your non-bra wearing boobs back to Nat, cause they'll know, they'll know and they'll murder me.”

“UGH!' Darcy growled, climbing off the couch and pulling needlessly at the sweatshirt to make sure she was covered. “This shit ends tonight!”

* * *

Darcy stormed back into Steve and Bucky's apartment, going straight past the kitchen table they were happily eating her awful casserole at and stomped straight back towards Steve's bedroom. She yanked Bucky's sweatshirt over her head in plain sight at the door to the room, before untying the apron and walking into Steve's room completely nude.

“Shit,” Bucky breathed. He looked at Steve and saw him squirming. “You strong enough for what she's going to throw at us next?”

“Doubtful,” Steve shrugged. “She's getting awful frustrated, Buck. We---you promise we won't lose her, right?”

“I'll never let it happen,” Bucky smiled at him. “Promise. Just...just be strong.”

They continued to eat in silence, enjoying the amalgamation of mashed potatoes and bread and chicken and shrimp and peas (the only vegetable Darcy was friends with), all drowned in a cheesy gravy.

The first moan had Steve twitching in his seat.

“Mmm, yes, so good!”

The words were followed by a sharp little gasp and the sound of something moving noisily against wet flesh that had Bucky on his feet while Steve gripped the table top. She worked herself higher and higher, her moans becoming more frequent, the sound of her taking short little gasps of air through her open mouth fairly pounding in both of their eardrums.

“Please,” Darcy mewled from the bedroom. “So close, please!”

Bucky and Steve moved at the same time, quietly stepping towards the doorway to Steve's room. Steve found that he couldn't swallow properly as Darcy lay on her back in the bed he had so often had known the pleasure of her sweet little body, her legs drawn up and parted, her hand in between her thighs, pressing a bright pink plastic phallus into herself at a punishing pace.

It was smaller than both Steve and Bucky, but Bucky felt a lurch of desire hit him like a dose of morphine as she clenched tightly around it, working it into her sweet pussy over and over again.

“So close, gonna come,” Darcy whimpered, one hand palming her bare breast while the other concentrated on pushing and pulling the lucky fake dick into herself. She climbed ever closer to her orgasm, and knowing that their eyes were on her brought it within reach of her fingertips.

She cried out in anguish as she pulled the dildo out and threw it across the room, her hands going to the bedspread and pushing herself up on her knees, legs parted, the sweet juices of her arousal dripping down her thighs onto the bedspread. Her hands gripped the covers and she turned wild eyes between Steve and Bucky, her orgasm still painfully close, yet terrifyingly out of reach.

“Please, please, I need you, please,” Darcy begged, the picture of every fantasy Bucky had ever had about their dream girl. Dark curly hair tumbling down her shoulders, pink pillowy lips open as she gasped for breath, her heavenly breasts rising and falling, the soft rounded waist nipped in just so before those plush hips he wanted to sink his hands into flared out. Her beautiful mound with its neat little triangle of dark curly hair, framing the puffy and aroused lips of her sex. She had worked herself so close to release and thrown it out the window in a desperate bid to get one or both of them to help her.

Steve choked on his own whimper as he saw the tears of frustration leak out of the corner of Darcy's eyes. He couldn't let her keep struggling like this and he took a step forward, bound and determined to give her whatever she would need to get the desperation and the tears to stop.

Bucky gripped his shoulder and gave him a stern shake of the head.

“Buck,” Steve growled out.

“No, Stevie,” Bucky insisted. He looked to Darcy and said, “No. Darcy, I love you.”

“Fuck off!” Darcy hissed at him.  "You do not!"

“ See, no,  _ I do _ .  I don't want to just have sex with you, and I want you to believe me,” Bucky shook his head. “I want to make love to you, and I want you to know its real. That's all. Just...try?  Just tell me you'll try right now, and I promise we'll give you everything you want.”

Darcy fell into a dejected ball on the bed, openly sobbing out her frustration. Her body was still humming, and she felt so unfulfilled. It had been a risky gamble, but she was so  _ sure  _ that Steve wouldn't let her down. He had never let her down before, after all. Then stupid, dumb, Bucky Barnes had to complicate everything.

“You guys suck!” she screamed into the bedspread. “You're just a bunch of ---I really--- you insufferable assholes!”

"Insufferable assholes that love you," Bucky insisted.

"You don't!" Darcy whimpered into the bed.  Much quieter, but still heard by the super serum enhanced ears in the room.  "He doesn't."

Steve winced.  His mind racing now.  Even if he could find the words, if he could let himself say them, she'd just turn it around.  She'd just deny it just like she was denying Bucky.  A moment of realization dawned on Steve then.  He didn't want her to reject him like she was rejecting Bucky.  Bucky was resilient, he kept coming back at her time and time again with earnest declarations.  If she did the same to Steve, he wouldn't be able to take it. 

"Sweetheart," he whispered.  He opened his mouth but shook his head.  Unable to push the words out. 

* * *

  
  
  


 


	21. A Super Soldier Package Deal (2/2)

** Chapter Seven: Sharing is Sticking to Your Guns **

“You win, you win, Barnes, just take Steve and leave!” Darcy whimpered miserably, as she wrapped her arms around her knees on the bed, a small ball of unfulfilled need and frustrated tears.

“No, I don't want to win anything, and I don't want Steve without you! It's not enough anymore for either of us,” Bucky shook his head. He winced as she sniffled and he clenched his fists tightly against his sides. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it immediately. He repeated the action three more times before whispering, “I love you, Darcy.”

“Go away!” Darcy growled at him.  "You're making it worse!"

“No,” Bucky repeated, his stubbornness growing, matching her own.

“ Buck,” Steve tried to intervene. Steve may have been miles behind Bucky in the falling in love department, but he knew the girl that was laying naked on his bed. She was gearing up to run. She had always warned him that running away was better than dealing with what she had deemed  _ clusterfucks of feels _ . He had promised at the time to never put her through any such thing. Definitely a broken promise now.

As if his thoughts were prophecy, Darcy crawled off the bed and held her head high, despite her flushing cheeks, despite her tear stained face and despite the fact that she was without one stitch of clothing, she walked to the door they were blocking and arched an angry brow at the both of them.

  
  


“Let me out,” she demanded.

“Please, no,” Bucky shook his head. If he let her leave in this state, he seriously doubted she would ever come back. This was something they were going to have to work on, Bucky added it to his mental list. Mutual stubbornness. Because between the three of them, that was bound to cause problems later on. He turned and picked up the sweatshirt she had divested herself of earlier and held it out to her with a conflicted look on his face. “We need to talk about this, please.”

“I'm done, I'm done with the both of you!” Darcy sounding more sad than resolute, her chin quivering and her big blue eyes filled with very real tears.

Bucky felt incredibly real, cold dread in the pit of his stomach and he felt Steve flinch next to him. He immediately wished he could have taken the stupid plot to hold out on her back. There had to be some way to make her understand that she was more than a soft, enthusiastic and willing body for them.

“No, please, sweetheart,” Steve shook his head, reaching out a gentle hand. Bucky quickly swatted it down. “BUCK!”

  
  


“Sorry, I'm so sorry,” Bucky looked to Steve first, then to Darcy. He'd been the screw up this time. He shouldn't have pushed her to the point where she wanted to run and hide. He took a deep breath before taking a step forward and grabbing her by elbows, pulling her to him. He kissed her lips gently, and she kissed him back, not with the manic desire she had been exhibiting, but with a tenderness that made his pulse flutter. He pulled away and whispered, “Tell me what you need, Princess. I'm sorry, I'll give you whatever you want.”

“I want you to move so I can go,” Darcy mumbled morosely. She was naked. She was embarrassed and she had just denied herself an orgasm when she had been right on the edge. She just wanted to go sink into her own bed and sleep away the shame of it all.  "I"m---I'm embarrassed."

“No, please, don't be.  Just tell me what you need,” Bucky demanded, kissing her again, eliciting that coveted moan that he had so often heard Steve bring out of her.

“I just wanted sex,” Darcy whispered, all of the anger rushing from her system at once. “I can't give you what you want, I don't....I'm not good at love, and I'll just screw it up, so why can't we just do the sex?”

“Who in the hell ever told you that you weren't good at love?” Bucky demanded.

“Every ex-boyfriend I've ever had, every foster family who shipped me back to the orphanage,” Darcy listed desperately. Her frustration was gone now and now very sad, very desperate tears slid down her cheeks. “My parents who gave me up when I was a baby? I don't---I don't _deserve_ it!”

“That's not true, sweetheart,” Steve breathed, his heart aching for her and the shame in the pit of his stomach growing, threatening to make him sick all at once. “I---”

“Don't you dare!” Darcy ordered him, wincing at the brief look of devastation on Steve's face.  “Because you shouldn't! And I don't want to hear it from you out of pity!”

“Darcy, please, what can I do?” Bucky whispered. “What can I do to make you understand that you're worth everything. You're worth so much that I can't even---there aren't words, Princess.”

“I need you to move so I can go. I just, I want to get my head together,” Darcy repeated, this time her words softer and yet more desperate. She blushed and shook her head, her next words barely audible as she looked at the ground, “I don't want our first time to be like this...it was a stupid idea and I just want to be embarrassed by myself.”

Steve took a deep, relieved breath, pulling Bucky away from Darcy before bending at the knee to look her in the eye.

“I'm so sorry, sweetheart,” Steve said with all his typical earnestness. “You want me to take you back to your apartment?”

“No, I---I'm fine,” Darcy insisted. She kissed Steve with a quick bruising force. “I just...I want to take a bath and drink a glass of wine and collect my thoughts.”

“Don't leave me, don't leave us,” Steve begged her.  "We'll work it out, we'll talk.  We should have a talk.  A lot of talks."

“I---I'll be fine,” Darcy insisted.

Steve gave her a small smile before turning around and taking Bucky's sweatshirt out of the man's hands. He popped it over her head and pulled it down her body to give her some cover, smiling at how small and adorable she looked in it. One small kiss against her lips and then he stood aside, letting her leave. When the front door to the apartment closed behind her, Steve gave one look towards Bucky before reaching out with a fist, knocking it into the side of Bucky's jaw with about a quarter of his actual strength.

“That was the _dumbest_ idea you ever had!” Steve yelled. “And I almost walked to AUSTRIA to rescue you, once. I know about dumb ideas, Buck!”

“Sorry, Stevie, she's a slippery little minx and I just wanted...you know what I wanted,” Bucky sighed. “She needs to know she's more than just sex for us. And now...now that we know how she feels about herself? She needs to know it even more. She should know she deserves everything in the world. That we'd be lucky to have her in our lives.”

Bucky felt Steve yank him towards him and felt the sudden bruising, enveloping heat of Steve's lips against his own. He'd really missed that charming mouth of Steve's.

“Love you, Buck, but---” Steve sighed. “Don't push her away. Please? Can't we just do what she wants? She'll come around eventually.”

“I'm not sure anymore,” Bucky insisted his resolve wavering. He wanted to give her the world, but he wanted to make sure she knew why. “I know you love me, and you know I love you, but that girl thinks all we want her for is her admittedly, perfect body, and that's not okay. I mean...you want her for more than her body, right?”

“How can you ask me that?” Steve demanded angrily. Bucky knew better than anyone that Steve cared for Darcy. Very much.

“You still haven't told her,” Bucky reminded him. “She thinks you just like her well enough, Stevie. She _knows_ you love me, now. And she just thinks you want her for us cause ---shit, I don't even know what she's thinking anymore, but I know it's not good.”

“I can't---I'm not like you, when she tells me to jump off a bridge, I can't—I won't be able to come back from that,” Steve shook his head. “I've never felt like this about a woman before. Not even Peggy, with Darcy it's more, the way she makes me feel. I need her, Buck. As much as I need you. How can I tell her when she's just going to say no?”

“Never thought I'd see you scared, Stevie,” Bucky shook his head. He reached out and pulled him into a tight embrace. “I love you, Steve.”

“Yeah, I love you too, Buck,” Steve sighed.

“See, its not so hard,” Bucky pulled away and gave him a smile. “Just...she needs to know how you feel. This isn't some girl I set you up with to double back in the old days. She's not going to laugh at you and she's not going to ignore you. Even if you don't say you love her, tell her everything else?”

“I'll---I'll talk to her,” Steve nodded, the distraught feeling evident on his face. A small part of him was still very much afraid. If he admitted he loved her and she walked away, his heart would break. If he could hold on to the words, it might not hurt so much when this fantastic dream he and Bucky were trying to make a reality shattered to pieces. “I'll talk to her tomorrow, but let's give her tonight to regroup, okay?”

“Alright, one night,” Bucky nodded. “Tomorrow we make things right.”

* * *

Monday morning found Darcy at her desk, where a huge bouquet of daisies interspersed with honeysuckle had been delivered, along with a box of chocolates, and a small Captain America stuffed bear (the card with the bear stated it was to match the Bucky bear she still cuddled with at night, that she had definitely cuddled with the previous night).

“ Someone's pretty popular,” her boss, Marianne drawled from her office door. She walked over to Darcy's desk and picked up the card that was stuffed in the bouquet, ignoring Darcy's squeaked protest as she read it, “ _ I love you, Princess. Yours always, Sarge _ .”

Darcy's cheeks flamed and she bit her tongue, even though she _really_ wanted to lash out and verbally decapitate the vicious dragon woman that called herself her boss. She didn't need to be fired. She needed this job. She actually _loved_ her job, if she didn't count the vile co-workers. The public's opinion of all of the Avenger's had sky rocketed once she had started in the position. Steve alone had more followers than all of the members of One Direction combined now.

“ I thought you were sleeping with Captain America?” Marianne's entire visage screamed  _ I'm judging you and you're a whore and I'm judging you hard _ . Darcy had been the recipient of said expression quite a bit, actually, ever since Steve (and Bucky) had visited her at work the day after their first date. “Isn't the Winter Soldier the Sergeant?”

“His name is James Barnes,” Darcy said coolly. “He's _not_ the Winter Soldier. He never was. The Winter Soldier was the result of extensively cruel torture and brainwashing. James Barnes is not the Winter Soldier.”

“So you're sleeping with him now?” Marianne wondered. “Does the Captain know?”

“None of that is any of your business,” Darcy's right eye twitched with anger.

“ It is my business, my job is to handle the public image of the Avengers, not to play around on facebook all day,” Marianne reminded her for the eight thousandth time. She was always overly fond and very quick to point out to Darcy that she essentially played around online all day. “If you're cheating on Captain America with his best friend, I'd like to know ahead of time so I can lessen the impending publicity disaster. I mean, I can see the headlines now,  _ Fat Whore Breaks up America's Favorite Friends _ .”

“You know what?!” Darcy rose to her feet. _Fat Whore._ It wasn't the first time she had heard those words used against her and it probably wouldn't be the last if she continued down the path she was on. She glared at her boss and shook her head in disgust, “I QUIT. And also, you're an asshole. Furthermore, you're a frigid bitch who is going to die alone, and get eaten by her twenty cats. And finally, you're fucking _awful_ at your job.”

Darcy took her bear, her flowers and the box of chocolates and grabbed her purse before stomping towards the door. Her work phone immediately began to ding and it was reflex that had her juggling her gifts to grab it and approve or deny whatever Avenger was trying to post to social media.

Bruce Banner, of all people.

Bruce Banner had ten posts in queue on twitter.

All motivational graphics. His usual style. But every quote was not about _zen_ and _eco-consciousness_ but was instead about _letting love in,_ and _not being afraid to embrace love in your life_ .

“Mother fucker,” Darcy smelled a rat. A rat named Tony Stark. She stomped off towards the elevators and glared up at the ceiling, “Bruce's lab, please, JARVIS.”

She refrained from attempting to kick the lab door in and instead, silently made her way in, placing her gifts on an empty lab bench before stalking over to Bruce and Tony. Bruce was busy at work, looking especially annoyed at a pesky Tony. And Iron Man himself had a shit eating grin on his squirrel-y little goatee covered face as she approached them.

“Tony's got your phone, Bruce,” Darcy tattled quickly.

“Tony, come on, quit it,” Bruce rolled his eyes. “Quit making Darcy's job harder. You know she has to deal with Clint and Sam and their eighty inappropriate tweets an hour.”

“Actually, I don't anymore. I just quit,” Darcy announced. She took a breath before her eyes became as wide as saucers. “SHIT, I just quit my job. Oh fuck. SHIT. And I quit it in an a way I can't come back from. God dammit!”

“Hey, why would you quit?” Tony furrowed his brow, putting Bruce's phone down on the table in front of them. “Did you get a better offer elsewhere? Did the Fantastic Four contact you? Cause I know Sue Storm thinks you're the only person capable of cleaning up her brother's image, but I would advise against it because her idea of cleaning up his image is you dating him.”

“WHAT?” Darcy screeched. Like she needed another gorgeous blue eyed temptation in her life at that point.

“I'll double their offer to have you stay,” Tony insisted. “JARVIS, get Pepper on the line, I need the approval to give Darcy whatever she wants.”

“Tony, I can't work there anymore, not after what she said and what I said,” Darcy shook her head, her eyes filling up with tears. “Shit, I can't believe I said that stuff.”

“Darcy, I have a hard time believing you said anything terrible without being adequately provoked,” Bruce assured her, his eyes off of his experiment to give her whatever condolence he could. He looked to the entrance and his eyes caught on the bouquet of flowers. “I assume it had something to do with the gifts?”

“My life is a shit tornado,” Darcy sighed, sitting down on a stool, her elbow bumping a beaker.

“Darcy?” Pepper's voice came over JARVIS' speakers. “Darcy, I want you to know, that JARVIS played me the recording from the office this morning and---”

“Bruce?” Tony nudged him in the side.

“Ms. Dziak was out of line with her comments to you,” Pepper continued.

  
  


“Brucie?” Tony said with a little more desperation.

“What TONY?” Pepper and Bruce demanded simultaneously.

Tony pointed to the beaker Darcy had bumped. Darcy didn't know much about Chemistry. Hard science was hard, yo. But she did know enough to realize that lab experiments needed precision. And the liquid that was supposed to go in the beaker wasn't. And that Bruce quickly hulking out, his skin stretching and turning green more rapidly than it had ever happened before wasn't a good sign. A puff of gas hit her face and she choked on it, feeling lightheaded instantly.

Hulk roared and as gently as he could, pushed Darcy and Tony to the floor, smashing his bulking body against them before the explosion rocked the lab.

* * *

“Captain Rogers.”

Steve stopped his relentless onslaught of his third punching bag of the day and looked up to the ceiling in trepidation. Bucky was out providing sniping cover for Sam and Natasha, and it was his first mission out without Steve by his side. Between the stress of the whole Darcy situation and the worry he felt for Bucky, Steve was ready to burst. JARVIS interrupting him was not a good sign. Something must have happened to Bucky. His whole body tensed.

“Yes, JARVIS?”

“There has been an explosion in Dr. Banner's lab,” JARVIS announced.

Steve grabbed his shield by the gym door, and took off for the nearest staircase. The Hulk had been getting more controllable with time, he conversed easily enough with the team, and followed directions with minimal trouble. But an explosion may have pissed him off, and the last thing the tower needed was a rampaging green monster with anger issues.

“Sir and Miss Lewis are trapped beneath the Hulk, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS further reported. “It appears that Dr. Banner transformed in order to shield them.”

JARVIS' words were lost on Steve. As soon as he heard _Miss Lewis_ , Steve doubled his speed, practically jumping up entire flights of stairs to get to the lab quicker. He hurtled through the door at the 74 th floor and stepped into utter chaos. The sprinklers were raining down, pushing thick clouds of soot and smoke to the floor. Most of the windows to Bruce's lab were blown out, and a rescue crew was storming towards the lab from the nearest elevator bank.

_Darcy_ . Darcy was in all that rubble and glass and smoldering fire.

Steve darted ahead of the first responders, as he crawled over upended lab benches, rubble and equipment, his heart in his throat as the level of destruction threatened to overwhelm him.

Yes, he had seen worse destruction in his lifetime. But he had never seen such destruction and known that _Darcy_ had been amongst it. He looked down and saw he was stepping on a stem of white daisies and he winced. Those were the flowers he had advised Bucky to get in the bouquet when they stopped at the florist early that morning. The gifts they had sent her to apologize for their behavior and to reinforce how much they treasured her. Daisies because they were simple flowers just like her simple men and the honeysuckle for her, because she was intoxicating and beautiful and delicate and overtook them.

“Darcy!” he called out. “Darcy, sweetheart, please if you can, call out to me?”

Instead of Darcy's voice he heard a muffled roar. He walked towards the large pile of rubble that looked like it was breathing and he knew that underneath the wood and concrete and steel was the Hulk. And underneath the Hulk was Darcy and Tony. Steve rushed to it and began pulling rubble off piece by torturous piece.

“Hey big guy, It's Cap,” Steve said as loudly as possible. “I'm going to move the bigger pieces so you can get up, but please, please do me a favor and make sure that Darcy and Tony are okay...don't smash, alright? Don't move yet, I don't want any of the heavier stuff to shift on top of them. Please...”

Steve grunted in exertion as he lifted hundreds of pounds of rubble off of the Hulk, and grimaced as he saw the steel beam across the large green back that was pinning Hulk against the two people he had tried to save. He tried to lift it and found that it was nearly impossible. It was larger and heavier than the beam that had pinned Bucky so long ago on the helicarrier.

“Darcy hurt,” Hulk grumbled weakly. The explosion having taken its toll on the Avengers' most resilient member. “Cap hurry.”

The idea of the big green alter ego of Bruce Banner knowing and vocalizing that Darcy was hurt, that urgency was required gave Steve strength he hadn't known he possessed yet as he clenched his teeth and let out a long sustained grunt as he lifted the beam off the Hulk slowly and painstakingly before letting out a harsh shout as he tossed it a few precious feet to the side.

The Hulk slowly rolled over, revealing Tony, who was slowly coming to and a completely unconscious Darcy, whose face was unharmed, but who had a puddle of blood at the back of her head on the floor beneath her.

“Darcy!” Steve cried out as he went to his knees, his hands held above her, afraid to move her but itching to touch her, to get her pulse, to make sure she was going to be okay.

The paramedics arrived at that moment and had her neck stabilized within seconds. Steve assisted in moving her onto the board and watched as they secured some bandaging against the wound on the back of her head.

“She okay?” Tony asked as he waved off the paramedics himself, struggling to his feet. “I was able to duck and cover, but Hulk knocked her off the stool to get her on the ground in time...”

“Let's get her to the medbay,” the paramedics advised.

“I can help, I'll grab an end,” Steve advised bending and lifting the board where Darcy's head lay stable and secure. He looked down at her pale face, saw the hints of red peeking through the bandage at the back of her head. “Sweetheart, please, hold on, we're taking you to help...”

* * *

Steve had remained at Darcy's bedside once she was in a room in the medbay. He turned down Nurse Carla's attempts to get him out of the room as Dr. Cox worked on her head wound, calling in Dr. Turk to apply three stitches to the back of her head. Just three stitches.

Steve counted that as a good sign.

“She's going to be fine, Cap,” Dr. Cox assured him. “She's going to have one hell of a headache when she wakes up, and we're keeping her overnight to monitor for a concussion. JARVIS scanned her and there is definite swelling there. And under no circumstances are you allowed to have _oh my god I'm so glad you survived a lab explosion and a Hulk Out_ celebratory against the wall sex for at least two weeks. Any activity that might move her head too violently. Matter of fact, I'm writing it out on a prescription pad. No head thrashing sex with Captain America and slash or Bucky Barnes. At all.”

“Doc, come on,” Steve blushed.

“If she has a concussion, and you rattle her brains, I'll find you, and I'll give you a star spangled wedgie,” Dr. Cox insisted, handing the prescription to him.

“Don't talk to Cap that way,” Dr. Turk whisper whined at his colleague. “You're embarrassing me.”

“Let me know when she wakes up,” Dr. Cox ordered before grabbing Dr. Turk by the scrubs top and yanking him from the room.

Steve let out a relieved breath as he pulled a chair up to her bedside and sat. She was going to be okay. She was going to wake up and she was going to be just fine.

“Steve? She alright?” Tony poked his head into the room.

“Yeah, she's going to be okay,” Steve nodded. “Concussion, probably. Three stitches.”

“Good...well, not good, it sucks she's hurt at all,” Tony sighed. “And---you should know, I watched the surveillance...the experiment Bruce was working on? She got a face full of the fumes.”

“What?” Steve furrowed his brow. “You gotta tell the doctors, so they can make sure she's okay.”

“Oh, she'll be fine,” Tony insisted. “We were working on a...well, truth serum of sorts. You know Maria's vetted the staff as best as she could. But we know there are Hydra holdouts. We were going to make sure they couldn't lie to us at the next interview. Gas-based truth serum.”

“And she got a face full of it?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Yeah...so, if you ever wanted to know how you rate in bed, you should ask her when she wakes up,” Tony gave him a small smile. “Let me know if I can do anything for you.”

“Thanks, Tony,” Steve nodded, looking back down to a sleeping Darcy. She looked so small and vulnerable. The bandages around her head were intimidating and seemed out of place. The steady beat of her heart from the monitor was a sound he never thought he'd hear in conjunction with this gorgeous girl that he---

He felt the tears burning at the back of his throat and his body jack-knifed, bending at the middle so that his head lay against her breast, his hand on top of her soft little stomach. He was wracked with relieved sobs as the reality of the situation set in. He could have lost her. Bruce had given him an entire run down when he had come by to check on her after shrinking back down. If Tony had not noticed when he did. If Bruce hadn't transformed so quickly. If she hadn't of been close enough to throw down on the ground and cover...she'd have been gone.

“I love you,” Steve whispered. He took in a deep, ragged breath, his tears hot and violent as they spilled down his cheeks onto her hospital gown. “Darcy, I love you, I do. I'm so sorry it took so long. I was scared, which I know you understand, cause you're scared too. I didn't want to love you if I ran the chance of losing you, if you'd said no, but I do. I love you.”

“Steebe?”

“Sweetheart?” Steve sniffled, lifting his head slightly to look into her drowsily blinking eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Explodey,” Darcy whispered, her hands slowly moving until one hand was in his hair, stroking it weakly, the other on top of his arm he had on her stomach, the lightest of touches soothing him to his very core.

“Yeah, there was an explosion,” Steve nodded.

“Brucie and Tony?”

“They're fine, sweetheart, they're absolutely fine. They're worried about you,” Steve assured her. He stretched slightly and kissed her chin very lightly. “I'm so glad you're alright. I love you, Darcy.”

“Oh,” Darcy squeaked, a little color going back into her cheeks. “Thats---oh.”

“Don't panic, calm down,” Steve begged, hearing her heartbeat quicken on the monitor. “It's okay, you don't have to say it back. But I need you to know, I need to say it.”

“M'bear,” she mumbled.

“What's that, honey?” Steve wondered at her.

“My bear,” Darcy repeated sluggishly. “My Cap bear...got exploded...he was gonna keep Bucky Bear...company...”

“I'll bring him back to you, sweetheart, I will,” Steve promised. He grinned like an idiot. The bear had been his idea and he was so irrationally happy she had liked the gift. “I'm going to call Dr. Cox back in, he wants to check you to see if you have a concussion, alright? And I'm going to go get your bear for you.”

“Not Dr. Cox, he'll make fun of me for getting blowed up,” Darcy whined. “And my head hurts too much to sass him. He'll be all the disappoint.”

“I'll make sure Nurse Carla comes in as well to keep him in line,” Steve promised. He sat up and kissed her lips very softly. “Love you, Darcy.”

“Oh, alright,” Darcy smiled as he walked away. “Persistent motherfuckers all full of lovey squishies.”

Steve's grin grew even wider as he walked out of the room, hearing her barely cognizant acceptance.

Concussion or no, truth gas or not, he counted that as progress.

* * *

  
  
  


** Chapter Eight: Sharing is Easier with a Concussion and Some Truth Gas **

Bucky returned to the Tower with Natasha and Sam and was surprised when they basically ushered him into the elevator. Instead of going straight to the 57  th  floor where Maria Hill's offices were for debrief, or even the common room floor below the penthouse for a typical Monday night family dinner (Darcy always made cupcakes for Mondays as a reward for making it through the hellish day), or even his own floor he shared with Steve, JARVIS took them to the 72  nd  floor.

_Medical_ .

“What'd the punk do now?” Bucky demanded, walking off the elevator when it got to the med-bay, flanked by a serious faced Sam and Natasha, feeling that all too familiar exasperated worry over take him.

“Buck?” Steve walked out of a room, his eyes red from crying, his face and clothing streaked with soot and dirt and his hands holding two stuffed bears, one nearly threadbare from age and time, the other dusty and singed and dirty. Bucky Bear and Cap Bear. “She's okay...”

Natasha didn't bother trying to restrain Bucky from tearing towards Steve, who tried to give him his best reassuring smile, but it was wasted. He stepped aside and allowed Bucky to rush into the room, falling to his knees by Darcy's bedside.

“Princess, you alright?” Bucky whispered, his hands going out to cup her sleeping face. He turned to look at Steve with wide, terrified eyes, rapidly filling with anxious tears. “Stevie...what happened?”

“She's okay. She was in the lab...quit her job and went to the lab, and there was an explosion,” Steve explained as quickly as possible. Natasha and Sam stood in the doorway and he explained for them as well, although his eyes were only on Bucky and Darcy as Bucky tenderly stroked her jawline. “The Hulk covered her and Tony from the worst of it, but she hit the back of her head on the floor. Three stitches and Dr. Cox said she has a pretty serious concussion.”

“You shoulda called me!” Bucky muttered. He felt sick to his stomach at what Steve told him. He had learned to cope with the fact that Steve threw himself at anything remotely dangerous. He worried and he nagged and clucked over injuries, but he was used to that when it came to Steve. Darcy was supposed to be safe. He shouldn't have to worry about Darcy in any combination with the extremely violent side to his and Steve's lives.

“I called them,” Steve gestured to Natasha and Sam.

“We brought you back right away,” Sam offered helpfully. “Just didn't want you tearing through Hell's Kitchen with the sniper rifle in your arms.”

“She will be fine,” Natasha assured him, and it sounded just a little bit like she was trying to reassure herself at the same time.

“She's gonna be fine,” Steve nodded. “She's staying overnight, and then she'll need to be monitored for a few days, so when you debrief, let Hill know that Bucky and I are off rotation for the next two weeks.”

“Will do, Cap,” Sam saluted him. “Give her a very gentle hug from us when she wakes up again. And also---I'm sure Cox already told you, but no---”

“I know,” Steve held up his hands, a stuffed bear still in each one. “We'll be good there. Don't worry.”

Natasha smirked and grabbed Sam by the collar, yanking him from the room and allowing the super soldiers to remain by Darcy's bedside. Steve shook as much of the dirt as he could off of the Cap bear before placing both bears on the bed with Darcy, one on either side of her still, sleeping form.

“We owe Dr. Banner,” Steve said softly. He leaned forward and kissed Bucky's lips very gently. “He saved her life today.”

“I'll steal that stretchy uniform from Reed Richards the first chance I get,” Bucky nodded. He kissed Steve again before pulling away and looking to Darcy. “What was Wilson trying to warn you on?”

“Oh, Dr. Cox says we're not...we can't---we _shouldn't_ rattle her head,” Steve blushed. “You know...sex. For two weeks, until the swelling of her brain goes down.”

“Oh, well, that's handy,” Bucky shrugged joylessly. Getting her to accept their love for her seemed foolish after coming so close to losing her. Playing silly games of withholding sex in exchange for words of love seemed so trivial and ridiculous that Bucky was actually angry at himself for doing it. They could have lost her and their last interaction would have been denying her physical affection. He swallowed against the lump in his throat, finding it painful and near impossible.

“I was first on the scene,” Steve revealed softly, dragging a chair up next to Bucky so that he could sit instead of kneel. His hand kneaded Bucky's shoulder soothingly once he was sitting. He swallowed painfully and said, “Haven't been so scared in a long time. Not since I saw you fall from that train. Not since I thought I lost you again in DC to Hydra. I knew in less than a heartbeat that I loved her. The same way that I love you. Limitless. Forever. And with her under that rubble, I was scared for me, but I was scared for you too. Didn't want you to lose her either.”

“I know, Stevie,” Bucky smiled up at him, his hand going over the one Steve had on his shoulder. He squeezed reassuringly. “She'll know it too.”

“I told her, she was half out of it, but I told her,” Steve revealed. “It may have been the concussion talking, but she didn't tell me to go jump off a bridge.”

“Didn't tell you to fuck off?” Bucky laughed softly.

“ She said,  _ oh alright _ ,” Steve smiled. “Tony said she was hit with a gas...a gas version of the truth serum. So if Bruce and Tony had their calculations right...she can't lie.”

“Now ain't that something. We're gonna have to be careful not to take advantage of that,” Bucky nodded. “Good job on telling her, punk.”

“Thanks, jerk,” Steve chuckled.

“Now...kisssss.”

They turned their eyes to Darcy, who was lazily blinking her eyes open, a dreamy, unfocused quality in them. She smiled at them in a silly, goofy, obviously concussed way before picking up her bears that Steve had placed at her side. She smacked their little stuffed snouts together and made a wet kissing noise.

“Like the bears, kisssssss,” Darcy slurred her words.

“Princess, you're being a little goofy right now, should I get a doctor?” Bucky worried.

“Being goofy is totally normal when your brains have bounced off your skull like a ping pong ball!” Dr. Cox called out from the nurses' station. “Just give the poor concussed girl whatever she wants so long as it doesn't involve headbanging!”

“kisssssssssssssss,” Darcy continued to make her bears kiss, like a tiny, bed-ridden drunk. She gave the boys an adorable smile that crinkled her eyes. “Please?”

“Oh alright, since you asked so nice,” Bucky shook his head in amusement. He pulled Steve down, smiling into the kiss, letting their lips slot against each other in that reassuringly familiar way that was still always so exciting and so enjoyable. He sucked on Steve's bottom lip, letting his teeth graze against it before letting it go and grinning, turning to Darcy.

“Yay!” Darcy squeaked. “Now me. Kissssss.”

“Who do you want first?” Steve questioned amiably.

“Por que not the both?” Darcy furrowed her brow in confusion. She turned her bears to face her and her eyes crossed slightly as she focused on them before she brought them to her face, allowing each of their button noses to bounce against her puckered lips repeatedly. “Yay!”

“I absolutely, one hundred percent, love you, Princess,” Bucky chuckled, leaning forward and placing a very gentle kiss against her lips. Steve was quick to follow and do the same, lingering only slightly.

“Okay, my Bucky Bear,” Darcy sighed happily. “And my Steebe. Guys...don't tell anyone but I'm falling in love with you, and I'm totally scared but I want to anyway. Love you.”

And then her eyes nearly slammed shut and her bears fell from her grasp as she fell into sleep once more, leaving Bucky and Steve staring at her with wide, astonished eyes.

“Did she just---”

“Yeah,” Bucky breathed. “Yeah, she really did.”

* * *

“We have a problem, Ms. Dziak.”

Pepper Potts' image was on a large holographic screen in a conference room in Avengers' Tower, a perfectly professional, perfectly neutral look on her face. It was a look people may have seen right before their company was ruthlessly bought out, or before she delivered a well placed smack down on a recalcitrant board member, or Tony Stark before she threw a shoe at his head.

Perhaps even more terrifying than the image of Pepper Potts calm facade in front of a storm of competency and viciousness, was an even more calm Natalie Rushman---Natasha Romanoff sitting in a plush chair at the conference table, throwing a small smirk Marianne's way.

“Oh, don't worry about my friend, she is part of Stark Industries security team, and she's here to make sure the conversation goes smoothly before she walks you out of the building,” Pepper said brightly.

“I don't understand---”

“You have broken many clauses on your Stark Industries employment contract,” Pepper cut in, looking over said contract with a critical eye. “Even if we let the blatantly inappropriate words from your interaction with Darcy Lewis this morning out of the evaluation, I've accessed two dozen other flagged conversation that Miss Lewis managed to keep private through JARVIS, thereby protecting you from earlier reprimand.”

“I---”

“And let's not leave out the fact that Darcy's workload is inordinately high. The Avengers do one interview every six months with the press. All of their public relations stem from their social media accounts, which is strictly handled by Darcy,” Pepper picked up a report JARVIS had run for her that morning. “You've not allotted any of the interns your department has to her, and your last new hire was for Reuters research. That seems like a grossly incorrect appropriation of department resources. Which is something that is really frowned upon at Stark Industries, and I think you will find, the public relations world as a whole.”

Pepper placed the papers back on her desk and leveled the woman with a devastatingly cool smile.

“I believe that we have no choice but to terminate your employment at this time. Seeing as you violated your employment contract repeatedly, you have also forfeited any severance pay,” Pepper smiled. “Natasha, please make sure Ms. Dziak leaves the building. I have a lot of restructuring to do in her former department.”

“It will be my pleasure, Ms. Potts.”

* * *

According to the doctors, Darcy was okay to leave the medbay the next morning, but they were warned that she would still be a lot silly for a few days until her brain started to shrink back to normal. They were warned to not let her leave the tower, or get into a vehicle or do anything that might exacerbate the swelling.

“No hiding the star spangled salami, no testing out the new vibration schematic on the shiny metal arm, no headboard rattling, no 1940's style close your eyes and think of FDR missionary loving, no riding the gigantic patriotic frisbee of knocking boots, no saluting Mother Russia, no Fudge Dutch Roll and absolutely, noooooooooooooooooooooooo sex.”

Tony Stark gave Dr. Cox a raise after that speech. And a new shiny convertible.

“Your name means penis,” Darcy laughed at the doctor.

“I'm giving you a free pass on the sarcasm train, Lewis. Just this once,” Dr. Cox rolled his eyes before barreling out of the room again.

“Wanna piggy back,” Darcy held out her hands to Steve.

“No, Princess, you're taking the wheelchair back to our apartment,” Bucky told her gently.

“I. want. a. piggy. back.” Darcy repeated, sounding as deadly serious as she could while pouting at Bucky childishly.

“Wheelchair,” Steve reinforced.

“Ganging up isn't nice!” Darcy scolded them, allowing Steve to pick her up and place her gently in the wheel chair any way. “Unless its ganging up in bed, cause I'll sign up for that. Like---I'll sign up eight times a night for that.”

“Shhhh, sweetheart, inside voice,” Steve blushed as he pushed her past the nurses station where an all too eager Nurse Laverne was listening in.

“I want to bang you both at the same time!” Darcy stage whispered, high fiving Dr. Reid on the way out. Her hand then went into a complicated series of vaguely dirty gestures as she continued to whisper loudly, “Like you here and you here OR you here and me here and then you here. And then if you're not too tired, me here then you there and you there and then hit the showers, good job team, lets head to the pizza place, cause everyone's a winner and gets a participation trophy!”

They got onto the elevator and Bucky had to turn away from a red faced Steve and a still hand gesturing Darcy as he hid his face in his metal hand and tried to contain the explosive laughter that threatened to incapacitate him.

Darcy turned serious all of a sudden and looked up to Bucky's back with a frown before turning slowly to Steve with big blue eyes full of trepidation and sudden insecurity.

“You guys want that too, right? That's not my concussion, right?” she wondered softly.

“Yes, sweetheart, we want that too,” Steve knelt next to the wheelchair and kissed her lips very gently. She tried to chase his mouth and deepen the kiss and he pulled away and gave her a mock stern look, “You heard Dr. Cox.”

“He was just joking. That's a thing we do, Dr. Penis and I, we joke,” Darcy smiled brilliantly for one moment. She pursed her lips in exaggeration quickly then. Steve pecked at her lips once more before pulling himself up to stand again. Darcy frowned as Bucky finally regained his composure and turned, placing a kiss on her temple before waiting for JARVIS' especially slow, Doctor approved elevator to make its way to their floor.

Steve rolled her into their apartment, and Bucky bent down to pick her up, carrying her very gingerly to the big comfy couch they had made into a nest of blankets and pillows. He handed her a bottle of water and some medication before reaching out to wrap his metal arm around her shoulders.

“No sexy times still?” Darcy pouted. “But I said I love you! And I really mean it and now we have the sexy times.”

“Honey, no,” Steve shook his head as Bucky looked to him with large, fear-filled eyes. Steve dug in his pocket and held out the prescription Dr. Cox had written for him the day before. “Doctor's orders. At least two weeks.”

“ But I love you, Steve,” Darcy countered. She turned her big blue, still slightly unfocused eyes to Bucky and said as sweetly and earnestly as she could, “And I love you, Bucky. I'm gonna love you guys  _ so hard _ , and then cuddle the ever loving shit out of you forever.”

“ Princess, we love you too,” Bucky assured her with wide, astonished eyes. He had wanted to hear the words from her lips so desperately, and now that she had said them, he realized he hadn't prepared himself. Something went off in the pit of his stomach that just made him  _ want _ . Those words from those lips were the best aphrodisiac in the world. He swallowed and gave her a tender smile, “Just take a little nap and when you wake up we'll see if Dr. Cox changed his mind about the rules. Okay?”

“Alright,” Darcy pouted. She snuggled into Bucky's side and began to drift off.

“We're in for some trouble, I think,” Steve said softly.

“M'bears!” Darcy startled awake, her eyes darting around wildly. “Need my bears.”

“Here they are, sweetheart,” Steve grabbed them from the bag that had been strapped to the back of the wheelchair. He walked towards her and smashed their little noses together before turning them to kiss at Darcy's puckered mouth. “Sweet dreams, Darcy.”

“Love you,” Darcy whispered, gripping her bears to her chest before rapidly drifting off.

Fifteen seconds into her sleep, she was already moaning out and wiggling against Bucky. Her hands off of her bears and grasping out for him instead.

“Shit, fuck, God dammit,” Bucky mumbled as her hands petted his chest and abs in long strokes. “We're _definitely_ in for some trouble.”

* * *

In order to keep their sanity, Bucky and Steve enthusiastically supported allowing Darcy to visit the common rooms and spending time with the rest of the crew when she woke. Tony declared they would have a cookout to celebrate a deathless level seven lab explosion, and Darcy had declared that a perfectly fine reason to ogle superheros in casual wear. She was helpfully giving Steve and Bucky instructions on how to recreate her cupcakes, each of them in adorable floral patterned aprons. Darcy wielded a wooden spoon and swatted at their behinds whenever they walked by her perch on the kitchen counter.

“So, which butt is your favorite butt?” Sam questioned from the fridge where he was getting the ingredients together to finish his mother's potato salad that Darcy liked so much.

“Yours, duh,” Darcy laughed at Bucky and Steve's immediate pouts. She gave them an unimpressed look and pointed at Sam, who may have been bending and posturing in such a way that made his rear end incredibly impressive. “Look at it and marvel at it! It is a butt carved by the Gods!”

“I disagree, lightning sister!” Thor chuckled as he and Jane walked in from the balcony with trays of barbequed meats and overly charred hot dogs. “Surely you have not taken all of us into consideration.”

“Seriously, Darce, you have to tell the truth, if anyone's butt was carved by the Gods, then it would probably be you know, the GOD,” Jane reached out and grabbed a cupcake straight from the baking tin, dunking it into the bowl of frosting that Steve was stirring.

“Oh, I thought we were doing best butts in the room, give me paper, I'll make a comprehensive list,” Darcy clapped her hands together. Jane handed her a legal pad and a pen and shamelessly watched as the list was put together, giggling and nodding in agreement. Fifteen minutes later, the rest of the crew had made its way to the kitchen and were putting together plates of food.

“Darcy's official ranking of All Friends' Booties is available,” Darcy declared around a mouthful of chips. “Number One. Natasha Romanoff.”

She looked up with a grin and saw no argument from anyone in the room. Natasha even threw her a wink.

“Number Two, Thor Odin's Son. Sorry Sammy. But you came in a close third,” Darcy grinned at him.

“I'm dating Number one on the list, so I'm definitely not complaining,” Sam laughed.

“I'm SEVENTH?” Tony demanded, peaking over the list. “And that's a cop out, putting Barnes and Noble tied at fourth.”

“Their butts are equally glorious! I will not chose between the super soldier butts,” Darcy countered. “And you know that Rhodey's butt is better than yours!”

“Okay, fine, who would you bang?” Tony asked.

“Stark!” Bucky grumbled.

“My boys, duh. All the banging,” Darcy laughed. She realized that wasn't what Tony wanted so she sighed and pointed at him, “No Bang.”

To Steve and Bucky's relief no one else in the room rated worthy of “ _ a bang _ ” , except an absentee Pepper Potts. Bruce, Thor and Sam had gotten a  _ cuddle.  _ While Natasha, Jane and Clint rated as high as a  _ cuddle with optional makeouts _ . Darcy yawned as Tony geared up to ask more inappropriate questions that Darcy could physically not lie her way out of.

"So what are you guys?" Jane whispered in Darcy's ear as she reached around her to grab a fancy stuffed olive.  She had seen first hand how the two super soldiers had basically dated her in a highly unusual way for the past few months.  Normal Darcy had been uncharacteristically tight lipped about the details and Jane wasn't above using her friend's ailments as a way to gain prime gossip ammo. 

"Well, I know we're not banging yet," Darcy shrugged, her voice a little louder than what she probably wanted, garnering everyone's attention at the table.  "They're my boys.  I have two boyfriends and that's okay for a princess of Asgard, right, Thor?"

"Indeed, my sister," Thor nodded.  "The greatest of warriors have the mightiest of hearts and are permitted to take as many shield mates as is necessary to fill their heart.  Your heart is mighty, Lightning Sister and Steven and James are worthy of it.   When you are ready, I will happily perform the binding ceremony."

"Woah, woah, woah and woah there," Darcy's eyes went wide.  "I'm going to call them my boyfriends for like...the next year, then we can talk about fancy schmancy bonding.  'sides, I have a mental list of all the different combo moves we should do in the banging before we become old and Asgardian bonding married!"

Bucky's eyes were wide and full of wonder as they darted between a blushing, smiling Steve and Darcy who demanded the paper and pen back from Jane as she started scribbling what could only be the start of her mental list.  He felt his heart hammering in his chest.  He knew that he and Steve could be married now if they wanted, but the idea of the three of them...

"Did you mess with my arrows back in New Mexico, little bit?" Clint demanded.  One glitter arrow in his quiver and he had been coated with it for weeks.   Darcy had denied the involvement and had continued denying it for years.  Now was as good a time as any to get some answers when she couldn't lie her way out of it.

"HA!  Son of Coul helped me, so you can't get mad," Darcy countered.  "He helped you clean up real good, so, you should be  _ thanking  _ me."

"Hmph," Clint rolled his eyes.  "So, is it true you may have wanted a little Phil Clint and Lewis sandwich action going down---"

"Shut it," Natasha warned. 

"Too old!" Darcy wrinkled her nose.  She didn't understand why Tony began cackling so hard he nearly fell out of his seat.  "What?"

"They're in their nineties," Jane explained helpfully.

"Tell that to their dicks!" Darcy countered peevishly.

"And we're done here," Steve shook his head as his face flamed red.  He and Bucky had made a promise to each other not to ask any questions un-concussed Darcy wouldn't want to answer, but their friends obviously didn't care about pesky moral quandaries when she was so damned entertaining.  He looked to Darcy warily and said, "I think you're getting sleepy, Sweetheart."

“Is that polite Stevie speak for, time to go home and make out and do the touchies?” Darcy grinned, looking very worn out, but still impish and happy. “If I had more research, I could figure out whose butt is superior between you and Sarge.”

“Come on, Princess,” Bucky lifted her right out of her seat and cradled her head against his right shoulder, earning a wink from Stark when she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Good luck old dudes,” Tony laughed. “She's going to be nothing but trouble for you.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Nine: Sharing is Torture **

The trouble started fairly quickly.

Like immediately.

Darcy sleepily groped at Bucky immediately that first day back in the apartment, and he had been seriously tempted to ask Steve to bring him his complicated kevlar coated work pants to keep her little, determined hands off of his most sensitive parts. But the moaning. The moaning alone was torture.

And when she woke up it wasn't much better. Steve had managed to get Dr. Cox to record a few messages with JARVIS, so that they could be replayed whenever she asked, stating that in no uncertain terms was she allowed to do any strenuous activity. Including tennis, snowboarding and sex.

They might have been fine staving off her requests for sex or her sleepy attacks for sex.

But she was still telling them that she loved them. Unbidden. Unrestrained.  _ Gleefully _ .

And that was even worse.

Her honest, truthful, concussed words of love and devotion to them and only them was the world's most powerful aphrodisiac.

Bucky brought her a bowl of soup and plenty of crackers for her to crumble in it and she grinned at him and peered down at the soup.

“I can see the carrots in here, you're not fooling me, Mister,” she began fishing out the offensive vegetable and putting it on the napkin on the tray. She leaned over to him and kissed him soft and sweet. “I love you for trying though.”

Bucky felt it like punch to his gut, the desire to kiss the ever loving daylights out of her and repeat his own declarations for her again and again, while removing the boxer shorts of Steve's that she had demanded and the overly large muscle t-shirt she had picked out of Bucky's chest of drawers. He kissed her back before taking away the offensive carrots and walking with some difficulty back to the kitchen to Steve.

“Tagging out already?” Steve smirked at him.

“Says the man who jerked off in the bathroom ten times yesterday,” Bucky countered amiably.

  
  


“Don't rub it in,” Steve rolled his eyes.  Darcy had given them the green light to do all of the sex on their own just so long as she couldn't watch, because according to her, if she watched her girlie bits would seriously want a piece of the action and she would just dive right on it.  Bucky and Steve knew a trap when they saw one.  And they honestly really wanted her there for the fun from here on out, so it was self-love all around.  Except for Darcy.  Dr. Cox had called in a favor from Clint who had hidden all of Darcy's vibrators.

“Yeah, don't rub it in, rub it off!” Darcy cackled from the couch. The concussion and truth serum had affected her brain to mouth filter and whatever wall she had put up between her heart and her head, but it had definitely not affected her hearing. “JARVIS, is my brain better yet?”

“Scans show that the swelling is down by twenty-five percent, Miss Lewis,” JARVIS reported helpfully. “You are healing much faster than anticipated.”

“Hmmm, I bet its all the super soldier bodily fluids I've gotten over the last few months,” Darcy bounced an index finger off of her lips thoughtfully. She turned slowly and smirked at a blushing Steve and a wrinkle nosed Bucky. “I bet if I had more super soldier bodily fluids, I'd heal even faster.”

“ I will run the idea by Dr. Cox,” JARVIS advised her. There was a pause before JARVIS came back, “Dr. Cox has said a truly healed Darcy Lewis would have used the word  _ man juice _ . You are not permitted to engage in strenuous activity.”

“Worth a shot,” Darcy shrugged before tucking back into her soup.

* * *

“Darcy, you look very well for a woman who was in a level 7 explosion,” Pepper smiled warmly down at her as she took a seat next to the recovering girl on the couch.

“My boys are taking nice care of me,” Darcy smiled at her former boss. “Sorry I quit. I really liked my job, but my boss is a heinous bitch. I'd rather get exploded again before I work for her.”

“No more explosions!” Bucky called out from the little laundry room where he was currently switching around the loads. He smiled at all of her little underthings interspersed with he and Steve's bigger, much less interesting clothing. “I'll take my Princess explosion free, thanks very much!”

“They're great, I love them,” Darcy's smile ratcheted up to a grin. She shamelessly leaned against Pepper, CEO of Everything that Matters and cuddled against the woman's shoulder. “'Cept they won't bone me. So annoying. I should look for two more super soldiers to take care of a ladies' needs properly _and_ love her at the same time. Don't know where I'd find them though. They don't make them like they used to. Better to stick with the antiques.”

“I'm sitting right here,” Steve reminded her, his arm tightening around her shoulder.

“I know that, Captain Arctic Underwear,” Darcy shrugged, pulling away from Pepper and turning her attention to her boyfriend. “Just letting you know you're letting me down in the boning department.”

Pepper hid her chortle of laughter behind her hand. If she hadn't of seen the paternity tests with her own two eyes, she would still think that Darcy was Tony's secret love child from the late 80's.

“Anyway, Darcy, now that you're a little more coherent than you were five days ago, I just want to let you know, you still have a job with Stark Industries,” Pepper assured her. “Ms. Dziak was fired, however I understand from JARVIS that you were being...for lack of a better term _bullied_ by your other co-workers.”

“WHAT?” Bucky shouted from the laundry room, holding a small, satiny pair of pink panties in his metal hand as he rushed into the room.

“Please, elaborate, Ms. Potts,” Steve asked, his voice deeper and much more Captain-like than it ever was in the comfort and sanctuary of their apartment.

“Oh boy, that hit all the right buttons,” Darcy whispered. She looked to Steve with pleading eyes and said, “Do that Captain America voice again. It gives me happiness in the pants.”

“Darcy makes excellent use of her JARVIS privacy protocols,” Pepper wisely chose to ignore Darcy's antics. “I had to use two overrides to understand what was happening in the department.”

“They were already being all bitchy about me knowing Thor. Then everyone else on the Avengers team liked olives, and then this guy started to date olives and it was just easier to sort of ignore them,” Darcy finger gunned nonsensically.

“I'd like names, Ms. Potts,” Bucky requested, his voice rough with anger.

“I believe Natasha has already handled the situation,” Pepper smiled. Quite a few affairs and other life changing secrets had been revealed to anyone who may have held a shred of animosity towards Darcy.

“HOOOOOOOT,” Darcy pretended to fan herself. She furrowed her brow and pointed at the pink panties in Bucky's hand. “HEY! Those are mine!”

  
  


“Hey, lots of clothing in the wash are yours now,” Bucky reminded her, although the tips of his ears did flush a little.

“Noooooo, from before,” Darcy shook her head. “When I banged Steve's brains out on the Quinjet! You perv, you stole my panties!”

“Darcy, very quickly, I just want to let you know, we're starting a separate department. Social Media Relations,” Pepper waved her hand to regain Darcy's attention. Clearly she should have waited for any important announcements until Darcy was fully recuperated. Half recuperated wasn't enough. “You will head this department, and you are to hire two staff members and you are allowed to have up to five interns at any given point.”

“The intern gets another intern! Score!” Darcy grinned. “Let's hope this one won't cheat on me and call me a fat whore.”

“ ** What ** ?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Did you or did you not jerk off into my panties?” Darcy demanded of Bucky.

“That's my cue to leave,” Pepper bit back another chuckle. “JARVIS, please don't allow Tony to override or access any of this conversation. Get well soon, Darcy. And take it easy on your boys.”

“Who called you that?” Steve demanded after Pepper left the apartment.

And at the same time Bucky shrugged and sheepishly admitted, “Maybe once or twice.”

“That's just totally unfair, you don't even wear underwear I could jerk off in,” Darcy huffed. She turned to Steve and answered quickly and honestly, “My former boyfriend Ian, and my heinous former boss, Marianne called me that. Probably at least a hundred other people too. And I realize now that I can't use underwear to jerk off, stupid concussion.”

“Sweetheart, you know that its not true, right?” Steve wondered softly.

“I _can_ jerk off with someone's underwear?” Darcy furrowed her brow. “Wrong brunette person you love, Stevie. I'm Darcy. I have the girl parts.”

Bucky shoved the panties back into his pants pocket before he sat down next to her, he and Steve bracketed her on the couch.

“You aren't---” Bucky turned his mouth down in a frown, he didn't want to repeat the words. Never wanted to repeat them in front of her. The words were so far from the truth that they made him see red.  “You aren't anything like what they said.”

“You're beautiful,” Steve insisted, kissing her temple.

“Gorgeous,” Bucky leaned in to kiss her as well.

“You guys are silly,” Darcy giggled. “I'm short, and I'm soft, and I'm squishy. I'm never going to find my abs, and I'm never going be able to see my biceps. But... I like me like this, and you guys like me like this, so who the fuck cares about someone else's words? Fuck those assholes.”

“Yeah, fuck them,” Bucky chuckled, leaning in and kissing her mouth gently this time.

“But I totally am a whore,” Darcy shrugged.

“Darcy!” Steve admonished her.

“I mean, I really, really, _really_ want to bang the both of you. Like, I want to knock brooms like the International Confederation of Janitors,” Darcy giggled at her own cleverness. “I wanna have a Price is Right party and invite your pants to come on down.”

“Princess,” Bucky chuckled in spite of himself at her silly humor.

“Do you guys know what winks and fucks like a hellcat?” Darcy looked between them before winking obnoxiously.

“I love you,” Steve cupped her face gently and smiled down at her. “Bucky loves you. And you love us.”

“You don't know that!” Darcy scoffed, then paused. “Shit, you totally know that. Stupid fucking concussion! Stupid truth gas! Thanks for not asking the bad questions when I've still got the whammy on me. That's awful nice of you guys. S'why I love you both even if I'm a whore for loving you both.”

“You're not a whore, anymore than Bucky and I are whores for wanting to be with each other, and with you,” Steve insisted, using just a little bit of his Captain voice.

“Shit,” Darcy moaned. “Stop, you can't use that voice if we can't play with each others fun time parts.”

“Love you, Princess,” Bucky smiled at her, kissing her once more before going back to the laundry.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Darcy huffed. “And you better be giving me back those panties, Sarge!”

“What panties?” Bucky smirked at her. “I think the concussion made you imagine them.”

* * *

As Darcy quickly recovered, her brain to mouth filter came back and her hilarious nonsense words became more like her normal hilarious sarcasm. But with every positive scan JARVIS did, announcing a higher percentage of healing, Darcy started to close back up, little by little as the massive undiluted dose of truth gas also finally ebbed out of her system.

And she slowly stopped telling them that she loved them in that easy, lovely, free way of hers. But she didn't flinch or run or argue when they declared their love for her. She smiled. Soft and small and enchanted. So the boys counted that as progress and were really looking forward to the day when she gave them the treasured words on her own, without the help of a concussion or truth gas.

Bucky was walking with her around the retail area of the Tower, picking up a few things she needed, now that her brain had unfogged and she realized she needed them. Apparently, a bar of ivory soap was not enough to keep their girl clean, and Bucky now had three bags full of toiletries that Darcy had happily paid for with a small portion of the hazard pay deposit she had received. He didn't mind one bit, and he and Steve had spent an hour that morning before Darcy woke, making space for all of her things in their bathroom and closets and drawers.

As soon as the truth gas was completely flushed out of her system, they were going to ask if she wouldn't like to spend more time at their place. Permanently.  Maybe all the time if she should so choose.

Steve was currently in a meeting with Maria Hill, getting a recap of the last ten days they had missed due to their meticulous care and absurd mother henning of Darcy. He had told them to have fun on their date that morning and promised to meet with them by lunch time.

“oohhhhh...lingerie,” Darcy clapped her hands together in glee.

  
  


“No, nope, that's not happening,” Bucky shook his head back and forth, warily eying the shop full of lace and frills and sheer, silky material.

“ Hmm, definitely a pair of star spangled panties,” Darcy nodded. “And a silvery bra and I can get little appliques of red stars for  _ just  _ the right place....”

“Hydra should have recruited you for torture,” Bucky groaned as she dragged him by the arm towards the store.

“You love it,” Darcy countered.

“ I love  _ you _ ,” Bucky corrected her.

“Sure, sure,” Darcy waved him off, that little smile on her face as she turned away from him.

“Hey, hey!” Bucky stopped and turned her gently to look her in the face. “I love you, Darcy.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded, ubiquitous finger guns shooting at him.

“And you love me, and you love Steve,” Bucky reminded her.

She remained silent and turned to look at the lingerie store again.

“You told us, Princess,” Bucky reminded her.

“I was concussed,” Darcy disputed. “And truth gassed!”

“Well you can't take it back!” Bucky insisted.  "Please don't take it back."

“I don't want to. I won't---it's just, not as easy to say anymore,” Darcy pouted.

Bucky wrapped her up in an embrace and pulled her to him gently. JARVIS' last scan showed her at 96 percent, but he wasn't taking any chances. His lips found hers and he kissed her slowly, building in intensity until his tongue was drawing languid circles in her mouth and he had her making that small moaning sound in the back of her throat.

“You can say it again, when you're ready,” he murmured against her lips. “But I'm going to miss concussion Darcy. Not just cause she told me she loved me all the time.”

“Cause she was amazingly inappropriate?” Darcy guessed.

“That too, but I'm going to miss how fearless she was,” Bucky kissed her again, quick and fast. “Hoping non-concussed Darcy finds that again.”

“I'll try, baby,” Darcy sighed, melting against him. “For you and Stevie, I'll definitely try my hardest.”

“It's all we want.”

* * *

99 percent back to normal.

Just one more stinking percentage point to go.

Steve repeatedly reminded himself of the fact that one percent of damage still meant that Darcy was injured. Even as she lay in bed in between he and Bucky, letting out aching little moans in her sleep. She was pressed against his side, her thigh up and over his hip while Bucky spooned her, his metal arm over her waist and resting on Steve's stomach.

Darcy's hand was currently stroking up and down his stomach under his shirt and he didn't have to open his eyes to know that she was painstakingly rubbing her backside against Bucky's crotch. Her little hand brushed against the waistband of his pants again, sleepily trying to gain access to his painful erection.

Thank God he and Bucky had taken to wearing the kevlar pants with the complicated buckles and zips to bed.

Darcy's swatted at Steve's pants in her sleep and the pleasured moans were quickly morphing into aching little sounds of frustration. Her thigh gripped against him as she tried to get some sort of friction to fulfill her.

“Please,” she begged.

“Stevie, can't we just, give into her a little?” Bucky mumbled as he woke. “Her appointment's in the morning and she's gonna get a clean bill.”

“One percent, Buck,” Steve grumbled.

“Pardon me, Captain, the four am scan showed that the swelling in Darcy's brain has completely receded,” JARVIS happily announced.

“Bucky, Steve, please,” Darcy whimpered in her sleep. A small tear slipped out of the corner of her crinkled eye in her sleep.

“Fuck it,” Steve groaned. He wasn't about to see her cry any more. Not ever again if he could manage it. He began undoing the complicated pants he had on and as soon as he managed to pull them and his underwear down to mid-thigh, Darcy's hands were all over him, stroking his erection in that fun sleepy way of hers as he tried to kick off his pants.

Bucky smiled and gave Steve's stomach a pat before moving his arm to curl around Darcy, drifting down her body to cup against the mound of her sex. His lips kissed at the back of her neck reverently before he whispered in her ear,

“Rise and shine, Princess. Gonna make you feel real good.”

Strong metal fingers delved into the boxer shorts she was wearing and stroked the wet cotton of her panties. He felt her jolt slightly and knew she was awake at the change in her breathing.

“Am I dreaming?' she wondered softly.

“No dream, sweetheart,” Steve promised her. “We're not doing anything strenuous or jarring, but we just want to make you feel better.”

“Sarge?” she turned slightly and kissed the lips that had been whispering in her ear.

“Yes, Princess?”

“Do you think that strong metal hand of yours could rip off my panties?” Darcy gave him the most sinful smirk that had ever existed.

“It'll be my absolute pleasure,” Bucky promised her, gripping at the fabric and ripping it with an almost gentle tug. He pulled his hand way from her and ripped the boxers as well, pulling the ruined clothing from her body and throwing it across the room. He gave Steve a wink and asked, “Keep her head still, wouldja?”

And then he crawled down the bed and pulled Darcy's thigh from Steve's hip, giving it a tickle before carefully placing it over his shoulder.

“Been wanting to taste you for an awful long time,” Bucky murmured, never breaking his gaze with her eyes as he placed open mouth, tickling kisses on all of the sensitive spots of her inner thighs before gentle fingers spread her already wet lips and he placed a long, lingering kiss against her flesh.

“Oh Jesus, Buddah, Santa, yes!” Darcy groaned and she would have thrown her head back if Steve hands hadn't intervened, keeping her head in place as he placed playful little kisses on her jaw.

“Stay still, Darcy,” he ordered her in his Captain voice, loving the way her whole body gave a little shiver.

“Not fair,” Darcy giggled, her thighs clenching at Bucky's head on their own accord. Her left fingers toyed with the heavy dark locks of hair on the head between her thighs while her right hand continued to stroke Steve's length at a languid pace that she knew tortured him when all he wanted was fast and hard. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head as Bucky most have done something completely wicked and she began to talk in earnest, “Fuck, baby, you're so good. Right there...god. Your tongue should be illegal...”

“I've been telling him that for a really long while,” Steve murmured against her breast, his large hands still cradling her head as he pulled at the tank top she wore with his teeth until his mouth had access to her nipples. She gave a particularly vicious tug at his cock and he groaned.

“ Bucky, baby, make me all nice and wet and ready for Steve,” Darcy cooed. She let out a throaty sigh and Steve had to stop her from thrashing her head back and forth again. “And then I'm going to return the favor, I'm gonna lick and suck every inch of you...me and Steve both, we-we—oh god,  _ yes.” _

Bucky grinned against her flesh as she tried to smash his head with her thighs while she rode out her orgasm. He gave her clit a few firm swipes as she settled down, savoring that perfect taste of her. When she finally resurfaced it was with a throaty request of,

“ _ More.” _

Steve's tongue laved at her nipple once more before pulling away and settling himself against the bed's headboard, ridding himself of his shirt before his hand began stroking at his erection as he watched Bucky reluctantly pulling away from her and going to his feet by the bed. Bucky divested himself of his complicated pants before taking off both shirts he had taken to wearing to bed so she couldn't get at his nipples in her sleep (the were super sensitive, and sleep-groping Darcy  _ knew  _ that). He had to chuckle when both Steve and Darcy licked their lips simultaneously.

“Alright, my loves, how are we going to do this so we don't batter Darcy's poor brain anymore?” Bucky grinned between the two of them, nearly gleeful. He reached down and carefully tore the fabric of the shirt that Darcy still had on, licking his lips when she have a lovely little squeak.

“My brains are fine,” Darcy insisted, climbing on top of Steve's lap. She took him in hand and rubbed his stiff cock against her wet lips before sinking down with a decadent moan. “I'm gonna work on scrambling my boys' brains though. C'mere, Sarge...”

Bucky hopped up on the bed and stood next to Darcy and Steve's coupling, his left hand cradling the back of Darcy's head with surprising gentleness as Steve very minutely moved his hips beneath her, giving her that little burst of friction that she really did enjoy. Her mouth dropped open in delight and Bucky felt himself twitch at the sight.

“ I'm going to give  _ you  _ a concussion,” Darcy promised before gripping his thigh and pulling him closer. Small fingers ran down the length of him curiously and she gave it a goofy grin. “Pleased to meet you, we're going to be very good friends and have a lot fun together.”

Bucky couldn't help but laugh, looking down to a chuckling Steve.

“Not the concussion,”Steve shook his head. “She did the same thing to me. Didn't tell you, wanted to surprise you.”

“Right, cause you guys knew I was a sure thing,” Darcy rolled her eyes, placing a chaste little kiss to the head of Bucky's dick.

“We didn't know,” Steve corrected her, groaning as she moved up and down the length of him before clenching down with her inner walls.

“We just hoped and dreamed real hard,” Bucky nodded, his groan matching Steve's as Darcy wrapped her lips around him and gave an experimental suck.

“Help a girl out, Cap,” Darcy demanded, shimmying her hips up and down again. “Let's see who goes first.”

“We'll start keeping tally,” Steve promised, leaning his head forward and mouthing at the base of Bucky's cock as Darcy took the tip in her mouth and worked him into her mouth in a few back and forth motions. “Switch, sweetheart. Shouldn't be moving your head like that.”

Darcy giggled and watched as Steve took Bucky into his mouth, hollowing out his cheeks and sucking expertly. She involuntarily clamped down on Steve again at the sight and he groaned.

“Don't think you need to move at all,” Steve pulled off of Bucky and threw her a little smile before going back to his honest work.

Darcy squeezed again before giving Bucky a very devious wink and placing a wet filthy kiss at the base of his dick, before moving down to his balls.

“Fuck, I'm gonna lose this one,” Bucky hissed as both Darcy and Steve attempted to suck his brain through his dick.

“Technically, I lost first,” Darcy reminded him.

“It's my promise that we're always gonna put you first,” Bucky panted out. “What can I do to get you to help me beat Stevie though---Jesus, punk...”

Steve hummed around Bucky's length like the little asshole he was before he groaned again as Darcy clenched around him rhythmically.

“You feel so good inside me just like this,” Darcy cooed at Steve before going back to pay attention to Bucky. Her sharp little tongue reached and lapped at that magic spot behind Bucky's balls and his hand gripped her hair just a little tighter. She grinned against his skin and reached up a hand and pressed her fingers against it repeatedly.

“Fuck,” Bucky cursed as he felt his balls tighten and his orgasm rip through his body. Steve swallowed him down for a few seconds until Darcy pushed him back, letting a stream of spunk land on his lips. She licked it off of him before earnestly moving her hips again.

Bucky fell to his knees on the bed, his flesh hand going to Darcy's mound and pressing down with enough pressure to get her to cry out as Steve pistoned himself inside of her in short, furious strokes. Steve let his own head fall back and hit the headboard as she came around him and he gave a half dozen short little strokes before finding his end as well, emptying inside of her.

“I win,” Steve grinned lazily.

“Loser gets cleanup,” Bucky nodded, pulling Darcy off of Steve and lying her back down gently. Steve lethargically moved so that he could get his hands on the sides of Darcy's head again, stilling her movement as Bucky settled between her thighs again and lapped hungrily at her wet flesh.

“I can't wait to get a clean bill of health from Dr. Cox,” Darcy hiccuped as Bucky's tongue reached inside of her, lapping at the combination of her and Steve's release. “The things I'm going to do to you boys...”

“Love you,” Bucky mumbled against her skin, before reapplying himself and sucking on her clit with the perfect amount of pressure to have her reaching down for his hair and grabbing viciously.

“Yeah, love you,” Steve nuzzled his nose in her hair, his tongue licking at the shell of her ear before sucking on her ear lobe.

“Hmmm, I know,” Darcy nodded. “I---I, oh God, Bucky, yes, there!”

“Timing, jerk,” Steve rolled his eyes as Darcy rode out her third orgasm of the morning. Ten seconds more and she would have said the words again.

“Yeah, yeah, we'll get there.”

* * *

“So, Dr. Penis, I am one hundred percent back to normal, right?” Darcy grinned at him from the examination table.

“Yes, Darcy, you tiny pain in my ass, you are one hundred percent back to normal,” Dr. Cox smirked at her.

“Okay, I have a list,” Darcy dug into her bag and held up a yellow legal pad. She lifted at least eight pages filled with her loopy, sloppy handwriting. “I'm going to need to make sure that you approve every single one of these things before I take my boys on a little mini-vacation. Just to be thorough, you should read each one and check it off the list if I'm allowed to do it.”

“This is punishment for me telling you couldn't have a double scoop of frozen super soldier sundae, isn't it?” Dr. Cox glared at her.

Darcy waved the list in front of him and he grabbed it and took it out to the nurse's station, where most of the medical staff congregated to go take peeks at the list themselves.

“Sweetheart,” Steve shook his head at her in amused exasperation. He didn't really think Dr. Turk needed to know what Darcy planned to do with him. The young surgeon had a certain level of fanaticism about Captain America, and he doubted he needed to know Captain America wanted the doctor's permission to thoroughly defile his girlfriend against the stonewall that was their boyfriend.  "Was that really necessary?"

"Captain America, are you suggesting we do all the things on my list without having permission?" Darcy dropped her jaw in exaggerated shock.  "Such heedless, reckless, totally normal behavior from you."

“We're going on a mini-vacation?” Bucky changed the subject.

“ Yes, concussed me sent a twenty-page email to Maria Hill asking her to give me another few days with you, and Tony happily gave us the beach house. He may have sent a few gift baskets of  _ love  _ toys and sexy time helpers to the master bedroom already,” Darcy nodded.

“Aww, come on, Number 32, really?” Cox cried out in annoyance from the nurse's station.

Darcy cackled maniacally and five minutes later, Cox came in and threw the legal pad at Bucky.

“Get outta here!' Cox ordered. “I don't want to see you again, Lewis, unless its to come pick up one of your boy toys.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Steve waved at him, knowing that it was the gruff doctor's way of saying he hoped Darcy never got hurt again.

Darcy high-fived the nurses on the way out and Dr. Turk looked at her in awe before asking,

“How is number 78 possible? I'm only asking for a friend.”

“Super soldiers,” Darcy shrugged.

“DAMN,” Turk grumbled, before walking away.

“You are all sorts of trouble, sweetheart,” Steve sighed as she once again high-fived Dr. Reid. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder's as Bucky took her hand on the other side. “And Bucky would be the first one to tell you, I really love trouble.”

* * *

** Chapter Ten: Sharing is a Balancing Act **

They at least managed to make it back to Bucky and Steve's apartment.

In order to do that, Steve and Bucky may have communicated with a few small hand gestures they had not had to use since their Howling Commando days and may have jointly jumped out of the elevator at the last moment, sending a restriction-free and overly handsy Darcy up to their apartment while they took the stairs. They met her when the elevator doors slid open and were not in the least bit surprised to have a small, pissed off hellcat flinging herself at them.

Bucky caught her and hauled her over his shoulder as she thrashed against him.

“I wanted to do number 49 in the elevator!” Darcy whined, taking the legal pad full of all the fun things she wanted to do and smacking it against Bucky's backside.

“We have plenty of time for number 49 in the elevator,” Steve promised her, giving her two gentle swats on her own backside. “Besides, do you really want Tony to have access to that footage?”

“J-money, would you let that happen?” Darcy sweetly asked her most favorite AI in the world.

“Of course not, Miss Lewis. Your privacy protocols are in place, and it would take both Ms. Potts and Colonel Rhodes to override them,” JARVIS replied faithfully.

“See? I'm the brains of this operation,” Darcy cackled as she reached down and grabbed a heavenly handful of Bucky's rear end and squeezing. She squealed happily when Steve did the same to her. “We leave for the shore after lunch, so we can beat rush hour. Anyone have a preference on what number we try before that?”

“Ladies' choice,” Bucky promised, turning his head and taking a playful bite at her hip.

“Oh, 23 would be nice, or if we were really adventurous we can try 112!” Darcy did her best to page through the list in her current compromised position.

“How about we start with number one?” Steve smiled at Bucky, who looked back at him with widened eyes and a suddenly gaping mouth. “I should clear some things with Hill, if we're leaving.”

“You sure?” Bucky whispered.

“Yeah, if its okay with Darcy,” Steve nodded.  He gave both Bucky and Darcy a loving, ethereal smile.   "You should always cross number one of a list first, if you can."

Darcy gulped and looked at number one on the list, that Steve had placed there when she told them her ambition.

_ Darcy and Bucky get to have quality time alone. _

“Alright,” Darcy nodded, her cheeks flaming. She had done an awful lot with Bucky already, but Steve had always been there too. And while she had done the necessary (for her) introductions to little Bucky already, they hadn't done the full deed.

Perfect, thoughtful, man with a plan Steve. Of course he'd want Bucky to have the same opportunities he had. To have the intimacy and privacy that he already had with Darcy.

She realized very quickly that the boys shared that intimacy as well. Steve wasn't just doing Bucky a favor. He was doing both of them a favor.

“Wait, kiss first,” Darcy wiggled in earnest and Bucky immediately placed her back on her feet. She wrapped her arms around Steve's shoulders and giggled when he lifted her with one arm around her waist. Her mouth slotted against his and she kissed him with a firmness and chasteness that they hadn't really had since the beginning of their relationship.

“Hmm,” Steve hummed as they broke the kiss. “Love you.”

“Yeah, me too,” Darcy nodded, blushing and looking down at the buttons on Steve's shirt in fascination, missing the way his face light up like the sun.

Bucky was right next to them and Darcy looked up again to watch as her boys shared a kiss, each one smiling into it until they broke apart and touched their foreheads together.

“Love you, Stevie,” Bucky nodded. “Thanks.”

“I'll be back soon,” Steve's smile had not dimmed one bit as he walked away from them backwards, his delighted eyes darting between both of his gorgeous brunettes.

Bucky and Darcy stood there for a few extended moments after Steve was out of sight, staring at each other. Bucky had a look of wonder on his face, while Darcy couldn't help the small, shy smile on her lips if she tried. Bucky licked his bottom lip before he grabbed Darcy's hand and wordlessly led her into the apartment, grabbing her list and placing it on the entryway table.

“This time, we're definitely packing swimsuits, because it's going to be like 90 degrees, and I want to try out that swimming---oh!” Darcy squeaked as Bucky put his hands under her arms and lifted. His mouth placing wet, lazy kisses along her jaw. She wrapped her legs around his waist and couldn't help the giggle as he walked them towards the bedroom the three of them had chastely shared up until that morning.

Bucky's kisses moved from her jaw to her chin to her nose then her mouth and she kissed him just as enthusiastically as she had the first time they had kissed on the beach. He groaned when she let out that little happy noise in the back of her throat and he eased her down on her back on the bed.

“Can I make love to you, Princess?” he asked her tenderly, voice low and velvety.

“Yes, Bucky, please,” Darcy nodded eagerly, her hands going for his shirt and pushing it up, her hands making a pass over his nipples. She bit her bottom lip in smug enjoyment as he shivered above her. His own hands went for the pajama pants she had thrown on before her appointment in medical and pulled them down slowly. “Oh, don't rip these panties. They're special.”

“Christ,” Bucky groaned, looking down to see the pink satiny pair he had stolen off the quinjet and had happily used in his darkest, loneliest hours. She had stolen them back from under his nose and worn them on purpose, knowing what the sight of her in them would do to him. His right index finger stroked along the smooth fabric covering the dark curls at the apex of her thighs. “These are mine.”

“Oh, I'd like to see you in them,” Darcy waggled her eyebrows at him.

“I'd like to see you out of them,” Bucky smirked.

“Let's make a promise, right now, that when we get Stevie in bed later, you and I can use our words to just drive him crazy,” Darcy proposed as she whipped off the ridiculously small t-shirt she had stolen straight from Steve's hands that morning.

“Won't take much,” Bucky shrugged, his hands delving behind her back to unclasp her bra. She wriggled out of it while he reverently pushed the panties down her body, putting them into the pocket of his pants before she could see. Darcy gripped onto his left hand, her fingers petting against the smooth shiny metal. “You know, you asked me when you were recovering about the functionality of it...”

“I like shiny things,” Darcy shrugged, bringing the metal hand to her mouth and kissing the back of it. “Did I ask if I could feel it inside of me?”

“You asked if you could ride it like a super strong silver pony,” Bucky chuckled. He pulled it out of her grasp and drew a line with his metal fingertips down her body, between the valley of her breasts, tickling with the cool metal over her stomach until he let them stroke along the lips of her sex. He had never used it in bed with Steve, it had been a weapon used against Steve before. But Darcy didn't have that experience with his arm. It was just his arm for her. “You can if you want.”

“What do I feel like for you?” Darcy sighed as he stroked at her, the cool metal was smooth and cold against her heated flesh. She marveled as her heat seemed to sap into his fingers.

“Soft, softest thing this hand has ever felt,” Bucky smiled. He kissed her again, lazy and slow while his fingers continued their delicious passes at her wet flesh. “You're the softest feeling in my life, Darcy. Everything about you is what I want. What I've wanted and needed forever. Soft and warm and beautiful.”

“And all just for you and Steve,” Darcy promised. She gasped into Bucky's deeper kiss, felt that beautiful cool metal part her lips and stroke against her wet opening. “I want to feel you inside, baby, please.”

“Whatever you want, Princess,” Bucky nodded and the middle finger of his left hand worked its way inside of her. The plates on his shoulder shifted erratically as the sensors on the fingertip picked up on the sensation. The heat, the velvety, plush feel of her, the wetness that was all for him, damn near had him overloaded. His brain shorted out for a moment and when he came back she was mewling under him, his finger pumping in and out of her at a steady pace

“ More,” she breathed, letting out one of those lovely little gasps as he added his index finger, resting his thumb on her clit, providing just the right pressure as he moved it in small, calculated circles. She was going to lose her mind. She didn't know if Bucky was aware, but the metal of his left hand was vibrating...was  _ singing  _ against her skin.

  
  


He was ruining her for any other vibrator in the world.

He stopped kissing her and instead, stared at her in unguarded fascination as he continued his work. Her mouth was wide open, eyes tightly shut as little, squeaks emanated from her throat.

  
  


This was a new sound. He had never heard her make that sound with Steve before. It was fascinating and lovely and it went straight to his groin as he realized he was giving her something new and enjoyable and---

She was already over the edge, letting out a small wail as her hips bucked upwards against his fingers and he felt the plates in his shoulder shift restlessly as the feeling of her orgasm around the sensors tried to overload his brain.

“We are doing that again, we are doing that a lot, we are doing that every damned day,” Darcy sighed as she came down from her high. She brought his left hand up to her mouth and kissed his palm reverently. “Your hand is my new best friend. I'm going to place offerings at an altar in its name.”

“You really do like shiny things,” Bucky chuckled.

Darcy laughed and went for the buckle of his pants, pushing them down and licking her lips when his erection sprang free and jutted out proudly.

“ I really like  _ you _ ,” Darcy clarified. She watched him step out of his pants before holding out her arms invitingly. “C'mon, Sarge. Slow and deep...make love to me.”

“Oh God,” Bucky whispered, settling himself between those soft, full thighs. She reached down and pumped his length a half dozen times before looking up at him with heavy lidded eyes. He swallowed and asked, “You good, Princess?”

Darcy nodded and couldn't break eye contact with him as she guided him inside of her, her mouth dropping open as he slowly sank into her warm depths. Their bodies connected on every square inch that was physically possible. His forehead against hers, his chest pressed against her breasts, his pelvis flush against her and his hands gripping the backs of her thighs.

He remained still as she fluttered around him and he felt like a long missing, unknown piece of his happiness slot into place.

“You're perfect,” he whispered into her ear. He kissed her sloppily on the skin behind her ear lobe before moving his hips at a painstaking pace, withdrawing and then sinking back in again. “God, Darcy, I love you.”

“Yes,” Darcy nodded, fluttering around him once more, feeling something low in her belly flip over at his words.

Steve was telling the truth when he said Bucky liked it slow and deep. Her boys were night and day. While Steve was perfect precision, hard and fast and always just right, Bucky was languid and unpredictable in the pistoning of his hips, taking his time, angling their bodies in just the right way to bury himself as deep inside of her as he could go, remaining there for a few extended moments before pulling almost all the way out and doing it again.

“That feels so good,” Darcy sighed before her breath caught as Bucky changed his angle of descent and rubbed right along her g-spot. “Oh, I lose this time, you're going to---”

Her words were cut off as Bucky moved his hips once, twice, three times at exactly the right angle before she fell apart around him. He grunted against her, stilling and letting himself feel her squeeze against him in an abstract rhythm. He brought his mouth against hers, swallowing the cry of her climax.

He grinned against her mouth and pistoned his hips again, her thighs squeezing against his hips as tight as she could. He wanted a puddle of a girl under him and he was one orgasm closer to it. He braced his weight on his right hand and brought the left back down her body, placing the metal of his thumb against her clit again, the same slow firm circles had her head shaking back and forth beneath him in brain rattling ecstasy.

“Damn, damn, oh god damn,” Darcy moaned out before letting her mouth hang open and the squeaking sound started again.

Bucky went back to her ear and placed errant kisses along her jaw, as he continued to sink inside of her repeatedly. She was close again and he took a deep breath before whispering in her ear.

“I love you, Darcy.”

The effect of the words she had tried to fight against two weeks ago was instantaneous. She let out a small wail as she clenched down on him and he felt a gush of wetness as she came hard for the third time in less than thirty minutes. He felt her scratching down his back as he did his best to outlast her.

“Please baby, please,” she whispered, wanting to feel him coming inside of her more than anything. “Love you, Bucky.”

“Oh God,” he groaned, twitching against her, he buried himself deep inside of her and let go, shuddering as his vision went white and everything was just her beautiful, lush softness and her warmth and her love.

He came to a full 90 seconds later, her hands tenderly stroking his back, her core still clutching and fluttering around him. She kissed his chin before sighing in a sleepy, dreamy way,

“I call the backseat in the car again. I'm going to need a nap.”

* * *

  
  


** Chapter Eleven: Sharing is an Art Form **

When Steve returned to the apartment, Bucky was loading packed bags onto his shoulders in the living room. When he saw that Steve had returned, he put the bags down again before walking to stand in front of him, his hands cradling his face before leaning in and kissing him soft and slow.

Steve grinned at Bucky when he pulled away and asked quietly, “I take it things went well?”

“Don't know what I did to deserve the two of you,” Bucky shook his head in wonder. “She's an angel, Steve. A wicked little devil of a woman, but an angel too.”

“Yeah, I understand exactly what you're saying,” Steve nodded. He kissed Bucky again and sighed, “I definitely know the feeling.”

“Oh don't start with the making out already,” Darcy laughed as she came out of the bathroom, zipping up a small bag of toiletries. “We'll never get started if we can't get out of the apartment.”

“Why do we need so many bags?” Steve wondered, even as he and Bucky stepped forward to pick up the bags Darcy had packed.

  
  


“I asked her the same thing. Not like we're going to need that many clothes with what I hope we'll be doing,” Bucky winked at Steve.

“ As much as I want all the sex, we're still going to have  _ clothed  _ fun for the next week,” Darcy insisted. “My sex drive is higher than the average bear, but even I need food and rest and fun in the sun.”

“A week?” Bucky grinned. “We get a whole week?”

“You're adorable,” Darcy rolled her eyes at him. “A whole week. And just so you know, I invited all the Avengers down for the last two nights so we can have all the family fun that requires more than three people. Like...poker and board games and Marco Polo in the pool.”

“ _You_ are adorable,” Steve promised her. He picked up the last bag and grabbed Darcy's hand. “C'mon, sweetheart, lets go do this vacation thing the right way.”

* * *

Darcy did fall asleep in the car and when she woke again, she was in a familiar bed, with a familiar sweatshirt on top of her. She stretched languidly before wriggling into Steve's sweatshirt that Bucky had ripped the neck on. She heard murmurs from the living room and carefully tiptoed her way to the door, peeking out to see what her boys were up to.

The coffee table had bags of food, boxes of pizza and two kicked up feet of two super soldiers. Bucky and Steve were on the coach, ice cream cones in hand.

“We should wake up our girl before you eat all her chocolate,” Bucky smirked at the rapidly disappearing triple scoop cone in Steve's hand.

“Our girl,” Steve sighed happily, taking another long lick of the ice cream. “Still can't believe it, Buck.”

“Believe it, pal,” Bucky inched closer to Steve on the couch, his right arm going around Steve's shoulders.

“She's everything we ever wanted or dreamed about and then some, a thousand times better,” Steve smiled at him. “And she wants us together...I never have to leave you.”

“Never gonna leave you,” Bucky kissed the side of his head. “Never going to have to.”

“We're lucky sons of bitches,” Steve nodded. “Gonna have to make sure she always knows she's equal. Don't want to lose this. Ever.”

“My man with a plan,” Bucky laughed. “You can tell her she's equal since she's been listening in on us for the last five minutes.”

“Super hearing,” Darcy grumbled as she came into the room and hopped onto Steve's lap, draping her legs over Bucky's. She gave a long lick of the chocolate ice cream Steve was holding and grinned between the two of them.

“No, not super hearing, or else Stevie woulda heard you eavesdropping,” Bucky corrected her. “You can't sneak up on the Winter Soldier, Princess.”

“You're not the Winter Soldier,” Darcy frowned at him. He gave her a soft look, a look that conveyed how grateful he was for her to say that, but at the same time, how wrong she was. She reached out and grabbed his left hand, bringing it to her mouth and kissing it before turning to Steve and smiling at him when he repeated her actions. “You're my Sarge. You're his Jerk. You're ours and you're never going to be anybody's weapon ever again.”

“Jesus, what'd I do to deserve you two?” Bucky breathed. “And make sure you tell me whatever I need to do to keep you both. Forever, okay?”

“Alright, Buck,” Steve nodded. He and Darcy both went to lick at the ice cream at the same time and Bucky groaned in response.

“We'll get new ice cream later,” Bucky huffed, taking the cone from Steve's hand and getting up to toss them in the sink. “Let's do number nine.”

“oohhhhhhh,” Darcy grinned, turning to Steve with waggly eyebrows. She hopped off the couch and did an excited little dance with shuffling feet. “Let's go, let's do this, me here, you here and you there!”

“Minx,” Steve laughed, getting up from the couch himself, reaching out to pick Darcy up and haul her over one ridiculously broad shoulder. “Where's Tony's welcome basket?”

“Bedroom, of course,” Bucky smirked, taking off clothing as he followed them. No sooner than he was in the door of the bedroom, did he have the sweatshirt Darcy had on thrown in his face.

  
  


She stood in front of an amused Steve as she shed clothing off quickly, all the while keeping up with her shuffing, dancing feet. Steve was so enamored with her that he was still fully clothed, even as his brunettes were very quickly and very gorgeously nude.

“Aww, baby, you want us to undress you?” Darcy wondered, her hands playing at the hem of Steve's t-shirt. “You're awful spoiled, Stevie.”

“Isn't that what number nine is all about?” Steve smirked down at her.

“That it is,” Darcy nodded, pulling the t-shirt up and over his head. She sunk to her knees and worked at his jeans, pushing them to the floor and allowing him to step out of them. He barely had his underwear over his thighs before her mouth was on him, tongue swirling around the crown of his dick before she opened wide and sucked him into her mouth.

“Want to see something fun, Stevie?” Bucky wondered, his mouth against Steve's ear. He placed a sloppy kiss right behind his ear lobe before kneeling next to Darcy, placing wet, open-mouthed kisses all over the base of Steve's cock as Darcy sucked and worked her mouth over his head.

Bucky's metal hand went between Darcy's legs and began stroking her as he had done earlier, and Steve's eyes widened as Bucky managed to bring Darcy to orgasm in less than five minutes, her mouth going slack around his erection, small squeaking sounds coming out of her mouth.

“Holy shit,” Steve breathed. “how'd you....”

“Show him, baby, show him how,” Darcy grinned, getting up on wobbly legs and going to the ludicrous gift basket Tony had sent, picking carefully through lube for something fun, tossing it Bucky's way.

“Bet you can't get her there faster,” Bucky arched a mischievous eyebrow at Steve, knowing the idiot never backed down from an honest challenge.

“C'mere, sweetheart,” Steve grabbed Darcy by her hips and lowered her to lay back on the bed. He palmed her thighs and spread them before taking his place between them, his mouth going straight for her wet lips with no further preamble.

Darcy moaned and watched as Bucky opened the lube and prepped the fingers on his metal hand. He threw her a wink before kneeling on the bed beside Steve, his index finger running up and down the line of Steve's ass.

“Steve!” Darcy squealed with laughter as he avidly sucked on her tender flesh like a man possessed. She looked at Bucky and gave him a wink. “Distract him, Sarge.”

  
  


“My pleasure,” Bucky nodded, finger probing at Steve's ass, stroking his opening to spread the tingling lube Darcy had picked out before slowly working his way in.

“Not fair,” Steve gasped against Darcy's skin. “You weren't distracted.”

  
  


“Baby hush, it's not going to matter,” Darcy promised him as his attention refocused on her. “Bucky's cheating anyway. Just enjoy it.”

Bucky worked a metal finger into Steve and let it rest for a moment and he smirked when Steve moaned against Darcy's flesh.

“C'mon, Stevie,” Bucky encouraged him. “Be good to our girl...”

“Sarge, you're such a jerk, I love it,” Darcy sighed as Steve obviously redoubled his efforts. He alternated between sucking and laving at the lips of her sex and her clit, with his characteristic determined accuracy, pausing only once to groan as Bucky worked another lightly vibrating finger into him. “Doesn't he feel so nice, Steve? His hand is my new best friend. I still adore all of you though, so don't be jealous...”

Steve growled against her skin before placing his hands on her ass and lifting her in a way that made her legs fall wide open. One last suck against her clit before his mouth moved down and suddenly his tongue was against her ass, licking against her tight little opening and causing her to squeal and wiggle underneath him.

He brought his right hand off of her ass and back to her dripping core, working one finger into her cunt in a few fast strokes before adding another. Her hips began canting against him and he wasted no time in crooking his fingers, dragging them along her walls against her g-spot over and over again until she let out a short wail and grabbed fistfuls of his hair, stilling his movements as she trembled against him.

He lay his cheek on her thigh, peering up at her with half-lidded eyes and Bucky scissored those lightly vibrating fingers within him. She stroked his hair gently as she came down from her high and she shot him such a lovely look of adoration and fondness that he pushed Bucky's hands away from him before he crawled up on the bed, taking her legs under his forearms, spreading her wide as he sank into her flesh.

“God, I love you,” he sighed as she enveloped him in that warm wet softness. He thrust into her a half dozen times with his hard, fast strokes before he felt Bucky's hands on his hips stilling him. He answered Bucky's silent question, “Yes, Buck, please...”

Steve buried himself deep into Darcy and lay his forehead against hers as Bucky rubbed the lube covered head of his dick against Steve's opening. Darcy kissed Steve gently as Bucky pressed into him slowly, easing the head of his cock into his tight channel and resting for brief, precious seconds, before working himself back out with equal slowness.

Darcy let out a sigh as Steve twitched deep within her, his eyes shut and mouth gaping open as the feeling of being nestled into Darcy's tight softness, the lush curves against his front, while Bucky's hardness began reaching further within him, a firm, cool metal hand on his back threatened to rob him of all rational thought. Bucky smiled down at Darcy as he stilled, his length half buried in Steve and he waited patiently before Steve huffed out a happy sigh and began to move, working himself in and out of Darcy and back onto Bucky with each delicious stroke.

“Feel good, Stevie?” Bucky ground out, the feel of Steve around him, invading everything in him was as overwhelming as being inside of Darcy. Darcy was his softness, but Steve was his strength. He could feel that strength all around him, squeezing him so tight that he knew he wouldn't last.

“Amazing,” Steve whispered. Darcy was beneath him, short little gasps of air leaving her open mouthed as she stared up at him in delighted wonder. With every stroke he took within her he could feel her clenching down on him. With every retreat of his hips he felt Bucky fill him up completely, hard and pulsing and unyielding. It was the most amazing combination of feelings and sensations he had ever been gifted and didn't want it to ever end but knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer as his body shuddered with pleasure on every gasping breath.

“Sweetheart, you close?” Steve murmured.

“I'll help,” Bucky's metal hand rested on Steve's hip.

“No,” Steve swatted at the hand playfully. “Let me make our girl feel good.”

“God, Steve!” Darcy whimpered as his hips practically doubled in speed and intensity.

“Fuck,” Bucky ground out as Steve slammed back against his hips with every meticulous stroke he took within Darcy. His hands went back to Steve's hips and he felt the delicious clenching of Steve against his hard length and he slammed his length into Steve, burying himself deep inside, thereby burying Steve deep within Darcy, who let out a short little wail as she came violently against Steve.

Bucky felt himself spurting inside of Steve, he had to be careful not to collapse under the intensity of it. He heard Steve's tell-tale choke and Darcy gasped again as Steve spilled his release into her. Her hand reached up to stroke at Bucky's left hand on Steve's hip tenderly and he smiled down at her before leaning in and kissing the side of Steve's neck.

Darcy arched up and kissed right next to Bucky's lips on Steve's skin and then smacked against Bucky's lips as well. She grinned and said, “Number nine is something we'll have to do again, clearly.”

* * *

“Cold pizza pizza pizza!” Darcy chanted as she shimmied and shook from the room a full hour later, intent on retrieving the boxes of pizza the boys had procured and bringing it back to her sex den and using it as sex fuel. “Do you think the ice cream place would deliver?”

“We can manage to get clothes on at some point and go out for more ice cream, Princess,” Bucky called out from the bed he was currently ready to pass out from exhaustion in. He gave a disbelieving smile to a similarly exhausted Steve and asked, “How's she do it? She's gonna put us both to shame.”

“M'not complaining,” Steve wisely and lazily mumbled. “Never gonna complain about our girl's stamina.”

“SHIT!” Darcy shrieked. “What the hell dude?”

Steve and Bucky found their energy quickly and flew from the bed, into the kitchen where Darcy was holding a dish towel in front of herself. Just past the kitchen island, Nick Fury was standing with his eyes firmly on the ground, even as Captain America and Bucky Barnes stormed naked into the room.

“Please go and get dressed,” Fury said directly to the ground. “We have a few things to discuss.”

* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  


** Chapter Twelve: Sharing Can be Worth It **

Darcy sat between two very pissed off super soldiers on the couch as she picked at a piece of cold pizza. They were all fully dressed again, and Nick Fury was sitting opposite them in a dining room chair he had pulled up.

“Pizza?” Darcy asked amiably, gesturing to the boxes she had opened and forced upon the soldiers when they had returned fully clothed. Instead of eating, they were scowling at the former Director of SHIELD. “There are burgers and fries too, but I'll have to warm them up because no one likes cold fries.”

“No, thank you, Miss Lewis,” Fury shook his head. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two sketchbooks before placing them down on the coffee table and pushing them towards Darcy.

“Where did you get those?” Bucky demanded, recognizing them immediately. He wrinkled his nose in worry as Darcy put her pizza down and picked up the books, opening them and paging through them quickly. He could feel her tense as she looked through the images Steve had sketched lifetimes ago.  He knew he and Steve had to explain and explain quick, “Princess...”

Each page had a sketch of a girl. The same girl, arguably. Long dark curling hair, usually done up in a complicated style that Darcy had no chance of ever reproducing. A ridiculously curvy, plump and soft figure always drawn up and clothed in either period appropriate clothing or very, very little. The lips were hers, definitely. The eyes, large and round like hers, and as she paged through towards the end of the first book, the sketches went from pencil to color as the dates at the bottom showed that Steve had been super-soldiered,  and the shade of the eyes were decidedly her shade of blue. They'd even managed to get the chin and jaw right, which was an odd sort of trait for them to want in their dream girl, she didn't even like her chin, although between the two of them, they did seem to have an awful lot of fun kissing her there.

“The nose isn't right,” Darcy murmured, moving to the second book. The nose was always different on each of the sketches, as if they couldn't quite agree on what they had wanted. She stopped at a page where the dream girl was dressed in an olive military uniform and looked decidedly like Peggy Carter, the eyes changed from blue to brown. There were three other sketches of Peggy before the sketches turned back into the nameless girl with the ever changing nose.

Near the end of the book, she took a sharp little gasp, because out of all the sketches, this one got the nose right. A pinup version of herself smiled wickedly at her from the page, a sheet barely covering her important parts. Steve's initials were scrawled at the bottom of the page with the date, January 3 rd , 1945. Bucky's neat handwriting underneath it.  _ Waiting for you, hurry up dream girl. _

“ I'm going to go for a walk,” Darcy whispered, rising from the couch, avoiding both Steve and Bucky's hands. Natasha had warned her about the sketchbooks, but it was another matter entirely to see dozens of pictures of a girl that  _ almost  _ looked like her dated between 1937 and 1945.

Fury stood up and shook his head. “I'm afraid you shouldn't go anywhere by yourself, Miss Lewis.”

“What?” Steve furrowed his brow. “What aren't you telling us?”

“Those sketches have been in SHIELD archives since you went into the ice, Cap,” Fury said patiently. “They were analyzed, they were dissected, they were digitized into the system just as every last detail of your life was.”

“What does that have to do with me? I didn't exist in 1945,” Darcy disputed.

“You exist now,” Fury said simply. “And I have to remind you that SHIELD was not alone when these pictures were studied.”

“Hydra,” Bucky whispered.

“And when Romanoff spread the information across the internet, those pictures went with them,” Fury revealed. “Coulson's team has come up with some disturbing chatter in the last twenty-four hours alone from AIM, Hydra and a half dozen other unfriendly organizations.  The intent is to capture and the attempt could happen any time.”

He pulled out a packet of pictures and handed them to Darcy. She huffed but opened the packet and saw the surveillance photos of her and Bucky from a few days ago. In the tower's retail area, smiling and happy and kissing. There were also pictures of that first date with Steve, when Bucky had crashed and she walked with both of their arms around her.

“Our enemies not only realize you are incredibly important to the Winter Soldier and Captain America,” Fury said with surprising gentleness. “But they also seem to think you are for lack of a better word _other worldly._ The fact that you appeared on SHIELD's radar along with Thor isn't helping that matter. You are a prophecy come to life and your worth to them is now a lot more than former lab assistant to a world renowned astrophysicist.”

“I'm not a prophecy!” Darcy shook her head. She felt the tears in her eyes and she tried her best to keep them at bay. “I'm items off a checklist.”

“Sweetheart,” Steve whispered, reaching for her hand and wincing when she dodged him.

“We're secure here?” Bucky looked to Fury.  There was nothing they could do to console her with Fury in the room.  Besides, the focus had to be on protecting her.

“Of course,” Fury nodded. “I wouldn't advise sight seeing outside of two miles right now.”

“Have Coulson work with Natasha,” Steve advised. “We'll start isolating the threats and take them out one by one. Keep us updated, we'll remain here until we need to move.”

Fury nodded before taking his leave.

Darcy remained standing as both of her boys looked up at her with trepidation. She reached for the second book and opened the page back to the picture of Peggy Carter.

“Why didn't it work out with her?” she asked quietly, walking to the other side of the room. “I mean...she's the only real girl in here. What happened that a few months after drawing her you were back to drawing wrong nosed versions of me?”

“She didn't like Bucky too much,” Steve answered honestly. “Wasn't too keen on the idea of he and I---being together.”

“Huh, so it wouldn't have worked just sending in Steve first and buttering her up,” Darcy nodded biting at her bottom lip anxiously. She flipped through another few pages and hit the sketch that really, truly looked like her. “You couldn't agree on a nose?”

“Doesn't matter what we couldn't agree on seventy years ago with some silly drawings,” Bucky insisted, rising from his seat and walking towards her. He put his arms on her shoulders and looked down at her with a wary, worried expression, as if he breathed the wrong way he and Steve both would lose her. “We love you, Darcy. Not some sketch in a book.”

“You're better than anything we imagined,” Steve said softly. “When we met you, it was---a shock to the system to see what you looked like, that you _are_ everything we dreamed of. But then we stuck around, talked to you, drank way too much sugar and caffeine and it wouldn't have mattered if you had three heads and a tail. You are so much more than what you look like.”

“I---I can't process all this right now.  I'm going to go to sleep,” Darcy checked the clock on the wall. It was just after eight in the evening. “Just, I should sleep. It's been a long day.”

“Alright, Princess,” Bucky nodded. He kissed her forehead and smiled down at her. “I love you.”

“Yeah, I---I know that,” Darcy nodded, a soft, small smile on her lips. She gave the same smile to Steve and said, “Go do your Avenging thing, because I am so not down with being under house arrest.”

She went back to the bedroom, heading straight to the en suite bathroom and going about getting ready for sleep. She had her toothbrush halfway to her mouth when she paused and looked at her face, comparing it mentally to the dozens of sketches she had seen in the books. It was uncanny. If she were someone with no knowledge of the situation, she'd have thought that her appearance with Captain America and the former Winter Soldier was... _ magic  _ too. Other worldly.

So she hit all of the items on their wish list.

Was that so terrible?

It wasn't like the boys didn't hit items on her own wish list.

Broad shouldered. Pretty biceps just made for petting. Perfectly kissable lips that were incredibly adept and talented.

Absolutely adorable. Adventurous in the sack. Sarcastic and silly and so tolerant and supportive of her need for silly mischief.

Brave. Loyal.  _ Loving _ .

They loved her. They loved _her._ Not some sketch in the book.

Darcy settled into bed, laying against the pillow that smelled like that old fashioned aftershave they both used. She found that her eyelids were getting heavy with each breath she took. She had just been told that she was on the wish list of nearly every bad guy out there. But the panic and anxiety refused to surface. Instead, she inhaled that steady scent of them and felt safe. Protected.  _ Loved _ .

* * *

When Darcy woke up with the dawn, she was still alone in the bed, but smelled coffee and bacon coming from just outside the bedroom. She slid out of bed, grabbed her most favorite sweatshirt and popped it over her head. She had made it to the door before doubling back and picking through the gift basket Tony had provided, grabbing a bottle of something that promised to taste relatively good.

She walked towards the kitchen, standing in the doorway as Steve and Bucky worked together to make breakfast. Both boys had their comm units in their ears and were so preoccupied with their conference call and making breakfast that they didn't catch her eavesdropping.  Aside from the huge amount of food they had prepared, there were a few things very different about the beach house that morning.  Steve's shield was in the center of the room, so that Steve could reasonably get to it no matter where he was.  And one peek under the side table in the hallway showed her that Bucky had stashed weapons  _ everywhere _ .  They were taking no chances.

“Barton will work with Coulson's team to flush out the Hydra cells on the eastern seaboard, if you can't handle it, you call me and Bucky and we'll offer backup,” Steve ordered as he pried a fresh, golden waffle out of the machine and placed it on a pile. “Stark, Wilson and Romanoff are on the immediate local threats.  Thor is on call for backup for any teams going out there, but his focus has to be on Jane.  If they want Darcy, they'll try to go through Jane.”

Darcy's eyes widened.  She had always thought that if any one was getting kidnapped it would be HER _because_ of Jane.  Not the other way around.

“Stark, do you have the option to turn on JARVIS in the beach house?” Bucky wondered as he finished up a heaping pan full of scrambled eggs.

“Good morning, Sergeant Barnes,” JARVIS happily relayed. “I am currently monitoring the house and the surrounding properties for suspicious activity. Please be advised that Miss Lewis is awake.”

Steve and Bucky both looked up from their tasks with identical fond smiles before Steve announced into the comm, “Let us know if anything new develops. And thank you.”

Bucky chuckled as Stark started yapping in his ear about the powerful distracting properties of threesomes before he took out the comm and smiled at Darcy, “You sleep well, Princess?”

“Yes,” Darcy nodded. She looked around at the very fancy breakfast they had put together as well as the large amount of paperwork and surveillance reports scattered throughout. She sat down at the table and grabbed for a mug of coffee and a walnut covered sticky bun. “Did you guys sleep at all?”

“Had some important things to take care of,” Steve smiled as he brought the waffles to the table. He leaned down and kissed her temple. “You alright, sweetheart?”

“I'm going to be okay,” Darcy nodded. “Thought about a lot of things before I got to sleep.”

Bucky sat down next to her with the scrambled eggs and began loading the plate in front of her, sneakily adding a spoonful of potatoes with copious amounts of green peppers. He chuckled when she picked them out and put them on Steve's plate instead.

“So you guys dreamed about me a half a century before I was born,” Darcy shrugged, shoveling a mouthful of syruped and buttered waffle into her mouth. “A little creepy, sure, but I slept with a Bucky bear since I was eight. Had my first sex dream about Superman. Started a tumblr about Cap's ass two hours after the Battle of New York, when I was still in Norway. So we're all a little creepy.”

“Superman?” Steve furrowed his brow, his mouth full of bacon hiding the jealous bent to his lips.

“He's like your comic book equivalent only without the hot boyfriend and he's an alien that can fly,” Darcy explained helpfully.

“I know who Superman is,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“I'm just being helpful, want to make sure my centenarians are up to date on all the stuff,” Darcy grinned before pushing more waffle into her mouth.

They ate in silence until both boys had nearly destroyed the breakfast buffet they had prepared. Darcy sat cross legged in her chair, patting at her full belly happily.

“So, am I gonna get kidnapped? Cause, Tony made sure I had one of those chips implanted behind my ear, so JARVIS would be able to find me pretty quick,” Darcy shrugged. “Nat-Nat tried to teach me self-defense a long time ago when Thor asked her to, but it failed spectacularly when I sprained my something or other. I refuse to shoot a gun, Tony built me a better taser that can take out like, three dudes at once, and if I DO get kidnapped, you can expect some kind of injury cause you know I can't keep my mouth shut.”

“Princess, the goal is for you to not have to deal with any of that,” Bucky pulled her out of her chair ad onto his lap. He kissed her gently and said, “I'm never going to let anyone take you from us.”

“I'm just going over contingencies,” Darcy insisted. She threw Steve a wink and said, “Think it gets our boy hot to talk about plans and whatnot.”

“ The plan is you will be guarded and protected at all times, preferably by me and Bucky,” Steve revealed. “We're going to flush out anyone who would want to take you.  The contingency is that Stark is already building you an even better Taser, and Natasha said she  _ did  _ teach you to run away properly, and that's what you should do until someone comes to find you."”

“So---no mini-golf in town tonight?” Darcy wrinkled her nose.

“The mini-golf is outside of my radius of surveillance, Miss Lewis,” JARVIS replied helpfully. “I can speak to Sir about having mini-golf installed on the premises.”

“That's okay, J-money. I'll just find something else to occupy my time,” Darcy grinned. She fished the bottle of lube she had kept in her bra and waved it in front of Bucky's face. “Like, number 3 for example.”

Bucky's eyes widened and he stood while holding Darcy to him. “C'mon Stevie-boy, we'll clean up later.”

Steve shoved one more waffle into his mouth before following them, not at all surprised to see that Darcy had easily shed her clothes and was already on her knees in front of Bucky, pushing his pants down and getting those pouty lips on his erection. Steve lazily shed his own clothes before climbing on to the bed and settling his head on the pillows. He waited a few minutes, pulling at his own stiff length as he watched Darcy's pretty little head bobbing along Bucky's cock. She sucked on him fiercely and Bucky had to ease her off of him.

“That's not number three,” Steve said helpfully while Bucky recovered his ability to speak. “C'mere Darce, m'still hungry and I wanna taste you.”

Darcy grinned at him before hopping on the bed and straddling his body, kissing his mouth with her usual enthusiasm and verve. Steve groaned at the tempting feel of her bottom on his twitching length, but resisted the urge to bury himself inside of her, instead, he pulled at her arms, dragging her body higher until either side of his head was bracketed with her thighs.

“Gorgeous,” Steve sighed before taking a long, luxurious lick of her sweet little pussy. He got distracted by her four countless minutes and was surprised when Bucky added his weight to the bed, and Steve tasted a hint of the lube Bucky had drizzling between Darcy's ass cheeks. “Mmm, cherry...”

“Seemed appropriate,” Darcy nodded before letting out a surprised squeak as Steve's hands spread her cheeks wide to Bucky's gaze and mouth. Both of their mouths were on her, Steve sucking on her clit, Bucky's tongue circling languidly around her little asshole. Her orgasm began to build and it broke over her when Bucky eased that delightful metal finger into her tight opening.

Steve's fingers massaged her cheeks soothingly, his mouth never faltering as he did his best to give her as much pleasure as he could to distract her from the initial surprising pain. She moaned as it transformed all to pleasure very quickly and she rocked herself between Steve's mouth and Bucky's finger.

“More,” she demanded. Her breath stuttered as Bucky worked his second finger into her and one of Steve's hands left her ass he pulled his mouth from her and eased a finger into her pussy and she let out a stuttered moan under the dual attention.

“This how you want us, sweetheart?” Steve wondered quietly, adding a second finger to her wetness as Bucky scissored his fingers he had pumping in and out of her ass. He didn't know how it would work, she felt so tight around his fingers, and he knew she was tight around Bucky if the whirring of his metal shoulder and gasps for breath were any indication. He could feel the light vibration coming off of Bucky's fingers and he marveled at the wonders of Darcy's body. “Both of us inside you at the same time...”

“Yes, yes, number two, I want that,” Darcy giggled as they worked her over.

“ Not today, we're doing number three today,” Bucky reminded her, his voice low and raspy as she clenched so tightly around his fingers.  He had a blip of a thought that Darcy  _ really  _ hadn't numbered things properly but it flittered away when she moaned.

“Tomorrow...later, soon,” Darcy babbled.

“Yes, honey, soon,” Steve agreed, curling his fingers inside of her.

Darcy let out a strangled cry as she came on their fingers. Her head thrashed wildly and she begged in a breaking voice, “more, more, please...”

Bucky pulled out of her and pulled her away from Steve, lying her on her back and lifting her legs wide. Steve was on his knees next to them and squeezed some of the lube on Bucky's cock, rubbing it up and down and spreading it with a precious few strokes.

“I'm ready,” Darcy nodded before either of them could ask her the question. She gasped as Bucky pressed the head of his cock against her puckered opening and eased himself just barely inside.

“ You feel so amazing, Bucky,” Darcy cooed, staring up at him with wide eyed wonder, the pleasurable burn was foreign, but  _ good,  _ so, so good. She reached out a flailing hand and and wrapped it around Steve's hard length as best as she could. She felt the burning stretch of Bucky slowly working himself back and forth in her virgin ass and she did her best to take deep breaths through her open mouth, focusing on relaxing and enjoying this delightful new feeling and sensation.

She giggled when Steve placed a kiss on a seriously concentrating Bucky's lips. Their boyfriend was staring down at Darcy in wonder, a sweat breaking out on his brow as he sunk inch by glorious inch in to her tight passage. Steve bent down and concentrated on Darcy's heavenly breasts, licking and sucking at her nipples until she had her hands in his hair, yanking and pulling at her full strength until he was groaning at the feel of it.

“Let's do a—a combo move,” Darcy whispered, her words broken by each thrust Bucky made into her. She grabbed the lube Steve had dropped on the bed and squeezed some out on her breasts. She mashed them together and looked up at Steve with a wink, “Number three plus number 34.”

“God, you little minx,” Bucky groaned, his hips moving into her more freely as he became close to working his full length inside of her.

Steve grinned down at her in adoration before he straddled her rib cage and put his hands over hers, his cock was enveloped by her large breasts and he groaned as he slid himself between them. Darcy's little wicked tongue darted out and lapped at his head with every stroke and he felt Bucky's head leaning against his back, wet, open mouthed kisses at the sweaty, salty skin.

Darcy let out a squeaking sound and Steve smiled, knowing that Bucky's metal hand was rubbing at her clit as he clearly wanted her to orgasm again with him buried deep inside of her. The bed was squeaking under their efforts mingling with the sounds of wet flesh against wet flesh and the heavy breathing and delighted sounds falling out of Darcy's parted lips.

Steve thrust into the soft flesh pressed around his length quick and hard, feeling Darcy's body begin to arch off the bed as her orgasm built. She took her hands off of her breasts and grabbed for Steve's hips, pulling him so that she could get her mouth around him, sucking him almost viciously as she thrashed on the bed.

He tasted like cherries and Steve all mashed together and she felt all control of her body fall to the wayside as she sucked and stroked him, falling over the brink as Bucky's strokes became more powerful and any pain was gone and only pleasure remained. Her mouth went slack as Steve came next, his cock falling from her lips and spurting his release on her lips and cheek and chin.

Steve felt a bite against his back and Bucky let out a growl as Darcy clenched down so tightly he could no longer move within her. He came in explosive little spurts, each jet of spunk against Darcy's insides had her making a high gasping noise as she trembled beneath them.

“ _That_ was way more fun than most people make it out to be,” Darcy managed to giggle. She winced as Bucky began to pull out and Steve climbed off of her. She stared down at herself and sighed. “I'm a mess. So much man juice.”

Steve laughed and picked her up once Bucky had settled back on his heels, staring down at her in amazement.

“Let's get you a bath, sweetheart,” Steve cuddled her close. “And after, I don't think me and Buck would be opposed to a cuddle and a nap.”

“Good job, team,” Darcy nodded. “Hit the showers.”

* * *

  
  
  


** Chapter Thirteen: Sharing Could Save Your Life **

It was late in the afternoon when Bucky and Steve managed to wake again. The bed was Darcy-less, reminding Bucky of that first night a few weeks ago when Darcy had left a note and taken off. Bucky shook Steve awake and gave him a panicked look.

“JARVIS?” Steve whispered.

“Miss Lewis is currently swimming in the pool. There is no suspicious activity within my parameters.”

Bucky drew a relieved breath and Steve reached for him, pulling him into a snuggling embrace. Firm lips lingered on Bucky's forehead before Steve murmured, “When do you think we'll realize she's not going to run or disappear in a cloud of smoke?”

“It's a lot to take in,” Bucky admitted. “We just got her to realize what we want is real. Now she's suddenly on every asshole's wish list. I'm just worried it's too much.”

“Our girl is strong, Buck,” Steve promised. “She's so strong, and smart and good. She won't run.”

“Let's go check out her swim suit. She promised it was something else,” Bucky smiled, rolling over top of Steve to get out of the bed. He grabbed a pair of the swim trunks Darcy had left on the dresser and tossed them to Steve before putting on his own pair.

They found her on her back on a bright pink inflatable raft, dark sunglasses on her face, her hair piled on the top of her head in an wild bun, and that beautiful body they couldn't get enough of in what basically was a swimsuit version of the USO chorus girl outfit. The bikini top was a generous halter style in navy blue fabric with little red stars, and yet it still struggled to completely contain Darcy's bounty. The bottom was a high waisted red and white stripped swimming skirt that lay against her full thighs.

“Christ,” Bucky shook his head and blew a short, appreciative whistle between his lips.

“C'mon in boys, the waters fine,” Darcy smirked with her painted red lips. She shrieked with laughter as they both dove into the pool, splashing her with the refreshing water. “Now this is a fun vacation.”

* * *

“I think my nose is sunburnt,” Darcy whined from her sprawled out position on the floor where Steve was lying along side of her, his fingers tracing the bare skin of her legs from the hem of her short shorts to the tips of her toes.

“That's what you get for being so fair and not using the sunscreen,” Bucky scolded her from his place behind Steve where he spooned him. “Little lady with such fair skin like yours should at least wear a hat out.”

“I used to burn too, sweetheart, don't let mean old Bucky pick on you,” Steve consoled her. “He's just lucky he secretly is descended from a bunch of Italians despite the Irish name.”

“I'm mostly Irish, and you damn well know it, Punk!” Bucky grumbled, despite the fact that both he and Steve knew his mother was fully Italian.  When they were kids, it was more desirable to be Irish around World War One, so that's what Bucky's mother had stuck with. 

“Captain Rogers, you have a call from Agent Romanoff,” JARVIS announced.

Steve sighed and pecked Darcy on her lips before turning and doing the same to Bucky. He hopped to his feet and went to take the call in the bedroom. Bucky slid close to Darcy in Steve's absence, letting his finger run down her definitely sunburnt nose.

“So why couldn't you guys decide on a nose for dream girl?” Darcy wondered.

“We decided on the nose,” Bucky revealed kissing hers. “Stevie just isn't so great at drawing noses. He got it right the once after seeing it on a nice little Jewish dame in England one day.”

“You're kidding,” Darcy giggled. As an orphan, Darcy didn't know her heritage, but she had always figured it ran a little Jewish.

“I liked the idea that when I'd kiss our girl just so,” Bucky nipped at her pouty lips, his nose mashing against hers delightfully, “then that'd happen. And if you know Stevie's beak, you know that I have a thing for interesting noses. When he was little, it took up half of his face, and I loved it.”

“Stinking adorable, is all you are James Barnes,” Darcy cooed at him, letting her nose mash against his again before kissing him and pulling him down so that he lay half on top of her.

Steve returned and caught Bucky's eye as he continued to kiss a blissfully ignorant Darcy. They called upon their hand signals and Bucky gave him a slight nod before he pulled away from Darcy's distracting lips as Steve retreated to the bedroom once more.

“You know what helps sunburn?” he smiled at her.

“Man juice?” Darcy cackled.

“I was thinking ice cream,” Bucky shrugged. He got to his feet before reaching down and picking her up and placing her on her feet. “Stevie! Taking our girl into town for some ice cream!”

“Bring me back butter pecan!” Steve called out.

“Piggy back!” Darcy demanded, hopping onto his back and grabbing her wallet from the counter before Bucky hit the front door.

Steve waited until the front door closed before coming out of the bedroom, his uniform already on, and his shield in his hands. He and Buck didn't want Darcy to worry, but Natasha had found a Hydra cell fifty miles East and they would need help taking it down. He looked to the ceiling and said,

  
  


“JARVIS, let Natasha know I'll meet her at the rendezvous point.”

* * *

“I will never get sick of chocolate. Never ever ever,” Darcy promised as she nibbled on the end of her ice cream cone.

“And I will never get sick of seeing you eat an ice cream cone,” Bucky sipped at the milkshake he had gotten. They sat on a bench in front of the ice cream shop, finishing their treats as the sun sank into the sky.

“I'm going to go to the ladies' room and then grab Stevie his to go pint,” Darcy kissed at Bucky's mouth with chocolatey lips. “You stay out here and be awesome and make sure no bad guys come around.”

Bucky watched her go into the shop he had already cleared half an hour ago and had watched carefully to make sure no one had gone in that didn't come out. Darcy was safe. He hoped Steve would also be safe, and tried to batten down on that nervous feeling he got whenever Steve had the opportunity to do something particularly stupid. Their guy would take down the threat and Darcy would be one step closer to being out of harm's way.

“ _ Rodstvennaya Dusha. Vozvrashchat'sya.” _

The phrase, a simple one.  _ Man of my heart. Return to me  _ . It was followed by a high pitched beeping. So high pitched that most could not hear it. A dog barked in the distance at the sound of it.

And Bucky's metal arm reacted to the noise. Metal plates whirred and shifted of their own accord as everything that was Bucky left his eyes. One blink had the light in his eyes disappear, leaving a blank slate.

They had worked with Charles Xavier during his recovery, and every trigger phrase had been disabled. He had been declared safe. He had been declared free and healed. But buried deep, deeper than his consciousness, deeper than any mind healer could reach was that last phrase. The last way he could be returned to Hydra, to the Winter Soldier.

“Mission.” he stated gruffly.

“Bring the Captain's whore to us,” the new handler assigned.

The Soldier nodded once and rose from his seat, walking into the shop Darcy had disappeared into. She was already out of the bathroom and waiting at the counter for her additional purchases. She turned to him with a smile and said,

“ I got us a pint of chocolate too, because really, I  _ need  _ it, Sarge, and you kno---”

She stopped short at the look in his eyes as he stood before her. She felt her blood run cold and she shook her head at him, her eyes filling with easy, frightened tears.

“Bucky?” she whispered. He grabbed her wrist and pulled and she shook her head, “No, Bucky...Sarge, no! It's Darcy,  I'm your Princess, baby.  C'mon, snap out of it!”

He pulled her out of the shop and she whimpered as she saw a line of a dozen very unfriendly people dressed in black tactical gear. They were armed to the teeth and Darcy hoped that JARVIS' parameter was true, because he would alert Steve, and Steve would come and snap Bucky out of it.

“Mission complete,” the Soldier gruffly intoned, yanking on Darcy's wrist so that she stood next to him.

“She will be yours, Soldier, for a job well done,” the head goon promised.

“Sarge, please,” Darcy begged, her hand going for his metal arm, fingers grasping against his. “You're not their soldier, you're not, you're mine and you're Steve's. Please.”

“Asset, silence her,” the goon ordered.

The Soldier turned to face her immediately. His left hand went for her throat, squeezing with an inordinate amount of force. Darcy's hands wrapped around his wrist and she struggled against him. She felt the hand go slack, then tighten again. It happened three more times in the matter of seconds. He was fighting it. She knew he was.

“No,” Darcy shook her head, looking up and willing those blue-gray eyes to sparkle at her once more with familiarity and happiness. She stroked her fingers against the metal plates of his wrist. “You're James Barnes. Steve loves you, baby. And...Bucky, I love you.”

The plates at the shoulder of the metal arm whirred uncontrollably. The soldier blinked twice, each pass of his eyelids a little more prolonged. His hand came off of Darcy's throat and he stared down at her in horror before looking up. The quinnjet began its descent before it made a sound and a familiar blur of red, white and blue dropped from twenty feet above, the shield drawing fire as he stood in front of Darcy and Bucky.

“Buck?” he questioned, not looking back as he assessed the threat in front of them.

“Stevie?” Bucky questioned, his metal hand reaching for and gripping Darcy's, who gave a little cry of relief.

“Take Darcy in the shop, keep her safe,” Steve advised as arrows began to rain down from the quinnjet and the sound of Iron Man's repulsors approached.

Bucky nodded and pulled Darcy into the building and going behind the counters, the staff of the shop having retreated to the walk in freezer already. He began looking her over for injury, his eyes full of worry and guilt as his fingertips traced the red marks on her porcelain neck. Darcy put both hands on either side of his face and studied his eyes carefully, taking short little gasps of relief at what she saw.

“I'm okay. You're okay? You're alright?” Darcy questioned him.

“I'm okay, Princess,” Bucky nodded. He had never fought harder in his life to get back to her. To get back to Steve. If she hadn't broken through, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. “Sorry I scared you...”

“You came back to us, you're okay,” Darcy confirmed. She pulled his face to hers and kissed his lips with bruising force. “I love you, Bucky. Don't ever, ever do that to me again.”

“I won't,” Bucky shook his head. He pulled her into an embrace, cradling her head against his chest. “Love you, Princess.”

“Love you too. Stevie's gonna be okay?” she worried, needlessly. The door to the shop opened gently and Steve strode in, shield in hand, not even out of breath. Darcy wriggled out of Bucky's embrace and popped to her feet, rushing towards Steve and throwing herself at him. “What took you so long?”

“We'd gotten twenty minutes away before Natasha decoded new chatter and realized we were being drawn away for a reason,” Steve explained to both Bucky and Darcy. “We turned around as soon as we knew what they were up to.  JARVIS let us know as soon as they hit his parameters.”

Natasha strode into the shop and barked out the Russian phrase that had set Bucky off before. He waited a few seconds before shaking his head and giving Steve a very small smile. Natasha checked Darcy over for injuries quickly before giving her an approving nod.

“Next time you run,” Natasha reminded her.

“I'm not very fast,” Darcy shrugged.

“There's not going to be a next time,” Steve promised.

“Hey, Lewis, can we invade your sex den a few days early?” Tony asked from outside, where Coulson and his crew had arrived to do cleanup. “It's late, and I want s'mores.”

* * *

Tony, Clint and Natasha had waved the trio off a few hours later with Tony's promise that the master bedroom was soundproofed.

“Just go bananas on each other. Like, you here, her there, and you there!”

“She's seriously not related to Stark?” Bucky wondered as a Steve carried a sleeping Darcy to their bedroom.

“Pepper said she saw the test with her own two eyes,” Steve shrugged. He gently placed Darcy on the bed, his hand going to the faint marks on her neck which were rapidly disappearing. He sighed in relief and immediately began stripping out of his suit. “What happened out there Buck?”

“I almost hurt her...they had me, Stevie. I was trapped and I couldn't---couldn't stop myself. She brought me back,” Bucky said softly, staring down at Darcy in conflicted amazement. “Pulled me out of the pit, just like you did back in DC.”

Steve placed a quick kiss against his lips before divesting himself of his boxer shorts and climbing into bed next to Darcy. He worked at her shorts, peeling them down her legs, before simply ripping the tank top from her body. He cuddled against her, placing his head against her breast, his arms wrapping around her as he smiled up at Bucky, who still stared down at the both of them in wonder.

“You gonna let me deal with sleepy wandering hands over here all by myself?” Steve smiled up at Bucky. “Stop beating yourself up. She's fine. You're fine. You fought it, Buck. You're here. C'mon, I can't deal with her alone, and you know it.”

“Nope, you gotta share her now,” Bucky insisted, whipping his shirt up over his head and dropping his pants.

Steve grinned as Darcy moaned in her sleep and her hands began to wander over his pecs with cherishing little touches. “I'm awful good at sharing.”

* * *

Darcy woke up with her tongue mid-swipe on Steve's erection and her hand holding Bucky's metal fingers against the wet crotch of her panties. She looked up to Steve with a small smirk and shrugged.

  
  


“Whoops?”

“You're never allowed to have sleep overs with anyone but us,” Steve arched an eyebrow at her. He had woken up to her humming around his length as she rubbed herself against a sleeping Bucky's metal fingers.

“Princess can't help she has such nice dreams that they spill out,” Bucky murmured, rubbing his fingers over Darcy's panties. “So, this room is sound proofed, but I'm pretty sure Nat can still hear us.”

“It's a risk I'm willing to take,” Darcy nodded, licking at Steve's erection like a lollipop before sitting up with a bounce and an anticipatory grin. “It's high time we went with number two, boys.”

“You sure, Princess?” Bucky asked her, although his eyes lit up at the possibilities.

“You guys too tired?” Darcy wondered. “The love basket doesn't have any vibrators, so I don't know what I'm going to do if you old folks need a longer nap.”

“Get over here,” Steve managed a chuckle pulling her to lay on top of him, grinning up at her as she straddled his stomach. He ripped one side of her panties and smirked when Bucky followed his lead and did the same.

“Guys, really? It was hot the first time, but I'm going to run out of panties!” Darcy huffed, leaning down to kiss Steve as Bucky pulled her ruined underwear off of her.

“We'll buy you more,” Steve promised.

“I seem to remember someone wanting star spangled panties,” Bucky rolled off the bed and grabbed a bottle of lube at random before diving back to the bed.

“Mmm'just gonna go commando like my favorite Howling Commando,” Darcy hummed as she used Steve's twitching abs as her own sexy love aide as she rubbed her wet flesh against the rock hard washboard that was Steve's stomach.

“ No. No. No,” Steve shook his head, punctuating each  _ no  _ with a bruising kiss to Darcy's grinning lips. The last thing he needed was knowing  _ both of them  _ were running around with no underwear on all day.

Darcy's mad giggling stuttered as Bucky squeezed some of the cool lubricant on her skin. Steve's hands went to her hips, forcefully grinding her against his muscles. He looked up at her delighted face as Bucky's fingers spread the lube, warming it against her skin, working it against her opening with tender care. Steve moved his hand from her hip and she gripped onto it before he could reach the heavenly destination between her thighs.

“You just keep those abs tight enough to bounce a quarter off of, baby,” Darcy sighed, rubbing herself against him as Bucky worked the tip of his metal finger into her. She kissed him slow and deep, moaning into his mouth as she got just the right amount of friction against her clit while Bucky's gently vibrating digits only enhanced everything.

Steve's hands wandered though, up her the soft curves of her stomach to her bra. She pulled her lips off of his and shook her head.

“No ripping, this is one of my favorites!” she warned, reaching her hands around and undoing the clasp herself. She kissed him again as his hands cupped against her breasts firmly, strong thumbs running along her nipples. She began to lose concentration and couldn't keep kissing him, her mouth just dropping open as she breathed in powerful little pants against his cheek as his mouth went for her jaw instead.

Bucky grinned as he eased another finger into her, hearing the little squeaks coming out of her mouth as he opened her up to him. While he and Steve had been with a lot of women during their previous lifetime in all different kinds of combinations, they'd only done this once, and immediately decided they wouldn't do it again until they could find their girl. He felt Darcy clenching down on him as a powerful little orgasm ripped through her body.

He was so glad they waited.

“Please more,” Darcy begged as she panted for breath.

Steve gave Bucky a wink as he moved Darcy's body further down his torso, until he could feel the wetness of her against his erection. He felt Bucky guiding him into Darcy and he groaned as she enveloped him inch by slow inch into her wet heat.

“Love you,” Steve murmured, pulling at her shoulders and bringing her down for another kiss. He could feel Bucky's fingers vibrating against Darcy's walls and he groaned. “You okay, sweetheart?”

“So good, it's so good,” Darcy nodded, moving her hips in short little spasmic jerks. “Bucky, please, please, I'm ready...”

“Patience, Princess,” Bucky shook his head. Steve's hands were on her rounded cheeks, spreading her for his view as he continued to pump his two fingers into her, stretching her and preparing her as best as he could. His free hand fumbled for the lube and he managed to squeeze nearly half the bottle on his erection, laughing when cool globs of it fell on Steve's knee, causing him to flinch.

“Warm that up for her, jerk,” Steve warned.

“There was a warming one in the basket,” Darcy giggled brokenly as she continued to work herself over Steve's cock and Bucky's fingers. “Which didya pick?”

“Uhhh,” Bucky looked down as he stroked his erection. It looked...sparkly. He shrugged it off and said, “Just grabbed one, was eager to strike number two off the list.”

“Doesn't seem like you're eager,” Darcy countered. “I'll finish Steve off before we can get started.”

“You're in for it now, honey,” Steve chuckled. “We're going to turn you into a puddle now...”

“I've always wanted to just blackout from coming so hard,” Darcy arched a brow in that challenging, deviant little way of hers. “One of these days I'm going to get someone to help me do that.”

“Buck, c'mon,” Steve groaned.

Darcy whimpered at the withdrawal of Bucky's fingers and felt the bed jostle as Steve started kissing at her jaw again. His hands guided her hips, angling her bottom so that Bucky had better access. Steve stilled his hips as Bucky attempted to push himself inside her, he managed to get the head of his cock past her tight entrance and stilled as she whimpered again.

“Relax, sweetheart,” Steve encouraged, his finger tips rubbing minute, soothing circles against her skin.

Bucky reached around her and placed his index finger of his left hand against her clit, his other hand on top of Steve's, grasping at his fingertips for some sort of grounding leverage. She was so tight around him and he didn't think it was going to work the way they wanted it to, but the trying of it all alone felt like enough to get him to lose his head.

“Talk to me, Sarge,” Darcy begged, doing her best to unclench so he could sink into her another fraction of an inch.

“You're our good little Princess, doing so well, taking us both, loving us so nice,” Bucky promised her. “Stevie, doesn't she feel so good? Nice and wet and hot for us? Been waiting for you for so long, you feel like a dream, Darcy.”

“So nice,” Steve nodded, feeling him sink further into Darcy, Bucky's pulsating hardness separated from his only by Darcy's warm, quivering, soft walls. Her tiny, miniscule whimpers were turning into open mouth pants and Bucky stayed still, half way sheathed within her ass and Steve moved his hips, giving two languid pumps, causing both Darcy and Bucky to moan out in pleasure.

“Nobody could give this to us but you, Darcy, nobody,” Bucky promised. Steve pistoned his hips twice more and Bucky managed to sink himself further into Darcy's tightness. His metal finger stroked at her clit and he whispered against the sweaty skin of her back, “Love you, Darcy.”

“Oh god,” she managed to gasp out as she felt pleasure rolling through her body again. Steve's fingers dug into the flesh of her bottom as Bucky sank fully into her and she fairly detonated with the tingling, all consuming jolts of her orgasm.

“There's our girl,” Steve whispered as she came around, eyes lazily blinking open.  She was sandwiched between them, each of their twitching lengths buried inside of her.

The burning fullness she was feeling was other worldly. She kissed at Steve's lips sloppily and he took that as his cue to move again, rubbing deliciously inside of her as he pulled out a few inches only to drive back in. At this point, she knew that it was just one orgasm blending into another orgasm and Steve and Bucky were going to do their damnedest to get her completely slack jawed and unconscious from pleasure.

“Fuck,” Bucky breathed. He could feel everything and it took Steve moving against him a dozen times before he could muster up the willpower to be more than a blissed out bystander. He waited to pull out in a short stroke when Steve surged forward, waxing and waning their thrusts into her.

Darcy...who was never loud...who he had heard many nights quietly moaning, quietly gasping and  _ quietly  _ talking inside Steve's bedroom was now anything but quiet.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she loudly exclaimed as they continued their opposing strokes within her body. He pulled his hand from her clit and his hands went over her hips, his wrists against Steve's forearms as they ground against her, their strokes simultaneously becoming harder and faster as she wailed and shuddered against them.

“Jesus!” Steve whispered, feeling a powerful gush of wetness and had his entire length pushed out of Darcy's squeezing cunt, he pushed back in, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as her entire body trembled, including her delicious fluttering pussy around his cock.  She was a quivering mess of a girl and Steve clenched his jaw as he tried to hold on.  He stayed still within her as Bucky continued to push and pull on her insides. “Okay, sweetheart?”

“Fuck, so—kay,” Darcy managed to get out, her hands clutching at his biceps, fingernails digging into his skin. She felt like she was flying as Steve began to move within her again. The only thing keeping her from going into orbit around the planet was the delicious feeling of their hands clutching at her sweaty, flushed skin and that pulsing fullness threatening to rob her of all sanity.

Her entire body stiffened as she came again, clamping down on both of their cocks so hard that they couldn't move at all. Her head began to shake back and forth and her mouth was wide open with no sound for ten full seconds before she let out a long, loud  _ ah  _ of completion.

“Darcy, Princess,” Bucky breathed. “Stevie, I'm gonna...”

Bucky buried himself as deep as he could and felt himself let go with a wail of his own. His right hand left Darcy's hip and dropped to Steve's, squeezing and rubbing at whatever skin he could get at. “C'mon, Stevie...”

Darcy was barely responsive, a weak pile of perfect flesh on top of Steve as he pistoned in and out of her, causing Bucky to jerk inside of her, his overly sensitive cock jolting with each pass Steve took.

“Give it to me baby, give me everything,” Darcy murmured against his neck. She nodded minutely as he clutched at her hips, grinding against her, spurting his release deep within her and she swore she felt herself go over again.

  
  


Darcy opened her eyes to realize that some time had passed and both Steve and Bucky had withdrawn from her, placing her on her back on the bed, Steve was tenderly wiping at the sticky mess between her thighs with a wipe from the gift basket.

“whassup?” she murmured.  Or she thinks she murmured that.  It might have just been vowel sounds.

“Puddle of a girl,” Steve grinned at her triumphantly.

She looked to the other side of her, where Bucky was frowning and rubbing at his own crotch with a wipe. “Wassamatter?” she questioned, barely cognizant.

“It's sparkly,” Bucky frowned.

“Fuck! You used glitter lube,” Darcy looked down at the wipe Steve was using and growled to see the remnants of sparkles. “Fuck, our hot sex just got glitterbombed by Tony Stark...now I have to avenge our hot sex.”

“Avenge us after you rest, sweetheart,” Steve smiled at her, tossing the wipe away and pulling her into a cuddle against his chest. “Love you, Darce. Love you Buck.”

“Hmmmm...love you too, Stevie,” Darcy nodded against his pec, which despite its hardness was actually really comfortable. Bucky spooned against the both of them and she kissed his left elbow, the only part of him she could without moving out of her lethargic sate. “Love you, Sarge.”

Bucky grinned at the both of them as they passed out fairly quickly. He leaned in and kissed two beautiful cheeks, not quite understanding what he had done to deserve the two amazing people he was sharing the bed with, was sharing his life with.

“I'm going to keep the both of you forever.”

* * *

  
  


** Chapter Fourteen: Sharing Could be Forever **

** **Two Years Later** **

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes came as a package deal.

A two for one special.

A buy one antique super soldier and get the other antique super soldier for free.

And if you want to return one to the store. You have to return both.

Steve and Bucky were very,  _ very  _ worried they were about to be returned.

Things had been going so well for nearly two years. Six months of extensive offensive campaigns against their enemies had left Darcy relatively safe. JARVIS was on constant chatter alert, but the general consensus amongst the nefarious of the world that she was more trouble than what she was worth.

The bad guys of the world were idiots that didn't know a good thing when they saw it. Bucky and Steve weren't going to tell them differently though. Darcy was safe and that was good enough for them.

They were blissful. They were fulfilled. They were happy. Bucky and Steve had discussed ways to bring up that whole Asgardian bonding ceremony to Darcy, because they truly believed she would say yes. They were all so happy together. Natasha was usually so annoyed with Steve's utter euphoria that she often smacked him upside the head for no reason at all. Steve loved when he annoyed her with his happiness. He tried to do it as often as possible.

But for the last three months, things had changed. Darcy was distancing herself. Spending longer and longer periods of time away from them. She was secretive and withdrawn and totally unlike the girl they had been happily living with, dating and making love to in the past two years.

“Is she bored?” Bucky wondered as he and Steve put together a quick and simple dinner. Darcy had just messaged the both of them through JARVIS, telling them that she would be working late.

“Can't be,” Steve shook his head. When she was around, she was happy enough. They still had a ridiculously healthy sex life. The only problem was that it felt like it was only sex at that point before she ran off with a wink and a blown kiss.

“I miss her,” Bucky sighed morosely. “If she leaves us, I'm going to---I don't know. She can't leave us.”

“She's not leaving us,” Steve soothed him, pulling him into an embrace. “She said she loved us this morning.”

“Something is wrong,” Bucky insisted. “I can tell, it feels different.”

“Alright, alright, let's go to Natasha, she'll tell us exactly what we need to do.”

* * *

“You're worried she's _leaving_ you?” Natasha furrowed her brow at them.

“We're worried we're doing something wrong. That she's not happy,” Steve clarified. “You told us to come to you if we thought we did something wrong...well, we're coming to you now.”

“We never see her anymore,” Bucky sighed. “And it's not work. Clint is undercover and can't tweet, You took Sam's phone away from him when he was looking at engagement rings for you on it. She hardly has any work right now.”

“This is going to be enjoyable,” Natasha nodded. She stepped up to stand in front of them and smacked them both on the sides of their heads with no small amount of force.

“Rude,” Bucky grumbled at her.

“Go home and wait for her, be patient. Her special project will be done soon and everything will go back to normal,” Natasha promised.

“Better than normal!” Sam called out from the bedroom. “Now leave us alone.”

* * *

“Fill these,” Dr. Cox threw two cups in rapid fire succession at the two super soldiers that were there for a mysterious checkup. He took the vials of their blood and handed them off to Nurse Carla with a small wink.

“Fill them with what?” Steve furrowed his brow at the small plastic sample cup.

“With super soldier man juice,” Dr. Cox rolled his eyes.

“Why?” Bucky shook his head in confusion.

“BECAUSE I SAID SOOOOOOOO!” Dr. Cox bellowed at them. “I swear to the great spaghetti monster in the sky that I save your super soldier lives every time you become human shiskabobs out in the field and do I complain about it or ask WHY, WHY do you come into my med bay full of holes and limbs all broken? No, I fix you and all I ask is for a little cooperation from you, help me help you, you one hundred year old, I've fallen and I can't get up World War II Veteran nerd wagons.”

“You can't speak to Captain America that way!” Dr. Turk called out from the nurses' station. “It's treason!”

“Are you gonna do what I need you to do, or do I have to call Lewis down here to help find your frozen giblits?” Dr. Cox demanded.

“Give us a minute or two.”

“A minute or two?” Nurse Roberts smirked from the door. “No wonder she needs the two of you.”

* * *

“Oh, boys, good,” Pepper smiled at them as they walked into the common room. “You're here.”

They thought they were going to find Darcy doing her typical Monday night cupcake baking. Instead they found Tony, Pepper and a very small older gentleman with a measuring tape around his neck.

“Monkey suits, we all need them for this thing Pepper needs us at on Friday,” Tony shrugged. “Careful with the inseam, Carlo. I heard they had a big day today around the man parts.”

“You're not supposed to use JARVIS to spy on what we're doing,” Steve reminded him.

“Oh, JARVIS didn't tell me, Darcy told me,” Tony grinned at them.

“How'd she know when we didn't even tell her yet?” Bucky peevishly demanded.

“Lewis knows everything and you know that,” Tony shrugged.

“Where is she?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Oh, she's on an assignment for me, she'll be back in a few days,” Pepper smiled easily. “I'm sorry I've been monopolizing so much of Darcy's time lately, but I promise, after Friday, she will be all yours. Both of yours. Now, lets get you measured up properly.”

* * *

Darcy was back in thirty-six hours and aside from a quick stop for what she called  _ a quick ride on her antique bicycles,  _ they had not seen her for the rest of the week. Friday afternoon found them getting into the delivered three piece suits, matching in every way except their ties. Steve's was the cobalt blue that nearly matched his eyes, while Bucky's was a light gray-blue that matched his.

“Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes, there is a call to assemble. The quinnjet is waiting for you on the roof,” JARVIS announced.

They ran for it, figuring they would change in the jet. The last thing they needed was to ruin the suits before Darcy could see them.

“Gentleman,” Nick Fury was waiting with a knowing smirk on the quinnjet that was flown by Maria Hill. Both of them in formal wear.

“What's going on?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Just have a seat. No questions,” Fury shook his head.

It said something of their new level of trust with Fury that they didn't argue. He had been the one to give them the hard news two years ago, giving them the opportunity and knowledge and resources to protect their girl. They gave each other quizzical looks but decided to wait it out.

It didn't take long. Maria had the quinnjet in the air and speeding the short distance to a small beach town on the Atlantic coast, less than fifteen minutes away by air.

“What is going on?” Bucky murmured to Steve.

Steve shrugged, and went down the now open ramp of the quinnjet to see that they were at Stark's beach safe house, right on the private beach. A small little archway of white, carved wood stood in front of a semi-circle of their closest friends. The archway of wood looked to be overgrown with vines of daisies and honeysuckle. Their friends parted and Thor was standing at the front, looking Thor-like in a pair of linen pants and a crisp blue shirt.

“You should probably get up there, gentlemen,” Fury advised. “The other guest of honor should be coming in soon.”

They walked blindly towards the front, their faces with nearly identical, stunned grins plastered on them. When they turned, Steve began to see the faces of their closest friends, less than twenty people surrounding them. Thor clasped each of their shoulders and gave them his closest approximation to a whisper.

“My friends, do you understand what is about to happen?”

“Bonding ceremony?” Steve asked breathlessly.

“Indeed,” Thor smiled.

“Surprise,” Natasha winked at them.

“ Much like the surprise of two years ago,” Tony chuckled. “ _ Surprise Darcy, we want a threesome _ . Well surprise, suckers. You're getting threesome married now.”

Sam cleared his throat and the semi-circle parted to reveal Darcy on the arm of Jane and Erik Selvig, walking down through the sand barefoot, clad in a knee length white dress, soft and simple and strapless, with a flowy skirt. Her hair was curling around her shoulder's, stars of honeysuckle woven through her curls and two daisies behind her right ear. She grinned at them unabashedly and threw the sauciest of winks their way.

“Not leaving us,” Bucky breathed. “She planned this.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “Amazing.”

Erik and Jane each put one of Darcy's hands into the boys and Natasha and Sam reached out and placed Steve and Bucky's free hands on each others. They then took their place in the semi-circle of friends. Thor grinned down at the three of them.

“Lady Darcy, honorary Princess of Asgard, my chosen sister, and mighty warrior of Midgard, you have chosen your mates well.”

“I have,” Darcy answered, her eyes darting between her boys, a dazzling grin on her face.

“You will protect them and keep them in your heart and care for them from this moment until beyond your last?”

“I will,” Darcy promised earnestly.

“Captain Steven, Midgard's most faithful defender, my chosen shield brother and truest of heart, you have chosen your mates well.”

“I have,” Steve nodded, following Darcy's lead. He could feel his eyes welling up and swallowed against the lump in his throat.

“You will protect them and keep them in your heart and care for them from this moment until beyond our last?”

“I will,” Steve choked out, looking between his two brunettes. The enormity of the idea of having the both of them until the end of time hitting him like a tidal wave, threatening to drown him in happiness.

“Sergeant James, the soldier who can never forget, my chosen shield brother, and most loyal and loving of heart, you have chosen your mates well.”

“Damn right I have,” Bucky beamed a one million watt grin.

“You will protect them and keep them in your heart and care for them from this moment until beyond your last?”

“I will, always,” Bucky promised.

“You are bound,” Thor announced. “Bound by these promises, bound by your love, bound by the witnesses of your family.”

Tony hit a button on his phone and fireworks went off in the distance even if they couldn't be seen in the bright light of the afternoon. Thor grinned as amongst the booms of the explosives, he felt a wave of sonic warmth from the three interlinked people in front of him.  He was relieved, worried that the non-Asgardian setting and the fact that he had never performed the ceremony would have invalidated it.  Darcy had assured him that the magic would take, no matter what.  She had been right, and the power of it left Thor a little breathless.

Three pairs of blue eyes widened as they felt it, something settling in their hearts. Something warm and delightful and forever.

“The bonding is nearly complete,” Thor announced with a sly smile.

“Does it get sealed with a kiss?” Bucky wondered, his mouth lifting up in an anticipatory smirk.

“No, my brother,” Thor grinned. “It is sealed with consummation. We shall revel outside while you complete the binding inside.”

“THEY BANG IT OUT?” Tony cackled. “Oh my God, this is the Best. Day. Ever.”

“C'mon boys, lets go,” Darcy dragged them away from the altar, pulling them through their smirking, grinning friends.

“Love basket is in the master bedroom!” Tony called out helpfully.  He felt compelled to give him assurances.  He didn't need to have Darcy's wrath upon him again, “No glitter lube this time!”

“Thanks Tony,” Bucky smiled at him, causing Tony's eyes to go wide and the man to stagger against Pepper in surprise. Darcy and Steve had broken Bucky's scowl and little attitude problem. Tony prayed it was only temporary.

“So sweetheart...the blood samples with Dr. Cox?” Steve whispered, waving at the doctor who already had a scotch in hand held up in salute to the three of them.

“A clever ruse,” Darcy shrugged.

“For the semen samples?” Steve guessed.

“Yup,” Darcy nodded.

“Catch me up here, Princess,” Bucky furrowed his brow. Steve had a dreamy look on his face, having figured out Darcy's antics already, but he was still in the dark.

“Oh, I want babies now. And I know you want them too, I found your new sketchbook six months ago,” Darcy said bluntly, knowing that the two of them had started dreaming up the perfect children. Both of the centenarians' biological clocks had started ticking madly, and upon seeing a drawing of a bunch of tykes with all the variations of their physical attributes, Darcy may have definitely gotten her baby box humming too. “I got my IUD out last week, and Clint flew me to Helen to get rid of the scar, that's why I was gone this week. And Dr. Cox and Brucie made sure your man juice was up to snuff. So let's go...there is banging to be had. SO MUCH BANGING.”

“I love you, Princess,” Bucky smiled, kissing her jaw sloppily. He and Steve shared a kiss over Darcy's head. “Love you too, Punk.”

“Put your money where your mouth is, Sarge,” Darcy giggled as she walked into the beach house, immediately going for the zipper on the side of her dress and pulling it down revealing a star spangly strapless bra and a very special set of satiny pink panties. “Let's go do the greatest hits of the list and make this Asgardian love voodoo set proper. FYI? Dr. Cox says your swimmers are equally off the charts and Thor may have given me a fertility blessing. So come on team, lets do this, you here, me here and you there, then the other way around and then hit the showers and go and get our cake and ice cream cause everyone's a winner!”

* * *

The End

 


	22. The Goodbye Girl (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: The Goodbye Girl
> 
> Summary:  
> Steve Rogers meets Darcy Lewis in 2013. Not for the first time.  
> The first time was in 1937. On a street corner in Brooklyn, with his best pal Bucky Barnes.  
> aka: Darcy acquires an infinity stone. Woops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death  
> Category: F/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor  
> (Movies), Captain America (Movies)  
> Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve  
> Rogers, Darcy Lewis & Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Rebecca  
> Barnes, Peggy Carter, Natasha Romanov, Helen Cho  
> Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, who gave Darcy Lewis an infinity  
> gem?, the writer is attempting to write feels again, one sided pining,  
> Slow Burn  
> Series: Part 1 of Through the Years  
> Stats: Published: 2016-01-13 Completed: 2016-01-24 Chapters: 10/10  
> Words: 28919

Each link for the chapter title will take you to the youtube version of the song the lyric comes from.  Enjoy!  : 

* * *

** Chapter One:  ** [ ** Sentimental Journey ** ](https://youtu.be/PUw125JMVFI)

When Darcy Lewis met Steve Rogers in 2013, she had just gotten off a commercial flight from London where she had battled aliens and then given an awkward  _ dangerous situations make for unstable relationships  _ talk to an enamored intern's intern. She had flown coach, entertaining Jane all night through the flight as the astrophysicist fretted over her equipment. When she walked into the Avengers Tower...her new home and workplace, she waved at the congregation of super heroes in the common room and begged the almighty Pepper Potts to give her a bed to sleep in for twenty-four hours.

Pepper had apologized that the Stark Jet hadn't been available and gave her a gentle scolding for not allowing JARVIS to book the first class tickets as he had been instructed to and had immediately whisked Jane and Darcy away from the aforementioned eager congregation of superheros to their personal apartments on the 84th floor of the Tower.

She missed Steve Rogers' reaction to her.

She definitely missed the shock. Definitely did not see the way his eyes lit up at the sight of her. Definitely did not see how he immediately retreated to his own room with tear glazed eyes and shaking hands.

When she met him the next day properly, all of those reactions were gone. Instead, a very friendly smile was on his face. Not a propaganda dancing monkey smile. An honest to goodness smile that none of the other Avengers had seen before.

“She is very adorable,” Natasha said quietly to Steve after Darcy followed Bruce down to the labs she would be working in.

“She's a pistol,” Clint warned him immediately. “Definitely a modern girl.”

“I know,” Steve nodded. “I definitely know.”

“Are you going to give Tash the details? Or are you going to make her work for it?” Clint rolled his eyes as he saw Natasha's eyes subtly light up at the potential mystery.

“Giving her the details would ruin her fun,” Steve rolled his eyes and gave the pair a smirk. “I will let you know right now though, Romanoff, she's not the girl for me. So don't try to match-make.”

Natasha narrowed her eyes as she watched Steve walk away. Clint shrugged at her and she nodded with grim determination.

“I'll figure it out.”

* * *

Darcy was pretty surprised to find Steve Rogers at her apartment door, eager to show her around the city on her first Saturday there. But who was she to say no to a hunky blond tour guide who grinned at her like a long lost friend?

They spent the afternoon in Brooklyn, where Steve took her to all the old spots that still existed, sharing story after story of his youth there with Bucky.

“Bucky saved my hide in that alley after I started a fight with a guy who was being rude to a few African American fellas.”

“Bucky managed to stop me from getting pummeled over there where I used to sell newspapers, from a bunch of sailors who insulted a lady.”

“Bucky pulled me outta a beating from a guy who was trying to steal from Sal's corner shop.”

“I'm sensing a theme here, Cap,” Darcy grinned at him.

“Yeah. I was always rushing into trouble, and my pal Buck...well, he was always pulling me out,” Steve nodded. “He was the best man I ever knew.”

“He certainly sounds like it,” Darcy nodded. “I would have loved to meet him.”

* * *

Two months after moving into the Tower, Steve, who was rapidly becoming one of her closest friends she had ever had, asked a favor.

He was going to visit Peggy Carter and he wanted her to come along.

She had said yes before he managed to get the question out of his mouth completely. Because being able to meet Peggy Carter??? THE Peggy Carter? Sign her the heck up.

It was kind of refreshing for him to ask. For the first two weeks of their friendship, she had thought he had some ulterior motives in befriending her. She thought maybe they were clicking on a more than platonic level. But he had been keeping things very friend-like. And nothing said friend-like more than taking a girl to meet your former lady love from 1945.

She was okay with that. As hunky as Steve was, as devastatingly sweet and adorable he tended to be, as much as she had the occasional thought of climbing him like a tree... he made a really excellent friend. And she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that friendship. No matter how many times Natasha tried to corner her about her intentions towards a National icon.

When Steve walked into Peggy's room at the care facility, she was having a good day. She remembered him and the circumstances of his youth and survival, and they chatted for ten minutes before Darcy was called into the room.

“Peggy, I'd like you to meet my good friend, Darcy Lewis,” Steve grinned.

“Oh...” Peggy breathed, drinking in Darcy from head to toe. “Oh, Steve.”

Darcy smiled and looked to Steve in confusion as Peggy grabbed for his hand, the elderly woman's eyes filling with tears. He squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile before turning it back to Darcy.

“It is an absolute pleasure to meet you, Darcy Lewis,” Peggy smiled through her tears.

“It's an honor to meet you, Ms. Carter,” Darcy smiled at her. “I think you're amazing!”

“Why thank you, Darcy. I think you are also amazing.”

* * *

“You look mopey. Stop looking so mopey,” Darcy commanded from the kitchen island she was currently wiping down as the pies baked away in the oven. She threw the dish towel at Steve's face and said with her goofiest voice possible, “You are about to have pie. REJOICE, STEVEN!”

“I got an invitation in the mail,” Steve revealed. “Rebecca Barnes-Spencer's 85th birthday, in Philadelphia.”

“Oh, Steve, Bucky's little sister?” Darcy wondered. “You should go! I mean, I'm sure she would love to see you.”

“Will you go with me, Darcy-girl?” Steve wondered. “I could...I could use the support.”

“Of course, Stevie-boy,” Darcy nodded. “We'll make a whole three-day weekend of it. There's this doctor I wanted to check out in Philly anyway. One of my old classmates is interning for her, and I think Stark should bring her into the loop. What she's doing with cellular regeneration is about to change the whole world. I've been emailing her, I'll see what kind of package Pepper can give me to present to her.”

“You're awesome at your job,” Steve laughed. It had taken Darcy two weeks in the labs before Pepper named her General Manager of Stark Industries Labs, and she really was quite excellent at her job. Not only was she taking care of the in-house scientists, keeping track of all experiments, requisitioning equipment and applying for grants, but she was also always on the lookout for new talent. So far she had brought in three new scientists to the Stark Industries family.

Tony loved having the best talent in-house. He held it over Reed Richards' head as often as he could.

“I'm like a nanny, but with grownups,” Darcy waved his praise off. “And besides...if new awesome doctor comes in house...she may be getting introduced to my very favorite star spangly friend...cause she's SO CUTE.”

“Between you and Natasha, you will be the death of me,” Steve laughed.

* * *

“Dr. Cho, I'm so excited that you'll be signing on,” Darcy grinned as she closed the folder that contained the contract that Doctor Helen Cho had just signed. “Stark has a state of the art facility in South Korea so you can split your time between New York City and there. Of course, when you're in New York, Ms. Potts has reserved an apartment in the Tower. OH, and you will be able to test out that cradle plenty on my friend here.”

Steve walked into the coffee shop they had taken their meeting in, grinning at Darcy and then looking to the young doctor that Darcy was subtly gesturing to with small little jerks of her head.

“Oh...you're...oh,” Helen blushed as she and Darcy stood.

“I just call him, Steve,” Darcy laughed as Steve grimaced and blushed at Helen's reaction to him. “You'll get used to all this Steve-ness eventually, I promise.”

“I really think you're lying,” Helena gave Darcy an amused look of disbelief.

“Wait till you meet Thor! No offense to my pal here, but Thor is really where the eye candy is at.”

* * *

Rebecca Barnes-Spencer turned 85 while surrounded by her five children, 14 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren. Also, her dead brother's best friend and one Darcy Lewis.

“Becks, this is Darcy,” Steve smiled.

“Oh my God!” Rebecca gasped as Darcy's bright smile faded and her extended hand fell to her side. Rebecca was currently in hysterics, being led away by her oldest son and Steve.

“It must be a shock to the system,” Rebecca's oldest daughter, Jamie smiled kindly at Darcy. “You look an awful lot like a picture my mother always kept on our mantle. She still keeps it on her mantle, actually.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, I had no idea,” Darcy shook her head. She walked towards the bar of the party and poured a glass of punch for herself. She furrowed her brow as Steve walked towards her with a sheepish expression. She waited until he stood before her and asked, “So---I look like someone?”

“Yeah, you look like someone,” Steve nodded, looking down at the ground.

“Is that why you befriended me?” Darcy bit her lip.

“No, Darcy-girl, that's not why,” Steve shook his head. “I promise. You're...you're my best friend.”

“Okay, Steve,” Darcy nodded. “I should probably head back to the hotel...I don't want to upset Bucky's sister.”

“Please...please stay,” Steve shook his head quickly. “It'd mean the world to her.”

Darcy always did what Steve wanted. He had this puppy dog look that she literally couldn't say no to. And he never asked her to do something unless it was important to him. Doris Day's _A Sentimental Journey_ began playing and the dance floor began to fill up with couples. Steve held out a hand and said,

“Take these two left feet for a spin?”

Darcy rolled her eyes and she and Steve headed towards the dance floor. They had signed up for private dance lessons three weeks after meeting. It had been one of those things that Steve had used a puppy dog look for. He finally wanted to learn how to dance properly, and he needed Darcy as a partner and for moral support. It had been a lot of fun, actually. Steve picked up things a lot faster thanks to the serum, and they had learned a lot of complicated dances.

This was a simple slow dance, though, as good ole Doris sang sweetly,  _ Gonna make a sentimental journey, to renew old memories _ .

The song must have meant something to Steve, because he pulled her tight and she felt a fine tremble start up in the hand he had on her waist, and heard a few forceful sniffs of his nose.

“Was this a song Bucky liked?” Darcy wondered softly.

“Yeah...yeah, he liked it,” Steve nodded. “He was the best damned dancer in all of Brooklyn, could swing a girl around the dance floor like it was no effort at all. But he liked this song...all the slow songs.”

“So he could get all handsy on all those poor girls,” Darcy accused.

“No...just...well, yeah, at first,” Steve chuckled softly. “But then there was just one girl.”

“What happened to her?” Darcy furrowed her brow, her cheek against Steve's chest. Steve had never mentioned Bucky's special girl before.

“She had to learn to live without him, I guess,” Steve sniffed again. “I never got the chance to talk to her after everything...”

“Oh Steve,” Darcy felt tears prickling behind her eyes. She had once asked him why all the 1940's songs they danced to, or listened to when they were lounging around on a lazy afternoon, where so sad. Even the more up tempo songs were about lost love and saying goodbye.

It was because the whole world was constantly saying goodbye to one another. Usually forever.

And Steve had said goodbye to every last one of those people from that time. She squeezed the hand she held in her own as they gently moved around the dance floor. She'd be willing to do anything to help him through the unimaginable hurt.

* * *

One bright and surprisingly warm afternoon in March 2014, Darcy accompanied Steve to a lecture hall where Jane was a guest speaker in Washington DC. When she had blearily made her way out of his guest room (which he called his Darcy room) and into his apartment's kitchen, hands out, eyes closed and grumbling about her need for coffee, Steve dropped the plate full of toast he had been making.

“Aww, toast, no!” Darcy whined. She shrugged and picked up a piece of hot bacon and folded it into her mouth. “Don't get me wrong, Stevie-boy, I do love staying with you, but your high calorie breakfasts are a problem.”

“Eat the bacon, Darcy-girl. There is nothing wrong with you or your body,” Steve shook his head in amusement, looking over Darcy's outfit that she was currently fussing over. She was wearing tights that had material that looked like the galaxy all over them, purples and blues and bright stars all over her legs. A short denim skirt was topped off with a chunky gray cardigan over a t-shirt that was emblazoned with his shield. A shirt he had purchased for her months ago for Christmas.

“Tell that to my tights, which are living up to the name!” Darcy scoffed, snacking down on the bacon anyway. Steve always made her bacon when she stayed over. “Before we go to boring science lecture land, can we go to this flea market thing near the Mall? I promised Helen I'd bring her back something fun.”

Steve smiled softly, he knew Darcy would do a lot more shopping than just a little fun gift for her newest pet scientist. The smile quickly disappeared though and he nodded. “Anything you want, Darcy-girl.”

They finished their breakfast and got ready to go. Steve held out an envelope for her and wondered, “Can you hold this in your purse for me?”

“Sure, but you have to carry all my bags later,” Darcy counter-demanded.

“Don't I always?”

* * *

Darcy picked her way through the countless vendor tables, finding a scarf for Thor, an Iron Man hand knitted doll for Tony, tea for Bruce, coffee for Pepper, a beautiful orange stoned necklace for Natasha and a bunch of ridiculously silly wind up toys for Clint. She was currently on the lookout for something for Jane and Helen, her two hardest people to shop for when she came upon a booth selling hand-knitted sweaters.

Last, and easiest on the list was Steve. She just had to hit up any stand selling chocolate and she'd be good on gift giving. Steve met up with her with his own bags of purchases and a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.

“You alright?” she wondered.

“M'fine,” he nodded, not looking fine at all. His phone began ringing and he huffed a sigh. “Hold these?”

“ Hey, you're the one that's supposed to be holding MY bags. You're supposed to be all chivalrous and crap!” Darcy laughed, taking his bags nonetheless. “If that's Nat, tell her I got her the prettiest necklace that she is going to  _ love _ .”

Darcy juggled with her bags and pulled out said necklace, holding it up to the sunlight to marvel at how pretty it was. Quite the bargain too. Ten bucks. It looked pretty valuable. Natasha didn't wear jewelry with the catsuit, but she was fond of using the costume jewelry for undercover ops. And Darcy was fond of supplying her with ridiculous costume jewelry and the back stories that go with it.

“ This one will be a hand-me-down from her grandmother, who was a lounge singer in Harlem back in your day, Stevie-boy, she's going to---” Darcy paused, watching the way the sunlight fairly made the orange-ish stone  _ glow _ . Really, really glow. “Steve?”

Steve hung up his phone and stared at Darcy, tears already starting to form in his eyes.

“Steve?” Darcy questioned again, as the glow expanded, sinking into her skin and making her feel warm. Very warm. “Help!”

Steve shook his head back and forth slowly, a tear falling out of the corner of his eyes. He took a step back from her and forlornly whispered, “Goodbye, Darcy-girl.”

* * *

“ ** STEVE! HELP ** !”

Steve Rogers looked up from his stack of newspapers on the street corner, eyes darting around the busy Brooklyn street. He saw where the scream came from, a girl in the middle of the intersection, dressed very strangely, the sunlight hitting her in a very odd way, hands full of bags and a large black shiny hand bag.

Suddenly, it wasn't the sunlight hitting her anymore.

A car making a fast left hand turn onto the street slammed into her, knocking her and her bags five feet into the air and then down on the rock solid ground.

“Jesus!” Steve breathed out. “Buck! Buck get help!”

  
  


Steve ran out into the street to the girl who had called out to him for help, looking down at her in wild concern.

“Miss? Miss, can you hear me?” Steve wondered.

“Steve, why didn't you help?” the girl mumbled. “What happened?”

“Are you alright?” Steve questioned as the girl blinked her eyes open, trying to focus behind her broken spectacles. “Miss, stay still, my friend is getting help.”

“What?” Darcy blinked up at him in confusion. This was Steve. But it wasn't Steve.

“Stevie, what the hell happened?” a new voice, deep and rough and slanted with a Brooklyn accent demanded.

  
  


Suddenly two figures were in front of her. Not-quite-Steve and a larger young man. A young man she recognized instantly. His face had been everywhere in Steve's apartment.

“Bucky, I dunno, did the car that hit her stop?”

“Nah, took off even faster,” Bucky shook his head. “Hey girlie, you okay? Should we take you to a hospital?”

“No---no hospital,” Darcy struggled to sit up. She looked between the two young men who had come to her rescue. “What---what year is it?”

“What are you on about?” Bucky looked at the strange girl curiously.

“1937,” Steve answered helpfully.

“Oh....that's. Very interesting.”

* * *

** Chapter Two:  ** [ ** Pennies From Heaven ** ](https://youtu.be/_IFgC7JhVrM)

Steve did carry her bags after all.

It was just a very different Steve.

Steve Rogers was nineteen years old. He was a few centimeters taller than Darcy and he weighed a whole heck of a lot less than she did. He had lifted all her bags and abandoned the newspapers he had been selling on the street corner and was currently doggedly following Bucky through the streets of Brooklyn.

In 1937.

Bucky Barnes, twenty-years old, young and handsome and charming and very much alive. He currently had Darcy's arm wrapped around his shoulder, supporting most of her weight as they took her the two blocks to Bucky's mother's house. Steve's old apartment would have been closer, but he had finally moved in with the Barnes family. His ma had just passed a few months ago, and Bucky had spent a little while trying to convince him to accept the help and just live with them. If anything, he was helping a lot with whatever money he brought in.

“You sure you're all right darlin'?” Bucky wondered quietly, throwing Steve an anxious look. “We can get you to the hospital if you need it...”

“Don't worry about the cost,” Steve tried to assure her. “I can help you out.”

“That's sweet, really, Steve,” Darcy managed a small smile. “But I just feel kind of like a big bruise. Nothing's broken or anything. And I'm fucking tired.”

Steve's eyes went a little wide and Bucky chuckled low and deep.

“The mouth on you, darlin'. Ease up on the cursing, my ma will wash your mouth out with soap if you get Becks apin' you,” Bucky warned.

“Sorry,” Darcy cringed. Steve had been trying to get her to stop swearing avidly for three months.

Her Steve. Big Steve. Captain America.

Darcy cringed as she realized what shirt she was wearing and tried to clutch her sweater over the logo of Captain America's shield. They finally made it to the little two story ram shackle house that Bucky and his family rented.

  
  


“Becks, kid, you home?” Bucky called out as he gently eased Darcy down on a threadbare armchair. “My ma's at work till late. My kid sister should be back from school soon though. I think we might have some aspirin or something for the pain.”

“That'd be good, thanks,” Darcy gave him a warm smile. She turned that smile to Steve as Bucky left the room. She stared at his smaller form in wonder, not noticing the young man's blush reddening.

“ How---how did you know my name?” Steve wondered quietly. He never met a girl like her before. He'd have remembered her for sure. Long, wild, dark brown curls falling down her shoulders, but not the kind of curls that girls he knew wore, they reminded him of the kind of curls in  _ The Birth of Venus _ . Bright painted red lips. And her clothes. Short and tight and different. Definitely strange. He would have remembered telling a girl like her his name.

“I---I remember you from school,” Darcy lied. She wasn't the world's best liar, but hopefully they wouldn't press, seeing as she had just been hit by a car.

“You remembered him, but not me?” Bucky wrinkled his nose at her as he came in with two pills and a glass of water. “You're an odd sort of duck, darlin'.”

“Maybe you're not as memorable as you think yourself to be,” Darcy automatically sassed back.

“Well I certainly don't remember you, four eyes!” Bucky counter-sassed.

“Buck, ease up on the girl, she got hit by a car!” Steve reprimanded. “Be a gentleman.”

“She starts bein' a lady and I'll start bein' a gentleman,” Bucky muttered peevishly.

“Such a grown up,” Darcy rolled her eyes and yawned at the same time.

“Go and get the lady a blanket and a pillow or somethin',” Steve whispered to Bucky.

“Want me to rub her feet too?” Bucky huffed, walking away to do just that anyway.

“So---what should we call you?” Steve wondered after Bucky left. “Do you have anyone we should go and let know what happened?”

“I'm---no, I'm alone,” Darcy shook her head. She bit at her bottom lip, wondering what she should do. Steve from 2014 clearly knew who she had been. He had known. She thought back to all the little odd sentimental looks she would find him giving her over the past six months. The last look of apology and how he had said goodbye. Her eyes widened and she pointed to her bag. “Steve, could you hand me my purse?”

“Course,” Steve nodded, bringing her the large black bag, shiny with silver buckles, it was definitely different than any purse he had seen before. He watched in amused confusion as she dug wildly through it, muttering unintelligible things under her breath, and quite a few curse words. “You really have to be careful with the curse words, Miss. Bucky's ma is a stickler for no cursing. She'll throw you outta here in a blink of an eye.”

“Sorry,” Darcy apologized sincerely, coming upon the envelope Steve had given her. Her eyes widened as she saw a stack of really old money. Hundreds of dollars, a quick squint showed that it was period appropriate. A social security card, also period appropriate with her name on it and a few other pieces of paper work she glanced over. She zeroed in on a thick piece of sketchbook paper. Ripped from the book she had purchased for him for Christmas.

_ Dear Darcy-girl, _

_ You know by now, that our meeting a few months ago was not our first meeting ever. _

_ I remember everything about you, and what you did for me and Bucky. Believe me when I tell you that you are one of the best friends I could have ever asked for. Then and now. _

_ I don't know if I'll ever see you again. I don't want to let you go now that I've found you again, but I have to. I'm jealous of that little scrawny kid watching you read this right now. _

_ I hope someday, you find your way back. Because I miss you already and I didn't even say goodbye yet. _

_ Be good, sweetheart. Don't worry about changing the future like any of your old movies. Nothing you do is going to change it, I promise. You tried. And really. Watch your language around Becks and Mrs. Barnes. _

_ Love, _

  
  


_ Your Stevie-boy _

Darcy folded the letter back up in the envelope and wiped a few tears away from behind her glasses. She gave the biggest smile she could to the small Steve looking at her in concern and finally introduced herself.

“I”m Darcy Lewis.”

“ What the hell kind of name is  _ Darcy _ ?” Bucky muttered as he walked back into the room, handing Darcy a pillow before unfolding a blanket and wrapping it gently around her as she reclined on the arm chair.

“What the hell kind of a name is _Bucky?”_ Darcy sneered at him.

“If you hadn't gotten hit by a car today, I'd be half tempted to smother you with this blanket,” Bucky mumbled, despite the extraordinary care he was taking in tucking her in. He grinned up at her despite his harsh words, eyes devouring that sassy little look on her face. She was a pistol, that was for sure. Bucky _loved_ pistols.

“BUCK!” Steve admonished. “Sorry, Miss Lewis. Bucky's just cranky. And hungry. He didn't grab a lunch today after work. Cause of...well you getting hit by a car. And the big lug gets extra cranky cause he's hungry.”

“He's _hangry_ ,” Darcy chuckled to herself as she felt the energy sap right out of her. She managed to gesture her head to the bags that Steve had carried for her. “And none of that Miss Lewis, Stevie-boy. Please call me Darcy.”

“Darcy,” Steve nodded, a faint blush settling high on his cheeks.

“I'm sure there's something in those bags for you to eat. Please, just rifle right on through, it's the least I can do for all you've done so far,” Darcy said firmly. She yawned again and her next words came out as barely understandable gibberish, “And I'm sure he wanted you to have them, or else he wouldn't have given them to me. I'm going to pass out for a few hours. Kay? Thanks, bye.”

Bucky remained close to her, watching as the blanket he had tucked up under her chin rose and fell with steady breaths, making sure she hadn't actually dropped dead in his mother's armchair. After a few minutes of studying those red, pouty lips taking in each breath he straightened to standing and walked over to all the bags and did rifle on through.

“Holy mackerel,” Steve's eyes widened as Bucky dumped one of the bags on the dining table. What looked to be expensive coffee and tea filled one of the canvas bags. In another was a fine scarf and some sweaters. One bag interested him in particular. A large amount of beautiful little chocolates in small, clear bags and tied with ribbons.

“Holy mackerel is right,” Bucky dumped another bag, and it was filled to the brim with a few brown paper wrapped packages tied in butchers twine. He opened one of them and held up a large, fat t-bone steak. “Now ain't that the most beautiful thing you ever saw, Stevie?”

“You aren't kidding,” Steve's eyes were practically bugging out of his head. He looked back to Darcy and then back to Bucky. “You think she's some kind of rich man's daughter or something?”

“Don't much care where she came from, just glad she's here,” Bucky shrugged. “Her and her crazy necklace.”

Bucky held up the opulent orange stoned necklace in wonder before shrugging and nestling it back into the ugly scarf he had found it in.

“Now, we ain't had steak in years, really, since Da died,” Bucky pursed his lips. “How do you think we go about cooking it?”

* * *

Darcy woke up to the smell of cooked onions and mushrooms. The sounds of familiar music scratchily echoing through the room, one of Steve's favorite songs. _Don't you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven?_ She'd woken up to the song on his couch before after a lazy Sunday afternoon nap while he sketched or read or watched some game with balls on the television. She heard two deep voices singing along in the kitchen.

And she woke up to the feeling of small fingers tracing along her legs very lightly.

“Stevie-boy if you are perving on me right now, we are going to have so many words,” Darcy grumbled.

“Oh! You're awake!”

Darcy's eyes flew open and she looked down to see big brown eyes staring up at her.

“You must be Becks,” Darcy smiled. Bucky's 85-year-old sister's reaction to her made a lot more sense now. “I'm Darcy. It's a pleasure to meet you and why are you touching my legs?”

“My ma ain't got stockin's like that,” Becks pulled her hand away, smiling up at Darcy shyly. “You got all the stars on your legs. Sorry...just wanted to see how you got them there.”

“They're...made by a special tailor. Far away,” Darcy lamely explained. She sniffed the air and said, “I think dinner is probably almost ready.”

“We're eatin' like kings is what Buck said,” Becks grinned. “And Stevie gave me some chocolate, and it was the best thing I ever ate.”

“I bet it was! Chocolate is the best, only bacon is better,” Darcy nodded. “Becks, can you show me to the bathroom?”

“Sure!”

When Darcy was finished, her little eight year old guide took her on a little tour through the tiny house. The top floor had three bedrooms, one for Mrs. Barnes, one that Steve and Bucky shared and one for Becks. The bottom floor had the sitting room, a small little dining room and an even smaller kitchen. Everything was shabby and threadbare, but clean and clearly well-loved. Becks brought her back to the kitchen, where Steve and Bucky were hard at work, following recipes that had been neatly written out on old sheets of paper.

“Hope you didn't mind Darcy,” Steve smiled at her sheepishly, gesturing the the impressive spread they were making.

“Of course I didn't mind,” Darcy insisted firmly. “It would have gone bad if you just let it sit. So what are we having anyway?”

“Feast fit for Kings,” Bucky worked at the stove top over a cast iron skillet, flipping a large slab of meat. “Seriously, don't know where you found it all. Or how you afforded it.”

“Are you a secret princess?” Becks wondered.

“No, just an ordinary girl who had a stroke of luck,” Darcy insisted. “Can I do something to help?”

“Aw, go on and sit down at the table, Four Eyes,” Bucky ordered. “You done enough today and this is all your stuff anyway.”

“I like your doll,” Becks whispered as she walked back to the table with Darcy, grabbing at plates off the shelves on her way.

“Oh, yeah, he's a funny little guy,” Darcy nodded, reaching into the bag and pulling out the Iron Man doll. She handed it to the little girl and said, “His name is Tony. He's a robot from the future. You can keep him if you want.”

“Wow! Thanks!”

Darcy helped the little girl to set the table, noticing that it was set for five, which meant they expected Bucky and Rebecca's mother in time for dinner. She fidgeted. Between little Steve's warnings and big Steve's warnings, she was seriously worried she was going to fucking put her foot in her foul damned mouth.

Maybe Steve had helped her there too. She looked over the bags the boys had repacked with her things and pulled out the scarf, grabbing the necklace that nearly fell out before dropping it to the ground.

She had no idea how it worked, but she definitely knew she was in the  _ freaking past  _ because of something that necklace had done. Very gingerly she picked it up and wrapped it in the scarf. The scarf covered necklace was then buried to the very bottom of her purse. The last thing she needed was Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes or any of the Barnes household accidentally traveling into the future or past.

Steve had focused on food in his bags that he had handed her in the future. Aside from the steaks and mushrooms there was an abundance of old fashioned candy, straight up sugar, and even more chocolate. There was no extra-special treat to win over Mrs. Barnes. Darcy would have to rely on herself.

She was so screwed.

“What on Earth smells so good?” an astonished voice called out from the front door.

“Hey Ma! Got a little windfall today,” Bucky announced from the kitchen.

“Windfall? Or did you help yourself, because I tanned your hide when you were nine and thought it'd be clever to steal from the grocer and I'll do it again, I don't care how big you are!” Mrs. Barnes yelled back.

“No, Mrs. Barnes, I promise, it was a windfall,” Steve hurried into the dining room at the same time Mrs. Barnes arrived, staring at Darcy in undisguised curiosity. “This is my second cousin, Darcy Lewis. She just came in from--”

“Philadelphia,” Darcy answered. She really was from Philadelphia, just not from Philadelphia in 1937. Still, the less she lied, the better off she'd be. “Someone left the bags of food on the train by accident and the conductor told me to take them. And you know...don't look the gift horse...in the mouth?”

“That sounds pretty wise,” Mrs. Barnes nodded slowly. She looked between Steve and Darcy, as if attempting to see any family resemblance.

“I shoulda let you know she was coming, but it was a surprise,” Steve hunched his shoulders together giving Mrs. Barnes the look that Darcy had been a recipient of many times in the future. The puppy dog eyes of doom. They were just as effective in a small Steve. Mrs. Barnes didn't stand a chance.

“Ma, she can sleep in my room,” little Rebecca grinned as she brought platters of food to the table. “She's little enough to share my bed.”

“Of course, she can,” Mrs. Barnes smiled finally. “Any family of Steven's is family of ours. Now...what amazing things have you cooked up for dinner?”

* * *

The next day, Mrs. Barnes was already at work when Darcy and Becks woke up. Becks shuffled around and got ready for school and Darcy made her way downstairs to the kitchen, where Steve was spooning oatmeal into bowls.

“Good morning, Darcy,” Steve smiled at her shyly.

“Coffee?” she blearily wondered.

“Mrs. Barnes brewed up some of the fancy coffee you had in your bags, like you told her to,” Steve gave her a chipped little mug. “She said it was the finest she ever had, and that you were welcome to stay as long as you want in return for the two mugs she had today.”

“Mmm, wish I could get her more,” Darcy sighed as she sipped at the strong, smooth brew.

“So, Bucky's already at work, he works down at the docks for a few hours every morning,” Steve explained. “But, maybe---if you want to, that is...”

“Once I get another cup of coffee and some of that sludge you call porridge in me, I will do whatever you want to Stevie-boy, promise,” Darcy nodded.

“Well, Mrs. B made the suggestion that you should maybe---find some clothes? She said she doesn't have any dresses that might fit you,” Steve explained. “You're---”

“She's too skinny for ma's clothes but she's too ---you know,” Becks hopped into the kitchen, gesturing with her hand at her flat chest. “Big for my clothes.”

“Oh, yes, that makes sense,” Darcy nodded. “Clothes shopping. Can you take me?”

“It'd be my pleasure, Darcy. And after, we can meet Bucky for some lunch before my classes.”

* * *

To his credit, Steve did not ask where Darcy got all her money from. It did not escape him that she didn't look at price tags in any of the stores they went into. It also did not escape him that she was buying for more than just her. She had insisted that he get a new pair of shoes to replace his that were barely holding together under their own power. And she had insisted that she pay.

“Oh, Becks would look so pretty in this,” Darcy held up a lovely blue dress, satiny and lacy and full of frills. “I'm going to get it for her.”

“Ah, Darcy, I don't know if that's the best idea,” Steve shook his head. “Becks is kind of a tom-boy, and she's not a fan of frills.”

“Oh, then what can I get her?” Darcy wondered, eventually settling on a very nice new nightgown.

“You know, you don't have to buy us anything,” Steve spoke for the Barnes family, knowing very well that they disdained any form of charity.

“You're giving me a roof over my head, of course I have to do something,” Darcy waved him off. “Oh, as a matter of fact, I have money...would money help? Maybe pay the rent for a little?”

She fished in that giant bag of hers and held out a crisp one hundred dollar bill.

“Holy mackerel,” Steve breathed.

“Is that not enough?” she fretted.

“Darcy, that's enough to pay the rent for three months,” Steve shook his head in amazement. “Where'd you get all that money? Why aren't you staying at the Ritz?”

“The Ritz doesn't have anything on you, Stevie-boy,” Darcy grinned at him. She went back to the racks, where she was picking out a new house coat for Mrs. Barnes. She missed the flush on Steve's face as he stared down at the floor. “Okay, I think I'm done for today. Are we going to go meet Bucky now? I'm starving.”

* * *

Bucky waited at the corner in front of the corner store around the block from his dock's job, expecting Steve and Darcy to drop by and grab a sandwich from inside before going off to class for the afternoon. He hoped they would hurry so he could grab a quick scrub and a change. He hated going to his class dirty. Hated going anywhere dirty, really.

He looked around in annoyance, they were taking an awful long time.

He saw a flash of bright blue out of the corner of his eye and he squinted, seeing Steve's little hunched shoulders, a blush visible on his face from a quarter mile away. Holding on to Steve's arm was the reason for the young man's blush.

“Boy, oh boy, Four Eyes. You really clean up nice,” Bucky blew out an astonished breath, his eyes wide as he gave Darcy a very serious once-over. Perhaps a twice-over. If pressed, he would admit that he was continuously looking at her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.

Her hair was still long and curly and over her shoulders, flouting the popular pinned styles or bobs. Her lips were still bright red, and looking very nice if Bucky was being honest. But the strange clothes of yesterday were gone. In its place was the bright blue that had caught Bucky's eye. The dress wasn't anything special, it looked like any other style of dress hat a girl walking down the street would wear.

It was what it looked like on her. Darcy with her pale, ivory skin made electric by the color of the frock. Darcy with that small little curve in her waist, the definition of an hourglass enhanced by the way the dress was cinched at her waist and then flared out at her hips. Darcy with a grin on her face as she chattered away at a seriously out of his depth Steve Rogers.

Bucky had never seen a gal get so chummy with Steve. Most girls didn't give him the time of day. He was small and scrawny with a nose too big for his face. But here was Darcy Lewis. The strangest girl in town, who had gotten thrown into their lives 24 hours ago, cuddled onto Steve's arm, laughing and joking at him like Steve was her bestest pal.

Bucky would never, ever admit it out loud. But he felt a little green with envy.

It wasn't a feeling he was used to in association with Steve. No girl looked twice at Steve when Bucky was around.

“Heya, Buck,” Steve managed a small smile.

“ Are you seriously going to keep calling me  _ four-eyes?”  _ Darcy wondered, squinting her eyes up at Bucky in annoyance. “I thought you were a ladies' man.”

“Never had a complaint yet,” Bucky winked at her.

“Ugh, Cap totally lied to me,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “C'mon. Let's get lunch. My treat.”

* * *

** Chapter Three:  ** [ ** You're a Sweet Little Headache ** ](https://youtu.be/9YoFI5x03MM)

One day in 1937 became two days. And two days quickly turned into two weeks. Darcy fit into the Barnes household quite well, when all was said and done. She still had to watch her mouth constantly. She had almost sworn quite frequently at first, but whenever she was about to drop an f-bomb, Bucky or Steve would cough or nudge her so that she'd stop.

At the start of her third week in the past, Darcy was leaning against Steve on the same street corner she had appeared on, her arms crossed as she huffed out in boredom as Steve tried to sell the rest of his newspapers.

“Stevie-boy, I'm so bored. Can't we go see a movie?” Darcy whined.

“Darcy-girl, I've gotta finish up here, then I promise, we'll go catch a picture,” Steve smiled at her indulgently.

“Excellent,” Darcy grinned. “A musical please?”

“The new Astaire one,” Steve assured her.

“Score!” Darcy clapped her hands. She fished into her bag and handed him two dollars. “There you go, I'd like to buy all of these papers, please.”

“Darcy!” Steve scolded, although he had a big grin on his face as she wagged her money at him. He took it and picked up the stack of newspapers, putting them on a nearby bench, free for the taking. Over the last two weeks, he had been growing increasingly comfortable with Darcy and all of her freely given physical affection. She'd hug him to say hello and goodbye. She'd walk arm in arm with him around town. She'd kiss his cheek good night.

She didn't do the same with Bucky. And he knew that it was making his best friend darn near crazed with jealousy.

Bucky needn't be worried though. Steve was pretty sure that Darcy viewed him as an adorable kid brother. And despite the fact that she made him feel warmer than anything else had ever before, he wouldn't---couldn't imagine asking her for more. She'd turn him down in a heartbeat, he knew that. So he made up his mind to just go with it. He'd privately revel in her cuddling against him. He'd bask in the fact that she basically followed him around all day. He'd secretly turn to mush on his insides when she would say _Stevie-boy_ with that high level of affection that he didn't think he had quite earned.

She didn't need to know any of that though. He didn't want to put her off of doing any of it.

“Can I sing along in the theater?” Darcy wondered as they made their way down the street.

“How're you going to do that? We didn't see this one yet, just came out last week,” Steve reminded her helpfully.

“Oh, dang,” Darcy nodded. She knew all the songs already. Steve loved this movie. Her future Steve. It was getting harder and harder for her to discern between the two. Sure, they were polar opposites physically. But little Steve and big Steve were both just Steve. The serum definitely hadn't changed that perfect heart one bit.

She sighed as they walked onwards, her gaze looking down a dark alley, where a young couple were canoodling. She furrowed her brow. She knew those pants. She had helped Mrs. B wash and press those pants that weekend.

“Bucky!” a young woman squealed as Bucky nibbled at her ear.

“C'mon, Darcy-girl,” Steve mumbled, pulling at Darcy's arm for once.

“That's not even the same girl he took out last weekend!” Darcy wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“ Yeah, she's new,” Steve sighed, giving one of his dollars to the lady in the ticket booth and taking his change and the tickets. “Don't be too hard on him. He just...he really likes girls and they  _ really  _ like him.”

“Ugh...man trollop,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “You never told me he was such a man trollop.”

* * *

When Bucky came home one night, near the end of the third week of Darcy's stay in the Barnes' household, his eyes widened at the sight of Steve sitting ram rod straight on the floor, his back against the wall next to the record player. With a lap full of Darcy Lewis' sleeping head.

“Boy, oh boy, guess things have progressed,” Bucky muttered, stalking into the room. Animosity was not a familiar feeling he had when looking at his best friend. It felt strange and foreign, but he couldn't quite get it to go away. Darcy had spent the last three weeks as Steve's overly affectionate shadow and had done no more than exchange sassy pleasantries with Bucky. He felt a sour taste in his mouth pull his lips into a frown as he airily wondered, “She your girl now, punk?”

“It's not---It's not like that,” Steve insisted, his voice much quieter than Bucky's. His brow furrowed as he stared down at Darcy's happy, peacefully sleeping face.

“Why not? She seems plenty sweet on you,” Bucky wondered in annoyance, staring down at the beautiful girl sleeping against his best friend. He felt a knot of jealousy work in his gut. He didn't know why Steve was stalling. If Darcy had ever treated Bucky the way she treated Steve, he'd have her wrapped up in his arms in no time. “Work up your nerve and just ask her to be your girl.”

“Easy as that?” Steve shook his head in exasperation. “Then she laughs her head off, pats me on the head and leaves so I can't bother her anymore.”

“ You're off your rocker,” Bucky accused. His anger was very real now. He knew Steve never had much luck with girls, but the prettiest and most special girl in all of Brooklyn was  _ literally  _ in Steve's lap at that point.

“You're loud!” Darcy grumbled, yawning and stretching against Steve like a cat. She didn't bother to get off of her Steve pillow, instead she just glared up at Bucky in annoyance. “Don't tell me you're done with the flavor of girl for the day already?”

“Today's Saturday, darlin', I get two flavors on Saturday,” Bucky grinned down at her.

“So gross!” Darcy full bodied shivered. “Do you even remember their names?”

“Who cares about their names so long as they're saying mine?” Bucky chuckled.

“You just wait, I know you're going to meet a special girl someday, and I hope and pray she gives you the _hardest_ time you've ever had,” Darcy sneered at him in a haughty and superior way. She yawned again and said, “I'm gonna go and pick up Becks from her friend's house and then we're going to go and get something special to cook up for dinner. How do you feel about chicken, Stevie-boy?”

“Anything you want, Darcy-girl,” Steve smiled down at her softly.

Bucky automatically held out a hand, pulling her off of the ground and Steve. He tried not to linger on the feel of those soft, adorably stubby little fingers clasped in his. And he definitely tried to not let his hand flex and unflex repeatedly after she let go. Instead, he hauled Steve to his feet too.

“Need company?” Bucky wondered, his eyes lingering on her legs as she slipped on a pair of comfortable, flat black shoes.

“Nah, you stay here and see if you can learn a thing or two about being a gentleman from my Stevie-boy,” Darcy insisted. She grabbed her bag and fluffed out her hair a bit before heading for the door. “Good bye, boys! Be back in half a shake of a rat's ass.”

“Language!” Steve called after her with a dry chuckle.

She had made it half a block away from the house when she felt the warmth from her bag. She dug into it and her eyes widened at the sight of the orange stoned necklace glowing so brightly that it made the scarf it was wrapped in seem translucent.

“Oh _shit,_ ” Darcy breathed.

* * *

When the bright glow of the necklace receded, Darcy was standing on Steve's newspaper street corner, but it had changed a little since she had been there just a day ago. The grocer was gone, in its place was a bakery. And Steve Rogers was not the young man on the corner selling newspapers. It was a much younger boy. Darcy looked into her bag. The necklace was no longer glowing, thank goodness.

She quickly bought a paper and looked down at the date.

_ May 17 _ _ th _ _ , 1940. _

“ _ Shit on a stick _ ,” Darcy hissed. How on Earth was she going to explain to Steve and Bucky about how she was missing for three years?

“Darcy?”

She turned and a significantly older Rebecca Barnes stood in front of her. She was 11 now, and nearly as tall as Darcy and Steve. Darcy smiled, even at the age of 85, with a curved back and slumped shoulders, Rebecca Barnes had been a head taller than Darcy.

“Where've you been?” Rebecca cried, rushing towards her and wrapping her up in a tight embrace. “We were so worried. Bucky and Stevie searched for you forever!”

“I'm so sorry, I couldn't---I had to go,” Darcy explained lamely.

“C'mon, you gotta go see Stevie and Buck...they'll be so happy you're back!” Becks pulled her down the street, not towards the Barnes' house, but towards a fairly new building of tiny apartments. She dragged her up a flight of stairs and stood outside of a door and knocked before taking a bunch of steps back. “I'm not allowed to see him.”

“Steve? Is he okay?” Darcy panicked.

“Got scarlet fever real bad. Ma and Buck say I'm still too little, and can't be around him,” Becks explained sadly. “But you're older, so you should be just fine.”

Darcy nodded, pounding on the door again. She gave Becks a smile and waved her off, “Go on, I'll come visit you later.”

“Promise?” the young girl demanded. “Cause I missed you an awful lot, Darcy.”

“I promise,” Darcy nodded. She pounded on the door again, only to have it yanked open mid-pound. She barely got a glimpse of Bucky Barnes before she was wrapped up in a tight embrace.

“Where in the hell have you been?!?” Bucky demanded, holding her to him as tight as he could.

“It's a really long story,” Darcy squeaked out. “Can't breathe....”

Bucky reluctantly put her down, his hands going to her waist as he let her have a few inches of personal space. He looked her over from head to toe, his brow furrowing as he realized she was wearing that same pretty blue dress she had been wearing when she had walked out of his mother's house three years ago. Not only that, her hair was the same. Her broken glasses that he had repaired that first night while she slept were still sitting atop her nose.

She looked exactly the same as she had three years ago.

“How's Steve? Can I see him?” Darcy asked softly, her bottom lip trembling.

“Sure, yeah, come in,” Bucky nodded, ushering her into the apartment with a hand at the small of her back. “He'll be over the moon to see you. We missed you somethin' fierce, darlin'. You worried us out of our skulls.”

He ushered her to the back bedroom of the one bedroom apartment, that firm hand at the small of her back still. Darcy poked her head into the room and saw that two lumpy beds were crammed into the tiny room, one rumbled and unmade, and one occupied by an unconscious Steve.

“He got sick at the end of winter, the punk was trying to save money and didn't light the kerosene every night,” Bucky sighed. “He's been struggling ever since. He can hardly breathe most days...high fever that makes him out of his head.”

“ Oh Stevie-boy,” Darcy sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed, looking down at him in concern. Realistically, she knew that Steve  _ had  _ to make it through this. But it was still heart-wrenching to look down on her best friend, small and pale and sick and  _ suffering _ . She took her purse off her shoulder and looked to Bucky curiously. “Does he need medicine? I have money...we could buy him whatever medicine he needs.”

“Yeah...he could use a few things,” Bucky nodded. His face burned red when Darcy fished out a few bills and handed them to him. “Darlin', I don't want to take your money...I've been working to get---”

“Bucky Barnes, if you do not take this money and go and get Steve what he needs right now, you and I are going to have words, and by words I mean, my fist is going to go in your face,” Darcy warned him. “It's just money. I didn't even earn it properly. Take it and go right now.”

“Alright, alright. Hell, I forgot what a nag you are,Four Eyes,” Bucky huffed, grabbing the money and walking backwards towards the door. “Just let him sleep a little while longer. It doesn't come so easy to him right now.”

Darcy nodded and smiled at Bucky softly. He may be a legendary lothario who treated women like flimsy tissues, but he was certainly at his best where Steve was involved. Steve had that effect on a lot of people, actually. She watched him sleep for a little while before toeing off her shoes and carefully moving on the bed until she was curled up against his side, one hand on the top of his chest, taking a lot of comfort in the way it steadily moved up and down. Her blinks became prolonged and soon she was out cold, her face smashed against Steve's adorably small bicep.

“M' I dreamin'?”

Darcy blinked her eyes open to see Steve's gorgeous baby blues peering back at her. She gave him a lazy smile and shrugged. “Nope. I'm back.”

“Why'd you go?” Steve whispered. “scared for you...”

“Stevie-boy...I can't explain where I was. But I can tell you, I didn't want to leave so quick,” Darcy stretched the sleep out of her body before hugging against him more securely. “But you should know...it may happen again. It may happen later today. Tomorrow. I can't control it. I just---I have to go. But I promise you, Steve, I'm gonna come back to you every time.”

“Sounds nice,” Steve nodded, moving his arms slightly so it felt like he was embracing her. He took a deep, relaxing breath. “Missed you, Darcy-girl.”

* * *

The medicine worked wonders for Steve. While he was still not well enough to go outside and back to work, he was at least out of bed and moving around the small apartment. The story of the apartment had been an interesting one. Darcy had figured the boys moved out when Steve got sick in order to protect Rebecca.

And they had moved out in order to protect Rebecca, but it wasn't for the reason Darcy thought.

Mrs. Barnes had very lovingly kicked her son out due to his unabashed man trolloping, stating that trying to make time with five different girls a week with his little sister right upstairs was unacceptable, and that if he wanted to continue doing it, he would definitely have to move out.

It said something about Bucky Barnes that he was willing to leave the warmth, safety and convenience of his mother's house in order to continue his five girl a week streak, and according to Steve, try to increase that number whenever possible.

Mrs. Barnes was doing just fine, she was renting out the extra rooms in her rented house to a few girls, so the house was blissfully testosterone free. She'd welcomed Darcy back willingly, although she had been properly scolded for leaving and making everyone worry. Darcy spent her nights on a little roll-away cot in Rebecca's room (as the eleven year old took up too much space in the bed by herself already). Darcy spent her days with Steve, bringing him food and medicine and tea in addition to sketchbooks and pencils and warmer pajamas and slippers.

“Need an extra pillow, Stevie-boy?” Darcy questioned from the kitchen where she was putting together an impressively huge pot of soup.

“I'm fine, Darcy-girl,” Steve huffed back at her.

Between Darcy all day, and Bucky all night, Steve was about to be mother-henned to within an inch of his life.

“Why don't you and Bucky go out and find some sunshine today? You've been cooped up inside with me for three weeks now,” Steve proposed as the man in question came into the front room adjusting the collar on his freshly starched and pressed blue shirt. “Let the invalid have a moment's peace?”

“Oh, I'm sure the Buckster has at least three appointments today with his many conquests,” Darcy chortled.

“I'll have you know, it's four,” Bucky winked at her.

“Seriously, take Darcy somewhere fun, she's been cooped up with me for the last three weeks,” Steve cajoled his friend. “Take her to a picture...or the park. Or maybe even Coney Island!”

“Huh, I've never been to Coney Island,” Darcy admitted. She had tried to get big Steve to take her there, but he had begged off of it due to bad memories of getting sick on the Cyclone with Bucky.

“ Alright, Four Eyes, I'll take you out,” Bucky rolled his eyes very carefully, shoving suddenly shaking hands into his pockets. In all of her time with them, they had never had a moment alone. She and Steve had  _ plenty  _ of time alone. But she and Bucky had never. Not once. “But you better scram if any really interesting girls show up.”

* * *

Coney Island in late Spring was something else.

It was ridiculously crowded, for one. Throngs of people were everywhere.

Bucky had lost Darcy just once in the crowd, her short little frame getting swallowed up. Since he tracked her down, he had put her hand firmly in his, gripping on tight lest she get enveloped by the crushing waves of humanity everywhere. If he happened to notice how perfectly those strong, stubby little fingers of hers were interwoven with his own, well, who wouldn't notice? Holding hands with her felt nice and he didn't really feel like stopping any time soon.

Secondly, he realized that Darcy Lewis had an insatiable appetite. He really wondered where she put it all.

When she had realized that everything cost anywhere between a dime and thirty cents, she had gone on a shopping spree of gastronomically epic proportions. Corn on the cob, hot dogs, frozen custard, peanuts...that was what she had deemed her  _ starter course _ . He had gone along with it, trying not to feel like a big, dumb, useless idiot every time she paid for her portion and his.

Third, Darcy Lewis was a helluva a lot of fun to be around.

They'd gone on every ride,  _ twice _ . Darcy had trounced him at the bumper cars, chasing him relentlessly in her own little metal car and ramming into him with no remorse, but with triumphant peals of laughter. The Cyclone, which Stevie had lost his lunch on, had been enjoyed greatly. Even the carousel was fun with her. Riding around in circles, straddling a silly painted cartoon horse was a blast, because she was there next to him, laughing and cracking jokes the whole time.

“C'mere,” Bucky said softly, grabbing her hand and leading her to the boardwalk, where an arcade housed all sorts of fun games. He wasn't in the mood for games though, he pulled her into the photo booth and sat down, pulling her to sit right on his lap.

“Hey there, Buckaroo!” Darcy's eyes widened as she stared down at him in suspicion. “I'm not one of your flavors of the week, Bucky.”

“No, Four Eyes, you're not,” Bucky shook his head, fishing out a quarter from his pocket and popping it into the slot. They waited patiently for the timer to count down the sixty seconds until the first picture would be taken. Bucky blurted out, “You sweet on Stevie?”

“What?” Darcy gave him an incredulous look. “He's my best friend!”

“That all?” Bucky wondered.

“Men and women can be friends without a grand romance developing, you know,” Darcy wrinkled her nose at him as the first picture was taken. Small Steve had been just as interested in her feminine wiles as Future Big Steve, and that interest was strictly platonic from what Darcy could see. Bucky was looking at her with a very suspicious arch of his eyebrow. If she wasn't mistaken, those were highly potent Bucky Barnes bedroom eyes. She wiggled on his lap and arched a challenging brow at him. “They _can_ be just friends. _You and I_ are friends. Girls and boys can just be friends.”

“ Sure they can,” Bucky nodded. A strong hand cupped her jaw and he brought her lips down to meet his as the second picture was taken. He kissed her, slow and soft, his lips sipping at hers, his pulse thrumming through his body as he realized it was nothing like he had imagined it would be. It was so much better. It was so much  _ more _ . That perfect pout of hers was sinful and she kissed like a champion.

She pulled away with a breathy, “ _ woah _ .”

“Let's fog up those glasses, Four Eyes,” Bucky murmured at her, trying to bring her down for another taste of those cherry red lips.

The slap was memorialized forever when the photo booth took the last picture. Darcy hopped to her feet and stared down at a stunned and even more captivated Bucky, staring up at her with his darkened eyes, his kiss swollen lips and the red mark she put on his cheek.

“I am _not_ your flavor of the week, Bucky,” Darcy said resolutely. “I will admit that you kiss like a damned expert and it was very nice, but I will not allow you to kiss me this afternoon, and then go out to a dance hall tonight to kiss another girl, and then a different one tomorrow.”

“Alright, alright,” Bucky nodded. “I'll only kiss you then. I promise, darlin', it'll only be you forever if you want.”

“Oh, please,” Darcy rolled her eyes, picking up her large handbag and hauling it over her shoulder, parting the booth curtains and stepping out.

The photo booth dinged and Bucky grabbed the strip of pictures and hurried to follow her out of the booth. She had made it quite a distance, right back to the boardwalk and already fifty feet away from him.

She was  _ glowing _ .

No one else seemed to notice the small girl darting through the massive crowd, but Bucky only had eyes for her. Until the bright orange glow around her got so bright that he blinked against it, like he was trying to stare at a too bright sun.

When he opened his eyes, she was gone.

* * *

** Chapter Four:  ** [ ** Dear Mr. Gable ** ](https://youtu.be/7NUMGrad4bY)

Darcy walked along the boardwalk of Coney Island, felt the warmth, saw the glow and rolled her eyes.

“ _ Shit _ .”

When the glow receded, she was on a familiar street, in a familiar neighborhood. She threw a whole dollar at the newspaper boy and picked it up to look at the date.

_ December 9 _ _ th _ _ , 1941 _

All the big blocky headlines were about the attack on Pearl Harbor and the call for War. She swallowed nervously and looked around, wondering where Bucky and Steve were. She wondered if she was too late, if Bucky had enlisted already. She took off at a run towards Steve and Bucky's apartment, hoping that they hadn't moved in the eighteen months she had been gone.

“C'mon, Stevie! You gotta dodge that!”

The angered shout stopped Darcy in her tracks right in front of Goldie's Boxing Gym, which had always been Bucky's favorite place to visit that didn't permit girls. Really it was the only place he went besides the restroom that didn't admit girls. She poked her head into the gym, ignoring the huff of exasperation from the man at the desk as she stepped inside. Steve stood in front of Bucky, his small hands looking ridiculous in too large boxing gloves. Bucky was taking slow jabs at Steve, encouraging him to dodge and weave and duck.

Darcy realized what Bucky was doing. He was teaching Steve how to be defensive and protective enough in a fight so that he could handle himself.

Without Bucky.

Darcy winced at the idea of it.

“You didn't enlist yet, did you?” she demanded.

Steve's letter was still in her purse. He had told her she had tried to change it.

She'd keep trying.

Bucky and Steve's eyes both widened as they turned to face the newly arrived girl. Steve took a step forward, his hands pulling off the gloves as quickly as he could. He was beaten by Bucky though, who  _ ran  _ to her and swept her up in his arms. Darcy managed to give Steve a quizzical look before Bucky spun her around.

And then in moments his lips were on hers, kissing her hungrily, like he was starving for her. Her feet were dangling a foot off the ground and she kicked them at his shins repeatedly. It took five kicks before he finally pulled away.

“Thought you were gone forever,” Bucky sighed, kissing her forehead.

“Put the girl down, Buck, you're gonna suffocate her,” Steve warned as amiably as possible. His pasted a smile on his face for Darcy, looking her over once she was finally back on her feet. “You're right...same clothes.”

“What?” Darcy furrowed her brow looking down.

“Told you she just popped out of thin air,” Bucky shook his head, his hands on her shoulders, kneading at her aimlessly. “Where'd you go, Four Eyes?”

“Nowhere?” Darcy shrugged.

“Top secret huh?” Bucky nodded. He looked back at Steve and said, “Either she's from outta this world, or she's a time traveler.”

“Yeah, one of those,” Steve managed a smirk. He gave Darcy a full on grin and admitted, “Ever since seeing you disappear at Coney Island, this big lug's been obsessed with figuring out how you did it. He spends all his extra money on crazy science fiction now.”

“Hey punk, you read them just as much as I do,” Bucky accused.

“You two are the most adorable nerds,” Darcy shook her head in amusement. “I can't tell you. But...you'll understand eventually. I think?”

Darcy shrugged off Bucky's hands and went to hug Steve, their cheeks resting against each other for a few moments. She sighed happily and said, “You look a lot better than the last time I saw you, Stevie-boy.”

“Yeah, haven't been so bad,” Steve laughed. “Hoping to get in some kind of fighting shape before we enlist.”

“Don't talk about enlisting,” Darcy pulled away, her pout aimed between Steve and Bucky.

“Darcy-girl, our country...the safety of all the people here is at stake,” Steve shook his head at her.

“Don't you think I'll look handsome in my uniform, darlin'?” Bucky smirked at her.

Darcy rolled her eyes at the two very different responses. “C'mon. Let's go back to your apartment. We'll discuss duty to country and what people look like in uniforms later.”

* * *

Bucky ran off to the grocers to pick up a few things for a celebration dinner, rolling his eyes at the money Darcy handed him before he left, leaving Darcy and Steve to their own devices in the apartment.

“Darcy-girl?” Steve said softly as she cuddled up to his side, her arms wrapped around his thin waist.

“Yeah, Stevie-boy?” she wondered.

“You from the future?” he whispered.

She nodded her head against his shoulder.

“From really far away in the future?” he guessed.

She nodded against his arm again.

“ Don't---don't tell me what happens, okay? We read a book, things didn't go right. Changed everything,” Steve said in awed shock. He had guessed that she had been from the future moments after Bucky had described the way in which she had disappeared. He still remembered her appearing from out of nowhere, calling out his name, calling out for him to help her back in 1937. Crammed into the back of their closet was the remains of what she had brought with her that first day. The receipt for the sweaters had said  _ Donnelly and Daughters Knitware, est. 1978 _ . Steve hadn't told Bucky. He didn't think he'd ever tell Bucky.

“Okay,” Darcy promised.

“So...never got a chance to ask you, how'd the date in Coney Island go?” Steve wondered quietly, his eyes down turned, looking at the way her hands rested on top of his. He knew how that one day out had affected Bucky. He was morbidly curious to hear how Darcy felt.

“Ugh, I'm just another lady on the long list of Bucky Barnes' kiss list,” Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Not so long a list anymore, Darcy-girl,” Steve gave the tiniest of shrugs from his thin shoulders.

“Sure, he's cut back? Just three ladies a week?” Darcy laughed.

“More like none,” Steve revealed. It had come as a shock to him as well, when Bucky had returned alone, claiming she had disappeared in a golden glow of light. But more surprising to him and all the girls in the neighborhood was how Bucky turned down all dates, claiming that he had a steady girl that was out of town. Steve had thought it was a phase, that Bucky would give up eventually on waiting for Darcy. He might have even hoped Bucky would give up eventually. But he hadn't. Not once had he even looked at another dame.

“Okay, sure, more like none,” Darcy laughed. “I have a bridge to sell you if you believe that, Steve. You'll like it, its right in your neighborhood.”

“Darcy, I'm telling you the God's honest truth,” Steve insisted. “Since Bucky came back from Coney Island, he hasn't been fooling around with any other dames. Not one. He said...he said you were his girl now.”

“Wh---h-but....” Darcy gave her best impression of a gaping fish. Steve would never lie to her. “Well I'll be damned.”

* * *

Bucky Barnes was nothing, if not persistent.

He'd wake up at five am and head down to the docks, putting in eight hours of work before heading back to the apartment and cleaning himself up and then insisting on spending the rest of the day _courting_ Darcy.

Courting entailed never leaving her out of his sight. He sat shoulder to shoulder with her during the art class he and Steve were taking. He would pick her up and place her on the edge of the boxing ring as he put Steve through his paces in the gym, giving a fierce scowl to the man at the desk who tried to stop Darcy from coming in every day. He showed her off to his mother and sister, who were thrilled and over the moon that Darcy was willing to put up with Bucky, no matter how much she told them that it wasn't serious.

He always grabbed her hand when they were in public, even as Darcy had her other arm linked in Steve's. He'd kiss her forehead, her cheek, the palms of her hands whenever he got the chance, but he refrained from kissing her lips, sometimes going in for a peck but stopping himself, lips hovering above hers.

“I'm not going to kiss that perfect mouth until you ask me to,” he had promised her.

Darcy was a worldly woman of 2014. But she was about to be undone by Bucky Barnes in 1941. Because she really,  _ really  _ wanted that kiss.

Two weeks into Darcy's time in 1941 found the trio at a dance hall together. Steve watching with a pleasant enough smile on his face while Bucky held Darcy as close as decently possible on the dance floor, as they did an easy sway to a soft song about love lost.

“Why me?” she whispered. “Steve said...Steve said you didn't chase after other girls while I was gone.”

“Nope, never gonna chase again. Just you,” Bucky promised, kissing her forehead gently and reverently.

“Why?” Darcy demanded.

“Cause I love you, you goof,” Bucky rolled his eyes. He took their joined hands and pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Geez, Four Eyes. I know you can't see without the goggles on, but I thought it was pretty obvious. I liked you as soon as you got hit by that car.”

“No. Sorry, with the different girl attached to your face every day, it was a little hard to see anything,” Darcy dryly asserted.

“I don't do that anymore, darlin',” Bucky promised. “Just you from here on out. You made an honest man outta me.”

“You---you _love_ me?” Darcy whispered in disbelief.

“You're not there yet, I get it...bet this has been quick for you, what...just about two months with us?” Bucky wondered. “Well, darlin', its been longer for me. A lot longer. I've been pining for you for an awful long time. It's been over four years since you came into my life, Four Eyes.”

“Oh,” Darcy nodded.

“So, now's about the time I dust off that charm and lay it on you,” Bucky grinned, pulling her flush against him as he danced them expertly around the floor. “Gotta catch your heart up to mine.”

* * *

“Are you going to marry my brother?”

Darcy's eyes widened and she sat up immediately in the little roll away cot in her room in the Barnes' house. She looked at a grinning, 13 year old girl sitting up in her own bed. Rebecca Barnes was practically grown up now, towering over Darcy at five-feet-nine-inches. She had retained all of her tomboy ways, playing stickball on the streets with all the boys until darkness called them all home. She was tall and athletic and had the same dimpled chin that she and Bucky had inherited from their long passed father, and the adorable smirking pouty lips from their mother.

Rebecca's eyes were her mother's though, all sparkling and warm amber brown. Currently they were staring at Darcy with eagerness and curiosity.

“I'd like a sister,” Becks admitted. “I mean...if you marry him, maybe you'll be able to stick around more.”

“Becks, I'm---we're---,” Darcy faltered. How do you tell a thirteen-year-old girl that you can't marry her brother because you're from the future and you know that the man in question doesn't make it through the war?

“If you get married, you gotta do it before he enlists,” Becks warned. “Give him something to come home to.”

“Becks, I like Bucky a lot, a whole heckuva lot,” Darcy promised. “But I've only known him for two months out of our lives, I'm not in love with him.”

“Ma married my da a month after meeting,” Becks shrugged. “And Ethel Glass said that she fell in love at first sight with Robert Ellsworth.”

“Ethel Glass is a teenaged idiot, don't listen to anything she says,” Darcy ordered. She lay back down on her little cot and burrowed herself into the covers.

“Does he give you the butterflies?” Rebecca wondered a while later, as Darcy was just about to drift off.

“Yes, Becks,” Darcy answered honestly. How could he not? He was loyal and kind and good. Smart and funny and so good-looking that Darcy wondered if he was actually carved out of beautiful marble instead of a real person. And he had been spouting his love for her ever since their time at the dance hall two nights ago.

Just the thought of those pouty lips pressing against her forehead with all the considerable adoration Bucky could manage made her stomach flop and roll around in her body. She sighed and admitted into the darkness of the room.

“I get a lot of butterflies.”

* * *

  
  


** Chapter Five:  ** [ ** How'dja Like to Love Me? ** ](https://youtu.be/bpUIHxPAM10)

Bucky had left a note at his mother's house the next day telling Darcy that he was doing extra hours down on the docks, and wouldn't be able to meet her and Steve for lunch. Steve had also dropped by and told her that he had a job to do as well, and wouldn't be able to spend the day with her either.

Darcy was particularly miffed, because despite offering Steve double the salary of whatever odd job he had taken, he had obstinately refused, blushing the whole time.

If she ever got back to 2014, she would smack him upside his noble head. What good was sending her to the past with all that money if both boys refused to take it freely?

At lunch time, she headed down to the docks anyway, a brown paper bag full of sandwiches. She looked for Bucky amongst the surly and tired workers, finding him easily in the middle of a bunch of crates, lifting and pushing them onto small carts. He was head and shoulders above the rest of the men, with a bright and happy face whereas the others looked beaten down and miserable.

“Hey there pretty girlie.”

“Oh, hi,” Darcy gave a polite nod to an older man who was leering at her. “Just here to see my guy.”

“Girl like you could get a better guy than any of these wastes.”

“Nope, that's definitely not true,” Darcy shook her head.

“Four Eyes?” Bucky called out from below. He grinned at her and gave a big wave in her direction. He elbowed the man next to him in the ribs and said, “Look it Smithson, that's my girl. Prettiest and smartest dame in all of Brooklyn.”

“She's so smart she should be able to find somethin' better than you Barnes!” the man laughed, giving Darcy a little salute and a wink anyway.

Bucky ran up the steps to her, wrapping her up in an embrace, all the while apologizing for being dirty and smelly.

“What're you doin' here, Four Eyes?” Bucky wondered.

“Stevie left me all by my lonesome. Thought you might need lunch if you were working extra,” Darcy shrugged.

“Aw, leave Stevie be, he and I are trying to scrape up some extra cash,” Bucky shrugged, grabbing for the brown bag she held. His mouth was quickly crammed full of pastrami and he grinned at her with his mouth full of food.

“Why would you need extra cash? I have extra cash!” Darcy wrinkled her nose at him.

“Nosy,” Bucky nudged her shoe with his foot before cramming more sandwich in his mouth. “Let us boys have some kind of independence. A man likes to earn his own way every once in a while.”

“That's stupid,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “ _You're_ stupid.”

“That I am, stupid for you, darlin',” Bucky grinned with a mouthful of sandwich. “Give us a kiss and get outta here. Go take yourself to a picture or somethin', we'll be home for dinner.”

Darcy rolled her eyes, again, before giving a chaste kiss to Bucky's cheek. She walked away and Bucky called out petulantly,

“That's not the kind of kiss I wanted, Four Eyes!”

* * *

“How many days do you think we have until you have to go again?” Steve questioned from his place at the kitchen table, his sketchbook open, his pencil idly scratching at the paper. The sketch in question was of the pretty little scene Bucky and Darcy made on the couch. Bucky's head was in Darcy's lap, his shoulders and torso taking up the other cushion, his long legs dangling up and over the wooden armrest of the couch.

Steve attempted to shade the blush on Darcy's cheeks properly. It was gentle and barely pink on the apples of her cheeks as she looked down at Bucky's face, his eyes blissfully closed while she carded her fingers through his hair slowly.

“We've got five more days,” Bucky wagered, never opening his eyes. “Then she'll do her glowing thing and we'll see her a little ways from now.”

Darcy's hand stilled in his hair and he lazily blinked his eyes open, setting that beautiful blue-gray gaze on her in curiosity.

“You stayed for three weeks before each time,” Bucky shrugged. His hand reached up to cup her cheek and he sighed. “Wish we could keep you for longer, Four Eyes.”

“Shut up,” Darcy smiled, that soft pink blush growing.

Steve shook his head in mild amusement, picking up his sketchbook and quietly shuffling from the room. He didn't want to see what he knew was going to happen next.

“The only way I'm shutting my trap, darlin', is if someone makes me,” Bucky waggled his eyebrows at her.

“You smooth bastard,” Darcy laughed, taking the bait nonetheless, leaning down to kiss him fully.

Bucky managed to maneuver them in short order, so that Darcy was lying on the couch on her back and he was hovering above her by a few inches, the lean mass of him so close yet so far as he kissed her slow and languid. Darcy parted her knees and hooked a leg around him, her bare foot pressing against the back of his thigh, pressing insistently until he lowered his body against hers totally. He shuddered in pleasure at the soft feel of her beneath him, but never stopped kissing her, his hands now carding through her hair, tangled up in those loose and messy spirals that she still wore without pins or complicated rolls.

“Darlin'...”

“Hmmm?” Darcy murmured, pouting at the loss of the kiss, but taking advantage of the dimple in his chin being so close, letting a wet smacking kiss there before moving to the column of his throat, her tongue licking against the throbbing vein running along the side.

Bucky twitched against her and grabbed her cheeks, bringing her mouth to his again, kissing her as deep and as filthy as she could want. She moaned in the back of her throat and arched her back, her breasts smashing against his chest.

“Stop, darlin', slow down,” Bucky rasped out, pulling back.

“This is slow enough,” Darcy insisted, her leg tightening around him, her hips shifting underneath him so that she could feel the hardened length of him tenting his pants.

“No, no,” Bucky shook his head, pulling away completely and sitting upright, rearranging Darcy to do the same. “Four Eyes, you're special. You're different. I'm going to do this right with you, darlin'.”

“Ugh, chivalry,” Darcy rolled her eyes. “Since when does the Brooklyn lothario do chivalry?”

“Since he fell in love with a time traveler,” Bucky smirked at her.

“I've done it before you know,” Darcy arched a brow at him.

“Yeah? So have I,” Bucky shrugged. “Doesn't mean we can't make it special between us.”

“How special?” Darcy asked warily.

“Not on the couch here,” Bucky said adamantly. “And I dunno...maybe, if you wanted...if you loved me and...if we were married. You know. Proper.”

“ I---I,  _ Bucky _ ,” Darcy's eyes filled with tears very quickly.   The depths of his feelings for her was terrifying.  They would have been terrifying even if she hadn't know what was supposed to happen.  What she still wanted to change, just a little.  “You know I can't stay.”

  
  


“I'm gonna be true to you for as long as you'll let me,” Bucky promised. “What's it matter if that's staying true to you while you're here with me or when you go to...wherever you go?”

“Too fast, this is all...that's too much too soon,” Darcy shook her head, absolutely floored by the level of devotion Bucky had in his eyes, all aimed at her.

Bucky Barnes falls off a train in the winter of 1945.

Bucky Barnes is killed in action.

Steve loses Bucky Barnes.

** She  ** loses Bucky Barnes.

_ She had to learn to live without him, I guess. _

Darcy could feel her throat clenching up and her eyes watering. She didn't want to learn to live without him. She didn't want to lose him. Bucky looked horrified at the devastation that was clear on her face and kissed her quickly, hoping to stop any bad reaction that was about to happen.

“Don't look like that, Four Eyes,” he begged. “Don't be so sad.”

“I'm okay,” Darcy insisted firmly. She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. “Bucky...when I leave next time...don't wait for me.”

“What?” Bucky furrowed his brow, panic blooming in his gut at her request. It felt like she was trying to ditch him. “This cause I said I don't wanna---cause I do, I do and we can, we can do it right now if you really want...”

“No, Bucky,” Darcy shook her head adamantly. “You shouldn't be waiting for me to come back. You shouldn't waste time, you should be happy when I'm gone. You should be happy as much as you can!”

“ You're nuts,” Bucky accused, his mouth turning down into an angry frown instantly. “Darcy, I want to be with  _ you _ . That's the only thing that's gonna make me happy anymore.”

“ That's  _ stupid _ ,” Darcy accused right back, matching his anger expertly, throwing in a pound of rebellion and a dash of stubbornness for free. “I could be gone for  _ years _ , why would you...you can't marry me and you can't wait for me. That's just...that's  _ stupid _ .”

“You're stupid!” Bucky countered childishly.

“You're a fucking moron!” Darcy bit back.

“Yeah, I must be, cause I love an idiot!” Bucky scoffed.

“ That's right, I'm an idiot, cause I love you too!” Darcy sassed back. She paused as Bucky's face turned from anger to unbridled glee. “ _ Shit _ .”

“Can't take it back now, Four Eyes,” Bucky grinned, pulling her to him again and smashing his mouth against hers, sucking her pouting bottom lip between his and nipping lightly.

“I hate you,” Darcy insisted between kisses.

“Sure,” Bucky nodded, grinning when she straddled his lap and began painting his neck with wet, open mouthed kisses again. “I hate you too, then. So long as what you really mean is that I love you.”

Several days may have passed, Darcy was unsure. It was probably closer to an hour as she sat in his lap, kissing and exchanging occasionally soft words but more often terse, teasing words. She did pat herself on the back for managing to get his shirt off. And she definitely celebrated the fact that he had no problem with groping her breasts avidly over top of her dress.

But every time she ground her hips against his obvious erection, his hands would go to her hips and stop her. A gentle and tender kiss against her forehead and a scolding little look would follow.

“Tease,” Darcy accused.

“If I had to wait a few days to get you to love me proper, I should be able to get you married to me during your next visit,” Bucky shrugged.

A sharp gasp for air echoed through the apartment, coming from Steve's room.

“He's having an asthma attack,” Bucky moved Darcy off of him and rushed back to the bedroom.

  
  


Darcy took a brief look in her purse, wishing that Steve had snuck an inhaler in there somehow, but knowing he would have never thought to. The money had been for her.  Even his past incarnation wouldn't take the money from her.  The selfless moron wouldn't have thought to put something in to help his past self. She rushed back to the bedroom to see that Bucky had squeezed onto the bed behind Steve, his chest to Steve's back, his hands on Steve's chest.

“C'mon, Stevie,” Bucky said softly. “Take a breath in and now out...deeper pal.”

Darcy managed to go on the opposite side of the bed and crammed herself against Steve, so close that the backs of Bucky's hands were against her chest as well. She caught Steve's wide frightened eyes as he struggled to breathe and she gave him her softest, most reassuring smile.

“Deep breath this time, Stevie-boy,” she ordered her hands going to his face, making sure that his eyes stayed on hers.

It took fifteen minutes of breathing with him, but eventually it was under control and he breathed evenly and deeply as sleep overtook him again. Darcy looked to Bucky and saw that his eyes were shut too, hands still on Steve's chest, making sure that it moved up and down properly with each breath.

She should have gone back to Mrs. Barnes' house. Back to the tiny cot she slept on in Rebecca's room. But she was warm and safe and happy there. Steve was there, probably the happiest and most content he had ever been. And Bucky was there.

Bucky, who she knew she loved. Bucky, who she knew had a special girl according to Steve in the future.  _ Her _ .

She put her hands on top of Bucky's and took a deep shuddering breath before easing into sleep.

* * *

Darcy woke up with surprisingly strong arms wrapped around her, her face in the crook of a pleasant smelling neck and with something pressing into her hip. Her eyes slowly blinked open and she pulled her head back a few inches to see Steve's sleeping face, an absolute blissful smile on his face. The sun had already risen and was filtering into the tiny, cozy room in big, bright beams.

Bucky was long gone, leaving to put in his day's labor at the docks.

Darcy tried to wriggle away from Steve gently, but he held her tighter, his thin and reedy arms exhibiting remarkable strength. The hours at the gym with Bucky must have been yielding some results, although Darcy knew that by the middle of 1943, it wouldn't much matter what Bucky had worked on with Steve, he'd be Captain America-fied.

“Why couldn't you love me, Stevie-boy?” Darcy whispered. “Why couldn't you have chased me and made me love you? Every thing would be easier. I--I don't want to say goodbye.”

She shook her head and sighed. It wouldn't have mattered. Steve had told her she tried to change it and it didn't work. She had been predestined to fall for Bucky Barnes' considerable allure. She had been predestined for a whole hell of a lot of heartache.

She felt Steve's lips against her cheek, a gentle kiss before he pulled away and rolled to his other side on the bed, turning his back on her and snoring softly. She ran a hand down his back and took a shuddering breath before easing out of the bed and heading towards the bathroom.

Steve lay in the bed after she left, his eyes blinking open, cheeks suddenly burning hotly as tears threatened as they collected at the back of his throat. She was Bucky's dame now. He kept repeating it to himself, willing the arousal he felt lingering from having her in his arms to go away. He kept repeating it to wash away the words she had spoken.

He looked at the calendar tacked up next to his bedside table.  _ December 19 _ _ th _ . Darcy hopefully had four more days with them this time before she left again for God knows how long. Her time away was getting shorter each time, but not by much.

By the time she got back next time, he and Bucky would have both enlisted.

He hoped she wouldn't be too mad.

* * *

 

** Chapter Six:  ** [ ** Together We're Going a Long, Long Way ** ](https://youtu.be/glKyWnf0S5Y)

If Darcy disappeared on schedule, she would miss Christmas with Bucky and Steve.  _ Again _ .

So they decided to make Christmas happen early. On December 22 nd , 1941, Darcy and Rebecca Barnes came back to Steve and Bucky's apartment after a small shopping spree at Macy's with tons of wrapped packages. When they entered, the small one bedroom apartment, they were greeted with the smell of some kind of roasting bird, a hint of evergreen scent from a very small tree in the corner, and paper snowflakes hanging all over the place.

“Merry Christmas, Squirt! Four Eyes!” Bucky grinned from the tiny little kitchenette. “Ma'll be here soon.”

“Geez, Darcy-girl, did you buy the whole store?” Steve smiled at her, taking some of the bags off of her and Becks.

“I'll have you know that I only bought about half the store,” Darcy shrugged hugging Steve eagerly and smacking her lips against his cheek before he retreated. “Becks is much more helpful shopping than you ever were, Stevie-boy. She told me about all the things you all need.”

“You didn't have to get us anything,” Steve reminded her patiently.

“I hope you got me something nice!” Bucky countered with a grin.

“Lump of coal, Buckaroo,” Becks cackled, going to the bags of wrapped gifts and placing them under the tree.

“You're an awful influence on her,” Bucky gave Darcy an unimpressed look.

“I think she's a great influence,” Steve smirked as he took a fat chicken out of the oven and placed the dish on top of the stove.

“Nobody cares what you think, punk,” Bucky rolled his eyes.

“I care about what you think Stevie-boy,” Darcy promised, throwing him a wink.

“Thank you, Darcy-girl,” Steve smiled warmly at her.

Bucky rolled his eyes again. Sure, Darcy was his girl, he knew that. He knew she loved him. He was the one that got to touch her, that got to kiss her, that got to chase her hands away from unbuttoning his trousers every time they had a moment alone. But he still couldn't help the green eyed little monster living in his gut that would dance around in a tantrum every time Steve and Darcy would get so sickeningly friendly with one another.

He fished into his pocket and pulled out a sprig of mistletoe and held it above his head. He cleared his throat to get Darcy's attention, waggling his eyebrows at her when she finally stopped looking at Steve and the dinner preparations. She heaved a heavy sigh at him and made a big production of kissing his cheek, as if it were bothersome to her.

“C'mon Four Eyes, kiss me proper,” Bucky coaxed. He tossed the mistletoe to the side and grabbed her by her arms, pulling her flush against his body and kissing her lips with an avid passion he usually saved for when they managed to get a moment's privacy.

“eugh,” Rebecca made a disgusted noise.

“Agreed, Becks,” Steve shook his head, the soft warm smile that had been on his face slowly replaced with a facsimile of a smile as he turned back to getting dinner ready.

Mrs. Barnes showed up by the time everything was ready and the five of them crowded around the tiny table, plates piled as high as they could be with the simple Christmas feast the boys had prepared. Darcy had never seen Steve laugh so much, past or future, big or little. She turned from him to look at Bucky, and he looked _so happy_ that she felt her heart clench.

The idea that this beautiful, wonderful young man would be gone in less than five years made her want to curl in on herself in front of everyone and sob and rail and fight against the injustice of it. He was so  _ good _ . He was kind and smart and loving.

It wasn't fair that he should be taken away from this. Should be taken away from a loving mother and sister. From his best friend.

From her.

If she could get him to not enlist, there might be a way to change it. They could figure out a way for him to avoid the draft as well. He'd never go to war. He'd never fall from that train. She looked to Steve, who was giving her a concerned look, obviously her melancholic, desperate thoughts were readable on her face, to him at least.

She thought of Steve from 2014, as she often did when looking at his much smaller face and frame. If he woke up nearly 70 years in the future, knowing that Bucky had been safe and in Brooklyn, growing old and happy...would it make him happy?

Darcy couldn't stay, even if she could save Bucky. If she stayed, then she would be leaving Steve in the future alone.

She couldn't bring herself to think about doing something like that.

“Let's open some presents, I have to be up early for work,” Mrs. Barnes announced, and a joyous Rebecca went to the small piles she had divied up earlier. She handed each pile to each person with a flourish. Mrs. Barnes opened a few packages, a new dress, a new pair of shoes, and some fine new bed linens from the department store. “Thank you Darcy, that's very sweet of you.”

“If I could have gotten that coffee for you again, I would've,” Darcy promised.

“I know, girl, I know,” Mrs. Barnes smiled. While she didn't understand the particulars behind Darcy's disappearances, she understood enough. She wisely didn't ask any questions to try and get a better understanding.

Clothing was the main present for everyone, along with one frivolous item Darcy had impulsively bought that very afternoon. Rebecca got a new Philco wireless record player, along with quite a few records to start her off with. Steve got a brand new compass, which had been engraved with his initials in a simple script on the outside. Bucky received a new pocket watch, also engraved with his initials inside.

Mrs. Barnes and Rebecca had left before Bucky and Steve put a package in Darcy's lap with small smiles on their faces.

“You boys didn't have to do anything,” Darcy insisted.

“You're outta your skull, Four Eyes. Course we had to!” Bucky scoffed.

“C'mon, Darcy-girl, open it,” Steve grinned at her.

She tore the paper off the box and opened it with a held breath. Inside was a small golden bracelet, with a little heart shaped locket attached. She cracked the little locket open and there were two sketched pictures on each side. Bucky and Steve.  She now realized why they had been so eager to make some extra cash.  It was a fine piece of gold and had probably cost a lot of money.

“Just so you know...no matter where you end up, we'll be in your heart,” Bucky shrugged.

“You're such a sap,” Darcy whispered, her throat tightening as she fought against a fresh wave of melancholy. She popped to her feet and kissed Bucky squarely on the mouth before turning and doing the same to Steve. “I'm...I have to go.”

“Darcy...darlin', stay,” Bucky begged. “Stevie and I'll squeeze in a bed and you can have mine.”

“No, I'm...I'll see you soon,” Darcy shook her head, grabbing for her bag, shoving the locket in it. She gave them both a small wave and whispered, “Good bye...you know...just in case.”

* * *

“Darcy!” Bucky called after her, rushing from the apartment building and down the cold, dark and empty streets. Half a block away he finally caught up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her mad dash. “Darlin' what's the matter? Do you not like the bracelet?”

“ I like it fine,” Darcy shook her head.  She looked down at the ground, willing herself to be strong.  She had to do  _ something _ .  Something to keep him safe.  Something to keep him happy.  Something to keep him  _ alive _ .  “I love it.”

“You gotta tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it,” Bucky said very softly. “Talk to me, Four Eyes.”

“I don't want to be your girl,” Darcy said slowly, her voice low and even.

“What?” Bucky's mouth turned down in a frown, his eyes searching hers for the smallest hint that she was joking.

“ I can't be your girl,” Darcy insisted.  She couldn't.  The beautiful idea of having him in her heart was as beautiful as it was painful.  Either he would die and she would break.  Or she would somehow miraculously convince him to live and she would still  _ break _ .

“What are you on about?” Bucky demanded, his face the picture of sadness, those lovely blue-gray eyes losing their sparkle but still glittering with the smallest hint of tears. “What'd I do? Is it Steve? Do you---do you want him instead now?”

“I can't love you,” Darcy shook her head, her gut churning at the thought that Bucky was insecure enough to suspect her wanting Steve in that way over him.

“Is this about me and Stevie going to the enlistment office on Christmas Eve?” Bucky demanded. “Did Rebecca go spouting her mouth off about something she doesn't know anything about?”

“Don't go, Bucky, don't enlist!” Darcy begged suddenly. “Please, promise me you won't.”

“I can't do that, darlin', you know that,” Bucky whispered. Bucky was resolute on very few things.  His love for his sister and his mother and Steve.  His love for her.  And now this.  “If there's a chance in hell of Stevie getting in, I can't let him go alone. You wouldn't want me to let him go alone. I have to do it.”

“Then I can't love you,” Darcy sniffled. “Don't wait for me this time, Bucky.”

“Darcy,” Bucky whispered. He pulled on her shoulder and brought her stumbling into his embrace. He kissed her lips softly, his pleas and begging in that simple caress. “Don't do this to me.”

“Goodbye, Bucky,” Darcy whispered, detangling herself from his arms and turning away from him. Nearly everything in her was telling her to run.  To run fast and far and away from this.  

But there was a tiny, contradictory thought in her brain.  

_ Why _ ?   _ Why not?   _ _ Be strong and give him everything, give him strength and love and happiness. _

She was five steps away when she began to feel the familiar heat and see the familiar glow from her bag. She closed her eyes, welcoming the feeling this time as the glow grew in intensity, blotting out every detail of Bucky Barnes and December 22, 1941 from her field of vision.

* * *

** Chapter Seven:  ** [ ** Nice Work if You Can Get It ** ](https://youtu.be/ObZdbgPzS6Y)

Darcy would never be able to explain what blipping through time felt like completely.  She knew it was warm, and bright and safe and  _ clean _ .  And it was very, very quick.  So quick that in her previous travels through time, she didn't have much time to think.  As she blinked out of 1941, a slowness took over.  There was the thought that she had a little control at that moment.  It slowed.  Everything slowed.  And she had a moment to herself in that warm, glowy safe space and she had the undeniable realization that she had made a huge mistake. 

She wanted to go back, but knew she couldn't, so she landed where the necklace wanted her to.

Darcy felt her feet hit gravel and the cool December air disappeared and was instead replaced with mild warmth of an early summer night. She looked around, it wasn't the newspaper corner this time. This time she stood outside of a recruitment office, a large banner twenty feet away proclaimed that it was  _ The World Exposition of Tomorrow _ .

So it was  _ June 14 _ _ th _ _ , 1943. _

She had paid a lot of attention to Steve's stories. She knew this was the night before Bucky shipped out. The night before Steve would leave for Camp Lehigh.

Steve Rogers would be transformed into a super soldier in eight days.

Bucky Barnes would leave for England the very next day.

She squinted, and less than half a block a tall, imposing soldier in uniform walked lazily away from the recruitment office, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched forward with tension and sadness. She knew that walk, had seen it plenty in the last three months if her life.

“Bucky!” she called out.

He froze and turned very slowly to her. Her thick, warm coat was out of place for June. He swallowed against the lump in his throat at the sight of her, looking just as she did when she had disappeared out of his life eighteen months ago, right down to the red eyes and tear-streaked cheeks.. When she had broken his heart eighteen months ago. This was the Darcy who had done that, probably just moments ago for her.

It had been a hell of a lot longer for him. He had had time to mull it over. To try and work out why she'd change her mind so quick. To try to understand why.

He hadn't come up with any answers in those eighteen months.

He'd done what she demanded. He hadn't waited. He'd tried to find his fun where he could get it, never quite managing to actually  _ have  _ fun in doing it.  He'd tried.  He'd gone to the dance halls, he'd smiled with no enthusiasm and admittedly, the dames had just fallen in line.  One half drunken kiss with another girl had told him everything he needed to know.  Nothing was fun if it wasn't with Darcy. 

He stomped towards her, his jaw set in anger, his mouth turned down in a frown as he stared down at her. Darcy Lewis with her strange loose curly spirals and her red mouth and her big blue eyes full of tears from the night she'd ripped his heart out.

“You sorry yet, Four Eyes?” he demanded angrily. “You have time to change your mind?”

“I---”

“Cause I haven't changed my mind,” Bucky shook his head. “I'm shipping out tomorrow and the one thing I wanted, was one more minute with you, Darcy Lewis. Nobody else in the past, present or future. I love you and I'm never gonna stop.”

“I'm sorry,” Darcy whispered before launching herself at him. He was going to war. He was going to go through torture and pain and torment. He was going to die a hero. She couldn't stop that. Steve had told her as much. And she had been worried about protecting her heart from the hurt of it happening, but it was going to happen anyway. And she would be damned if she let that happen without giving him everything she had. Her mouth slanted against his, and he kissed her back just as voraciously, the firm press of their lips quickly devolving into a desperate open mouthed tangle of tongues and clashing of teeth.

“Get a room!” some wise-acre called out gleefully.

Darcy pulled away finally and looked up at Bucky, who was staring down at her in relieved wonder. She nodded and said, “I love you.”

“Good, you should,” Bucky pouted at her playfully, his demeanor flipping as his every happiness in the world was right at the tips of his fingers. All the hurt of the last eighteen months was gone at those three little words. Bucky didn't have it in him to be cross at her. All the heartache was immediately forgiven.

“Can we go and get a room?” Darcy whispered.

Bucky's pout turned into a smirk, and before she knew it, he had lifted her up off her feet and hauled her over his shoulder, hustling down the street, eager to get to the closest hotel. He set her on her feet two and half blocks later, at a nice enough little hotel, one where you definitely paid for the night and not an hour.

“You go in and get us a room, Four Eyes, I'm gonna go across the street and get us a few overcoats.”

Darcy rolled her eyes at him, “Such a romantic.”

* * *

“Howdy Soldier.”

Bucky had his hand up to knock on the hotel door when Darcy opened it, standing in just her satiny white slip, having shucked her all in one girdle from underneath it. One hand was on her hip and her mouth was turned up in a delighted, devlish smirk.

“Get the hell in the room, Four Eyes. All that's for me and me only,” Bucky rushed in at her, closing and locking the door very quickly. He looked her over from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. All that soft skin, all those plush curves, those heavenly full breasts were all his. “If someone had seen you like that I woulda had to defend your honor.”

“What honor?” Darcy scoffed, grabbing his tie and pulling him towards the bed. She gave him a thorough once over and sighed, “You really look handsome in your soldier get-up.”

“I thought I looked handsome all the time,” Bucky smirked at her.

“The modesty is just icing on the cake,” Darcy rolled her eyes as she grabbed his hat and popped it on the top of her head before her hands went to start undoing his belt. “How long do we have?”

“I report at 0600 hours,” Bucky swallowed as her suddenly trembling hands tried to undo his buttons on his jacket. He watched her face carefully, seeing the way those big blue eyes danced behind her glasses with anxiety and fear.

“We have nine hours,” Darcy whispered, pushing his jacket off and throwing it on the ground behind her.

“That's right,” Bucky nodded. It wasn't enough time and they both knew it. There would never be enough time. His hand went to her waist, squeezing at her warm soft skin in an attempt to reassure her. To ground her. To make sure she knew he was right there with her.

“How many condoms did you get?” Darcy wondered, attempting to undo his tie.

“Enough,” Bucky promised.

“I can't---can you get this off?!” Darcy demanded, taking a step back and looking down at the seriously complicated uniform in annoyance.

“Calm down, darlin',” Bucky whispered, getting back on his feet, and undoing the tie. The shirt was next and in thirty seconds he was standing in front of her in a simple pair of boxers and a t-shirt. He reached for her and let his hands run up and down the soft skin of her arms, his fingertips leaving goosebumps in their wake. He took the hat from her head and tossed it to the ground before his head angled downward and he placed a gentle kiss on those beautiful red lips, his forehead resting against hers as he whispered, “I love you.”

Darcy let out a whimper and nodded, pushing against his shoulders until he was lying on the bed. She followed him, crawling up next to him before throwing a leg over his hips, straddling his body. He sat up to get at her lips again, his hands settling on her hips, fingers pressing into her soft flesh.

“Never wanted anyone so much as I want you,” Bucky sighed as her hands went under his shirt, her mouth sucking at the skin of his neck, marking him as hers for all the world to see.

“I'm yours, Bucky,” Darcy promised. “I'm your girl.”

His shirt disappeared and he rolled them over on the bed so Darcy was on her back. He grinned down at her and murmured, “Let me show my girl a good time.”

Rough hands pushed the satiny slip up her hips, bunching at her waist. Darcy had no patience as the fabric started to slip downwards again, so she yanked at it and tore it over her head, throwing it in the vague direction of the pile of clothes on the floor. She lay naked and exposed, looking at the way Bucky's gaze devoured every inch of her, his breathing quickening.

“Damn, I'm a lucky piece of shit,” Bucky whispered, his hands going right for those beautiful, full breasts, squeezing gently as his thumbs went to circle at her stiffening nipples.

“Language,” Darcy chided.

“I just spent six months in a base full of soldiers, I can't help it,” Bucky shrugged, groping at her breasts with intense focus, his tongue peaking out of his mouth to wet his bottom lip.

“Then get your mouth preoccupied with other things,” Darcy shrugged.

“You dirty little angel,” Bucky smirked before following her suggestion. He painted a long line of kisses from her mouth, to her jaw, to her neck, before happily enveloping a nipple in his mouth, his clever tongue laving at her lazily.

Those wonderful, rough hands traveled down her body, fingers tracing nondescript patterns on smooth ivory skin before reaching the apex of her thighs, those fingers now gently petting at the dark curls framing where he wanted to be most.

She gave a tiny little moan as his fingers danced reverently along the lips of her sex and he grinned against the soft skin of her breasts, moving his mouth down her body as well, wet and sloppy kisses on ribs and her soft stomach and her navel. He sucked his right index finger into his mouth, getting a small taste of her, his eyes closing in reverence at her earthy sweetness.

Darcy couldn't take her eyes off of him, staring down the length of her body, her eyes locking with his as he placed a chaste kiss against her skin once, twice and the third time lingering, his tongue suddenly against her flesh, licking decadently at her lips, his hands opening her to him. He never took his eyes off of her, tongue swirling against her, lips suckling at her exposed bundle of nerves.

“Bucky,” Darcy gasped, her hands going above her head, grasping at the pillows and sheets above her.

He groaned against her, her breasts looking so beautiful as she arched for him. He redoubled his excessively pleasant work, loving the non-stop tiny gasps Darcy made and the delightful fact that the more he worked, the wetter she got, giving him an endless amount of beautiful _Darcy_ to devour.

“Oh...oh, I'm gonna...I'm—right there,” Darcy whimpered, her hips bucking against him, causing him to growl and suck at her clit outright. She shattered against the bed, that eye contact breaking off as she squeezed her eyes shut as the waves of hedonistic release washed over her. To his credit, Bucky slowed for just a moment before going right back to his enthusiastic efforts. She squealed out as he pushed her into another orgasm before she could properly recover from the first. “Bucky, please...”

“wha?' he mumbled against her skin, feeling drunk off the taste of her. He gazed up at her with heavy lidded eyes and shook his head, his nose nuzzling against her soft little mound. “I can spend another hour or two just doing this, darlin'. I like making you feel good.”

“Get your overcoat on soldier, that's how I want to feel good now,” Darcy demanded, pushing him away from her with pleasure heavy arms. She watched with interest as he dropped his shorts, her eyes widening at the sight of his thick, uncut cock, standing up proudly. She popped up on her knees on the bed and shimmied towards him, her hand going out and giving him an experimental pump up and down.

“You keep that up, you'll have to sit and wait for the next show,” Bucky warned in a low voice.

“Just never saw one like this before,” Darcy shrugged. She bent at her waist and licked around the foreskin of his erection, feeling like a curious explorer.

  
  


“Darcy, no, c'mon,” Bucky whispered as she sucked on him and pumped her hand up and down his length. “Gonna have me shooting the moon too soon.”

“Oh fine, ruin my fun,” Darcy heaved a sigh, grabbing the condom from him and rolling it on with a devlish little smile as her hand stroked him hard and fast. He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back onto the bed, making her squeal out as she bounced against the mattress.

He licked his lips again as her breasts bounced along with the rest of her, and he climbed on top of the bed with her, groaning when she parted her legs for him, giving him the perfect view of her glistening, pink lips, her little fingers stroking at herself, opening herself for him as he crawled up to hover between her bent knees.

She took his length in her hand again, stroking him back and forth all the while guiding him to where she wanted him most. He could feel the heat radiating off of her and he held his breath as he sank into her, his eyes rolling in the back of his head at the hot, tight softness of her, the way her hands were suddenly on his chest stroking aimlessly, the way her lovely full thighs squeezed at his hips as he sank deep into her, stilling and just reveling in all the sensations he had wanted for so long.

“You feel so good inside me,” Darcy sighed in his ear, placing sloppy little kisses against his earlobe repeatedly. His hips pushed languidly against her a few times and she couldn't help the low moan from passing her lips.

“The mouth on you, Four Eyes,” Bucky shuddered.

“Oh Sarge, you have no idea what this mouth can do,” Darcy laughed. “You'll see later though, promise.”

“Not gonna last,” Bucky warned her helpfully, his hips giving short little ruts against her. “You feel too good, I can't...”

“S'okay,” Darcy said lazily, still feeling accomplished from what he had given her already. She clenched around him experimentally and murmured, “Just do what feels good.”

“Fuck,” Bucky cursed against her skin as he felt her get impossibly tighter. He'd be damned if he didn't get her there before he shot the works like some inexperienced teenager. One arm went for her right leg, hitching it up high, changing the angle at which he drove into her. A fine sweat broke out all over him, dripping down his forehead as he continued to pump into her, quickening his pace, thinking about anything else to get him to stave off his own end.

“Right there,” Darcy encouraged, her own hand drifting down to their joining again, small fingers rubbing and pressing against her clit as Bucky worked her over like a damned champion in an effort to bring her pleasure again. He groaned above her as he pulled out all the way before slamming back in at just the right angle, repeating the move a half dozen times before she fell over the cliff again.

She stiffened beneath him, a wail on her lips and at the first rush of warmth from inside of her and the amazing fluttering of her walls around him had Bucky out of his head, burying himself as far into her as he could go and succumbing to his orgasm, his body spasming as long streams of his come emptied into the condom.

“You there, honey?”

Bucky blinked his eyes open, his vision obstructed by Darcy's dark brown curls. He had nearly blacked out from what she had given him, slumping forward onto her, a mess of a man as he came down from his high. He kissed her temple sloppily before very carefully pulling out of her and rolling off. She took care of the condom and hopped off the bed, going to the bathroom for a warm, wet cloth to clean up a bit.

“My girl's so good,” Bucky hummed in contentment as she cuddled against him once more.

“ You aren't so bad yourself, Soldier,” Darcy sighed.  She propped up her chin on his chest and drank in his appearance.  Happy.  Contented.   _ Blissful _ .  He deserved all of that and more before he went off the next day.  She sighed again and whispered, “I---will you please be careful? For me?”

“Yes, darlin', I promise I will,” Bucky nodded, letting the feeling of her in his arms, her soft, warm curves pressed right against him. “And hey, you might just blip right through the war, and meet me on the other side.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Darcy nodded, hiding her frown in his shoulder.

“You just keep Stevie company the next three weeks. And when you come back again, I'll be home.”

* * *

Steve looked around his apartment, wondering how on Earth he would be able to pack everything up in the next few hours before he was due to report back to the recruitment center. He was leaving for Camp Lehigh, and he wondered if he couldn't get Mrs. Barnes and Rebecca to handle things for him.

If he did that, he'd have to hide Darcy's things from the future. He went for the small closet, intent on digging out her bags and boxing them up in a better hiding place when he saw a piece of paper tacked up at eye level in the closet with his name on it. He pulled it down and saw Bucky's careful, slanted handwriting and sighed.

_ Dear Stevie, _

_ Rumor amongst the boys says we won't have long at home before we're called out to England, so I'm writing this to you now before I don't have the chance to do it. _

_ Darcy hasn't come back to us for seventeen months, but I know she'll come back soon. And I know she'll come back to where you are. I ain't jealous anymore, I promise. And I'm sorry I was green about it. Couldn't help it cause you got something from her that I never did.  It's fair though.  We're all even, you me and Darcy.  We all get something that we can't get nowhere else.  If we could keep her around forever, it'd be a nice life, I think. _

_ But this is war, and it's dangerous and I gotta be true, punk, I'm scared. _

_ I'm scared that I'm not gonna come back and you're gonna be alone. I'm scared I'm never gonna get a chance to hold Darcy in my arms again. _

_ If the worst happens, you gotta promise me, that when she comes back, you'll take care of her. I put a box in the bag with her old things in it. Keep it safe for me. And if the worst does happen, Stevie, you use it. You take care of my girl. And you take care of yourself. _

_ I love you, punk. _

_ Stay safe, _

_ Bucky _

Steve swallowed back the urge to cry at the words his friend had committed to paper. Bucky was smart. He was realistic and honest. If he wrote that he was scared...then he was really scared. Steve pulled Darcy's bag out and there on top was a small jewelry box and inside was a little gold band with a tiny glittering diamond on it.

Steve snapped the ring box shut and went to put it in his small bag he was taking with him, along with the letter. He tried to get his emotions under control, a hand going to his brow and rubbing absently.

“I thought you would be more excited.”

  
  


“Darcy-girl,” Steve breathed, turning to the door and rushing to meet her with open arms. She hugged against him fiercely and he distinctly smelled Bucky's aftershave ghosting along her skin, in her hair. It was right, he knew that. She had found Bucky and hopefully they had spent a happy night together before Bucky ran off to the front lines. He couldn't be jealous, it was right for them to be together.   Bucky was right.  They all did get something with the three of them.  He took a shaky breath and a small, timid smile,  “I got---I got in, Darcy-girl.”

“I know,” Darcy nodded, pulling away and giving him a big beaming smile. “You are going to do such amazing things, Stevie-boy. I promise you.”

 


	23. The Goodbye Girl (2/2)

 

* * *

** Chapter Eight:  ** [ ** Remember That You're My Sweetheart ** ](https://youtu.be/EQgrZzPsPuE)

It was strange to be in the past and not have Steve right there with her. Even before she and Bucky had become  _ more _ , Steve and she had been thick as thieves from the moment she woke up on that second day in 1937. She was lonely without him. She had spent a few days emptying out Steve's apartment. She knew that he would have no use for it from that point forward.

She was sitting in the Barnes' house, having already written a half dozen letters to Bucky that morning alone, counting out her remaining money (out of $2,000 dollars Steve had gifted to her at the beginning of the adventure), she had $1,432 left. She suspected Steve had been overly indulgent, as he so often was with her, both past and future versions of him. She re-read future Steve's letter to her and sighed.

In a few days, she would be seeing Steve after the transformation. It was one step closer to home for her. One more piece of familiarity.

She went over the remaining paperwork with a critical eye, wondering what kind of clues future Steve had left her. There was a passport, which meant that at some point she'd be materializing in Europe alongside Steve. More fascinating to her at the moment was the list of names and addresses within the New York metro area and a sheet of paper giving her USO credentials.

“If you're writing my dumb brother, tell him I said hi,” Becks announced as she breezed into the kitchen, grabbing for the brown bag full of candy that Darcy bought for her everyday.

“I'm not writing to your big dumb brother, I already did that enough today,” Darcy smirked at the young lady peaking at Darcy's papers laid out on the table.

“You working with the USO?” Becks furrowed her brow. “You can't sing and you dance alright, but I gotta warn ya, Bucky'll have a cow if you're dancing for other soldiers!”

“ I'm not going to sing or dance for the USO,” Darcy shook her head. “I need to figure out what else I'm supposed to do...And I need to figure it out before the 22 nd .”

“Why do you have a list of all the rich people in New York?” Becks wondered. Her eyes widened. “You gonna rob them? Is that why you always have money? Can I help?!?”

Rich people. The USO.

Suddenly, Darcy knew exactly what she needed to do.

* * *

It hadn't taken much for her to get a foot in the door at Senator Brandt's office. It had only taken fifty dollars slipped to the right secretary and she suddenly had a willing audience the afternoon right after Steve's transformation.

The next day she was waiting patiently in a waiting room, and full out grinned when a very young Peggy Carter walked by her, looking none too pleased with whatever had just happened. She was followed by a haggard looking military guy and Darcy sighed, taking deep breaths as she waited to pitch her idea to Captain America.

“C'mon in, sweetie pie!” Senator Brandt opened the door and gestured her into the office where Steve stood.

  
  


“ Hello, Mr. Rogers,” Darcy beamed at him. “I'm Miss Lewis, with the USO. I've already organized a show for you for the end of the this week with a lot of high potential donors. If you do well, you'll be touring around the country. Before heading to  _ Europe _ .”

“ Thank you, Miss Lewis,” Steve grinned at her. Grinned  _ down  _ at her from his new massive height. He threw a look to Senator Brandt and said, “I'd like to talk to you more about this Miss Lewis...over dinner perhaps?”

“Have fun kids,” the Senator gave them a wave, knowing when he wasn't needed. He didn't blame the kid. If he had just been given a spanking new body like that, he would want to test it out on the prettiest dame he could find too.

The door closed behind the Senator before Darcy threw herself at Steve, as she had done may times in 2013 and 2014. She squealed as he swung her around in a quick, tight circle.

“I take it you're not completely surprised by the transformation?” Steve chuckled.

“I'm going to miss my little Steve,” Darcy sighed, feeling Steve's massive arms tightening around her waist. “But its good to see you like this again.”

”So a USO tour?” Steve furrowed his brow. “You know I'm not so great at speaking out in public, Darcy-girl.”

“I know, you'll get used to it,” Darcy insisted. “Trust me?”

  
  


“With everything,” Steve nodded.

“This gets you to where you need to go,” Darcy whispered.

“Europe?” Steve nodded.

“Europe.”

* * *

_ Dear Bucky, _

_ I miss you, Soldier.  I'm sitting here, waiting for Stevie-boy to get done with his job, and I'm thinking about that last kiss.  And it  _ _ fucking sucks _ _ .  Not the kiss.  The fact that you're going off to battle Nazi's.  Like seriously?  FUCK THE NAZIS. _

_ Stevie and I are on a little road trip of sorts right now.  We're having fun, but we both miss you so much.  Again, fuck the nazis. _

_ Stevie is becoming a little popular with the ladies away from home, actually.  It's _ _ interesting. _ _ Some bitch from Hackensack PUSHED me out of the way when I was having my Stevie cuddle times.  I thought I was going to have to throw down.  But you know our Steve.  He smoothed over the whole situation and I didn't have to pull anyone's victory rolls out.   _

_ I miss you.  And I love you.  And please be safe.  Please....please for me, be safe.  And also, kick Nazi ass.  Cause really.  Fuck the nazis. _

_ Love, _

_ Your Four Eyes _

Bucky laughed as he re-read the letter again.  Darcy had been prolific with her letters, really.  And while her spoken language had cleaned up quite nicely in her time with them, her written word was incredibly offensive and he couldn't help but absolutely adore it. 

Every mail call had dozens of letters from her alone.  Steve had started to slow down on his letter writing already.  And he hoped he'd pick up the slack when Darcy had to go on her glowy time travel trip.

He looked around the encampment.  The mud, the rain, the dirt, the dismal drab surroundings.  He went back to his stack of letters, intent on reading them again, focusing on his mom and sister and best friend and best girl.  Focusing on anything to try to forget where exactly he was.  Fuck Nazis, indeed.

* * *

One week later, Steve had just finished up his third show and the efficient crew was breaking down the set to move towards Philadelphia, where they would be doing another show tomorrow. Darcy was in his dressing room, writing Bucky her third letter of the day. She knew she was due to blip out on Steve soon, and she was going to try to dictate where she landed next.

She was really going to try to not stay away for quite so long this time.

Steve and Bucky would need her. She was sure of that.

Feminine giggling broke through her thoughts as she placed a red lipstick mark next to her name on the paper before folding it carefully. The door to Steve's dressing room opened and a flirty, giggling woman was pushing a very out of his depth Steve Rogers into the dressing room.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” Darcy hopped to her feet. She looked at Steve with a curious expression and saw his face turn beet red behind the cowl he wore from his stage outfit. “I'll make myself scarce?”

“Darcy-girl...wait,” Steve mumbled as she quickly squeezed past them and into the hall. He chased after her and gently grabbed her hand. “I'm sorry...I didn't know where we were backstage.”

“You didn't know that the groupie was going to be bringing you back to the room with _Captain America_ on the door?” Darcy gave him a look full of disbelief. “Ugh, Stevie-boy, I know you're a virile, serum enhanced, young man, and I don't want to hold you back from giving your all for the ladies of these United States of America, but do you know what today is?”

“It's July 5th, we _just_ celebrated my birthday yesterda---oh Darcy-girl, I'm sorry,” Steve's look of apology was genuine as he realized this was her last day with him for some time.

She held out her stack of letters that she hadn't had the chance to mail that day and sniffled, “Can you make sure you get those in the mail?”

“Course I can,” Steve nodded. “Just---let me go and get changed and we'll go and get a milkshake before you have to leave.”

“No, go on and have your fun. You earned it,” Darcy plastered a smile on her lips, one that didn't quite reach her eyes. “I'll----I'm going to try something though...”

She reached for the necklace in her bag and put it around her neck for the first time since touching it back at the flea market. She took deep even breaths and concentrated very hard.

“I'm going to try to come back sooner,” Darcy promised. Her eyes widened in shock as the necklace began to glow and warm against her skin, allowing itself to be controlled by her wishes for the first time.

“Come back to me, okay?” Steve whispered. “Don't---don't go to Bucky, cause it'll be dangerous. Just come back to me.”

“I always will,” Darcy promised. She gave him a little wave as the glow grew in intensity. “Good bye, Stevie-boy.”

* * *

The glow receded and Darcy blinked her eyes open to get an eyeful of bare-assed, star-spangled booty flexing as Steve was relentlessly pounding into a moaning woman against the wall of a makeshift dressing room. Darcy made an odd squeaking noise and covered her eyes as Steve stopped mid thrust into Mitzy, the beautiful blonde chorus girl, second from the right in the kick-line, and his head turned to see her. To her credit, Mitzy brazenly glared at Darcy, who had obviously derailed a well-earned orgasm.

“Darcy-girl? It's---it's only been three weeks!” he rasped out, his face nearly purple as he reached for the stage outfit he had discarded eagerly fifteen minutes earlier.

“ I'm---oh, I'm---” Darcy stammered, her own face turning pink as she peeked from behind her fingers, seeing more of Steve than she ever had before. The serum definitely enhanced  _ everything _ . Steve Rogers had not been packing that much equipment a few years ago when she had woke up with his arms around her. She turned quickly and ran out the door, rushing down the empty hallway.

She stopped before the stairwell, trying to get her bearings about her. Steve was her best friend. She was with Bucky. She had no claim on who Steve made see stars and stripes. She should be happy for him, after years of girls turning him down, he was finally in a place where he not only had girls flocking to him, but he had the self-confidence to go do something with those girls.

But Darcy knew that deep down, she was a little bit jealous. Irrationally so.

“Darcy!” Steve called out, hastily clothed and rushing after her.

“Sorry!” Darcy turned to him and shook her head. “I was trying not to take so long this time, but, I---I'll try for a little further out...”

“Wait---no wait!” Steve pleaded, watching her clutch at the glowing necklace. His face looked like it was twisted with guilt, over what, Darcy didn't know.

“Good bye again, Steve.”

Steve groaned as the light became too much for his eyes and she disappeared from his view.

“So---are we finishing up or not?” Mitzy wondered.

“No,” Steve shook his head, feeling shame in the pit of his stomach. If he hadn't of been doing what he'd been doing when she came in, she might have stayed the three weeks. He might have kept her by his side again for another small snippet of time. Instead, he'd chased her away for the first time. “I'm sorry. But no, we're done.”

* * *

** Chapter Nine:  ** [ ** Only Forever, If Someone Should Ask ** ](https://youtu.be/mNCt6hkCUic)

When Darcy rematerialized, it was thankfully not in any kind of dressing room, and certainly not to the sight of Steve mid-coitus. It was, however, decidedly a very different place to where she had ever been before. She was in an office, and at the desk was one very surprised Peggy Carter.

“I didn't believe him when he'd said you would drop in at any time,” Peggy said in quiet astonishment. She stood up from her desk and held out a hand to Darcy. “I'm Peggy Carter. I'm a colleague of Steve's.”

“Oh, I know. I definitely know who you are, I'm Darcy Lewis, but seeing as you're not freaking out about my sudden, glowy arrival, I'm going to assume Steve told you,” Darcy smiled at her. She looked around, looking to get some confirmation of when she'd landed. She hadn't wanted to drop in on another Star Spangled live action porno show, so she'd focused on a little distance from Steve. She hoped she hadn't gone too far this time, missing Bucky and Steve completely.

“ It's February 14 th , 1944,” Peggy revealed quickly.

“Oh, thank the sweet and fluffy lord,” Darcy sighed in relief. “Where are they?”

“They're getting cleaned up downstairs, they just got back from Czechoslovakia,” Peggy assured her. A knock on her office door made her grin, “And that must be him. Come in, Captain Rogers.”

Steve opened the door, his face more serious and grim than Darcy had ever seen it before. The look of seriousness melted at the sight of Darcy. She was in his arms, twirled around in a circle before she could even blink.

“Oh thank God. I missed you so much,” Steve whispered in her ear, those super muscles giving her an extra tight brief squeeze as he tried to relay to her so many things.  That he was sorry for the last time she saw him.  That he had missed her and wished she could have stayed.  How relieved he was that he now had her help for Bucky.  “He's gonna be so happy to see you.”

“Indeed,” Peggy nodded. “I'm sure I'll be seeing you again, during your stay Miss Lewis. I'd love to see that necklace a little more.”

“Uhm...sure, just, no Howard Stark poking at it,” Darcy grinned at Peggy as Steve continued to hug her to him with those iron bands he called arms.

“I can't promise what Howard will or will not poke,” Peggy smirked. “If I could, I imagine my life would be a lot easier.”

“You're so sassy, I love it,” Darcy exclaimed. She wiggled in Steve's arms and demanded, “Where is he?”

“C'mon, I'll take you to him,” Steve finally put Darcy down on the ground, grabbing her hand. He threw a grateful smile Peggy's way before leading her out the door. He squeezed her hand and said softly, “Sorry about the last time you saw me, Darcy-girl.”

“ Oh no, don't worry about it Stevie-boy,” Darcy shook her head adamantly, her cheeks flushing at what she had literally just seen. “You deserve to have as much fun as you possibly can. Although I would recommend you trying to find the fun with Peggy  _ Badass  _ Carter instead of blonde chorus girls. Or blonde anybody, actually.”

“I take it I already told you about the dame before I got this?” Steve gestured to the shield on his back.

“Yup,” Darcy grinned. “Nice shield by the way. I like the colors.”

“Got a little inspiration from a shirt the prettiest dame in the whole world was wearing one day,” Steve grinned down at her. They hit the staircase and began heading downstairs. “The Commandos and I have our own spaces downstairs. Bucky headed down there after we got back from the mission.”

“Mission a success?” Darcy wondered amiably.

“Absolutely. Bucky saved my hide,” Steve nodded.

“Nothing new there,” Darcy laughed.

Steve stopped them at the bottom of the stair case and stared openly as she laughed. He got a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach and gave a happy little sigh. He'd been so worried about Bucky since pulling him out of that hell hole in November. But now Darcy was here. She would mend what needed mending. Darcy would make everything right for the both of them.

“I gotta warn you, Darcy-girl,” Steve whispered. “Since we got back from Austria last November, Buck's been...he's been different.”

“Different how?” Darcy furrowed her brow up at him.

“Quieter...a little quicker to get angry. He---when I found him, they were torturing him, I think,” Steve admitted. “He never wants to talk about it though. Said it didn't matter cause he made it through and he's fine now. He has...he has nightmares, Darcy. I can hear him from across the hall.”

“Okay...alright,” Darcy nodded. “I'll, I'll do my best to get him to talk. He can't keep that inside...”

“You're just what we need,” Steve nodded. Bucky wasn't the only one with nightmares. Steve had seen so much horror and death in the last four months. He'd _caused_ a lot of horror and death too. He needed Darcy, as well. He went to the door and opened it halfway. “You ready?”

“As I'll ever be,” Darcy smiled softly at him.

Steve took her to the door at the end of the hall and he knocked on it sharply, throwing her another soft smile.

“Stevie, I told you, I'm fine! Leave me the hell alone!” Bucky's growl reverberated through the door.

“Buck!” Steve knocked on the door again, exasperation quick to appear on his face. “I gotta surprise for you.”

“FUCK OFF ROGERS!” Bucky growled.

“JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES, OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!” Darcy yelled in annoyance.

There was a thumping noise from inside of the room, like a large body hitting the floor after rolling out of the bed. The sound of three heavy footsteps echoed and the door was thrown open, Bucky staring down at Darcy in wonder, his mouth open as his eyes darted up and down her body, taking her in with wonder and relief. He grabbed for her, picking her up and hauling her into a tight embrace.

“I'll see you two tomorrow morning,” Steve gave them an awkward little wave before closing the door and walking away.

Darcy tried to give Steve a wave, but Bucky had her wrapped up in arms that felt a lot stronger than the last time he held her. She felt the stubble on his cheek scratching at her neck as his lips latched on to her, painting wet kisses on whatever bare skin he could find.

“Can't breathe,” she whispered.

He released her and she dropped her purse on the ground while his hands went to the buttons on her dress right away, scrambling to get to more of her. He barely had half of them undone before he steered her into the bed, laying her down and hovering over her, pressing a really impressive erection against her hip.

“Woah!' Darcy tried to laugh, it had all happened so quickly she was barely more than a passive bystander. Her hands went to each side of his face, drawing him away from painting kisses atop the swells of her breasts. “Nice to see you too, Soldier.”

“Four Eyes, don't tease,” Bucky rasped out, looking up at her with a cloudy blue gaze. He licked his lips and gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. “I need you so bad, darlin'.”

“Okay, alright,” Darcy nodded, her hands going to his soft shirt, pushing it up his body. His own hands were preoccupied, moving down her body, hands gripping the top band of her underwear and ripping.

“Woah, dude!” Darcy tried to laugh, pushing at Bucky and frowning when he didn't budge. She didn't remember him being this strong.

He went to his feet and gave her his best apologetic look, ripping his shirt up and over his head before quickly relieving himself of his pants. Darcy took the opportunity to rid herself of her own clothing before he could rip anything else, going to her purse and grabbing a condom. She lay back on the bed and held her arms open for him with a soft smile on her face as she took in the sight of him. His face was pale, but the rest of him looked amazing. Everything looked firmer and more muscled than it had been since the last time they had been together.

“ I love you,” Bucky whispered, easing himself down on the bed, his right hand drifting down her body, petting at the lips of her sex, parting them and caressing her with a light touch, swallowing as he felt her wetness trickling out of her already. “Darlin', I need you... _ please _ .”

“Okay, Bucky,” Darcy nodded, overwhelmed by the need in his eyes, the desperation for her. She pushed against him until he was lying flat on his back, and she straddled him, gripping his erection in her hand, grasping for the condom and quickly sheathing his length in it. She maneuvered herself so that his hard length brushed against her, she took a deep breath as she rubbed it against herself, already more than ready to take him. She'd be lying if she didn't say that seeing Steve's unintended live pornography show from her last visit hadn't gotten her motor running just a little. To her, it had felt like fifteen minutes ago.

Bucky's hands gripped her hips as she sank down on his erection, letting out a low groan that rumbled in his throat. His eyes shut tightly as he tried to let the feeling of her, the tight, soft warmth surrounding him and clutching at him with every shimmy of her hips, erase every bad thing he had seen in the last few months.

“Darcy...” he gasped out as she moaned. He could feel her wash away the pain and the torture and the torment. His hands gripped her hips even harder and he let his beautiful girl give him so much pleasure that it made the awful things he had seen and felt and experienced fall to the wayside.

She let out a breathy moan and a soft whisper of his name and he was overwhelmed with passion for her, fingers digging into her skin so hard he could already see the bruises forming. The sight of his marks on her body, possessing her, claiming her, had him in a haze, and he began to piston his hips into her at a rapid, punishing pace.

“Jesus!” Darcy gasped out, falling against him as waves of pleasure broke over her suddenly. Bucky didn't stop, didn't slow, he continued to pound into her body and didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat. His name was on her lips, but ended in a cry as she came against him again. He kept stroking her straight through it and she managed a pleasured whimper as her lips pressed against the skin of his chest, tongue drawing lazy circles as he seemed determined to drive her to orgasm again. “Please honey, please...”

It was her voice that drove him out of his trance and without warning he pressed himself as deep as he could go, and let out a worldless shout as he erupted inside of her. She was breathless and boneless and she smashed her face against his chest.

  
  


“Woah,” she managed to get out.

“Love you, Four Eyes,” Bucky whispered.

“Love you too, Soldier,” she nodded, she felt him twitch inside of her again and managed to peer up at him in sated amusement. “Really?”

Bucky swallowed nervously and chose his words very carefully. “I really missed you, darlin'.”

“Okay...but let's switch it up, my legs are starting to cramp already,” Darcy pushed off of him with a silly grin. “Show me how much you missed me.”

* * *

“Darcy-girl, you alright?” Steve asked her the next morning, as Bucky delivered her upstairs to Peggy's office after a nearly sleepless night and a hastily procured breakfast.

She was definitely walking a little funny. Bucky had been insatiable and had shown her a refractory period that was otherworldly. She gave Steve two big thumbs up before easing herself into the chair and smiling at Peggy, carefully placing the magic, time-traveling necklace on her desk.

“She's fine, punk,” Bucky insisted. “C'mon, leave the ladies talk...we got reports to fill out. I'll be back soon, Four Eyes, don't go blinking out on me just yet.”

“Alright,” Steve furrowed his brow. He looked down at Darcy with a fond smile before his eyes turned stern. “Darcy---before we go, I want you to promise me and Bucky something...”

“Sure,” Darcy nodded automatically. She knew Steve would never ask her to do anything if it wasn't completely important.

“If we get raided...if we think we're in danger here, I want you to take that,” Steve pointed to the necklace. “And I want you to go....I know you can do it on your own now. You take it and you go and you keep going until you're somewhere safe.”

“I---okay,” Darcy nodded, earning a grateful smile from Steve. He leaned down and kissed her forehead before giving a small, shy smile Peggy's way. He ignored Bucky's glare aimed at Peggy and gripped his friend's shoulder, leading him out of the room. She turned to them and waved, “Good bye, boys!”

“Good bye, Four Eyes,” Bucky called back. “Love you!”

Darcy turned back to face Peggy, her smile only growing larger at the curious look Peggy was aiming at her.

“While I think its a fine idea for you to avoid danger,” Peggy said carefully. “I do believe a person should learn to protect themselves. And I believe a few hours at a shooting range will work on the concentration you might need to harness the power of that necklace more accurately.”

“Oh my god, Peggy _Badass_ Carter is going to give me lessons in badassery,” Darcy breathed. Natasha and Clint had _tried_ to give her lessons back (forward?) in 2013, but their lessons usually entailed _running_ and _hiding._ Peggy Carter never ran and never hid. “This is the greatest moment of my entire life.”

“I like you very much, Darcy Lewis,” Peggy smiled at her. “We are going to be very good friends.”

* * *

Fourteen blissful days went by in the blink of an eye. The team had downtime, and used every ounce of it to refuel, refresh and get to know little Darcy Lewis. Bucky had just finished a round of target practice, obliterating every single target in the facility when Steve stormed into the armory, a now familiar Captain America glare on his face.

“Did you punch Dum Dum in the nose?” Steve demanded.

“Might've,” Bucky shrugged.

“Buck...you can't just go around punching your friends in the face,” Steve rolled his eyes. “I thought you were getting better now that Darcy's back...”

“ He was looking at her,” Bucky growled.  "With  _ intent _ ."

“C'mon, jerk, it's not like he would've done nothing to her,” Steve said quietly, the speech well practiced.  It wasn't the first time he had to reassure Bucky about others intentions. And not just towards Darcy. “Thought you were going to try not doing stuff like that anymore.”

Since his time as Hydra's prisoner, there were certain things Bucky couldn't contain well. One of them was an increased sense of possessiveness. Steve had first seen it on the night that the Howling Commandos had been formed. Bucky couldn't stand to be around the other men with Steve, and had reacted poorly to Peggy and Steve's reaction to Peggy.

And with Darcy it was so much worse. When Bucky was around, no one at the SSR facility would so much as look at Darcy except for Steve, who was exempt from any of Bucky's jealous anger. When Bucky was out of sight, they were perfectly friendly, but no one needed a hot head like Barnes taking a friendly glance or word the wrong way when it came to his girl.

Obviously, that morning at breakfast, Dum Dum had thought Bucky hadn't seen the appreciative glance he had given Darcy's backside in her form fitting olive drab uniform that Peggy had provided her that first full day in London.

“You didn't tell Darcy about---”

“No,” Bucky cut him off resolutely. “She doesn't need to know. Just...just keep your trap shut about that, Stevie.”

“Alright,” Steve nodded, although he didn't feel quite right about keeping something like that from Darcy. “Just---don't punch anyone anymore. Darcy's your girl, no one can steal her from you. I don't see you punching me when I hug or touch her or smile at her.”

“S'different with you,” Bucky grumbled. “You're allowed.”

Steve sighed. Some times he felt like he was dealing with Bucky Barnes at a max concentration level. He'd always been possessive, sometimes a little irrational, and always overly affectionate, but lately these traits were multiplied and exaggerated. Darcy had been Steve's hope for Bucky's sanity, but she was making things worse without doing anything at all.

“Boys? You done shooting things? I want to go and get something edible for dinner,” Darcy hopped into the room with a grin. She stared between the two of them, easily reading the tension rising up off of them. “Everything okay?”

“Just fine, Four Eyes,” Bucky smiled softly at her. “Give us a minute. We'll go grab some grub.”

* * *

The best part of being in the SSR and in London was the fact that they each got a private room, and not one person dared to bat an eye at Darcy and Bucky sharing a room. In the last 17 days, Darcy had had more sex than she had ever dreamed of having in her entire life. Bucky was more than insatiable, he was constantly wanting her, and he would want round after round of lovemaking, so much that Darcy actually had to put a time limit on him every night, so that she could at least get a handful of sleep in.

One night, when they had finally gotten to sleep, Bucky began twitching in her arms, his first nightmare since she had come back to him. Twitching turned into harsh thrashing in a blink of an eye and Darcy sat up in bed, staring down at the tortured man as he relived one of the nightmares he had lived through at the hands of Hydra.

“No,” he mumbled in his sleep. “Stop it...no...”

“Bucky!” Darcy shook his shoulder gently. “Bucky, honey, please, wake up. Bucky!”

“No!” Bucky shouted, sitting straight up in bed, out of breath and in a sheer panic.

“I'm right here, Bucky,” Darcy whispered, sitting next to him, tender, gentle hands cupping his cheeks. “I'm right here.”

“Darcy,” he gasped, looking at her as if she were a dream.

“C'mere,” Darcy opened her arms to him, kissing him gently. “You're safe, it's over. You're here with me and Steve is right across the hall, and you're safe. Okay?”

“Okay,” Bucky nodded, holding her to him tightly as he regained his equilibrium. “Can I---can I have you, darlin'? Just to chase the bad feeling away?”

“Of course,” Darcy nodded, kissing him again, soft and chaste at first, the intensity of it increasing rapidly as Bucky flipped her on her back. She had grown accustomed to Bucky's primal, fierce, powerful, never-ending love making in the past weeks, but this was different. There was a layer of gentleness there that she hadn't felt since their first night together back in New York.

When he sank into her this time, he was already breathless, chest heaving with the effort to contain himself. His strokes within her were languid and drawn out, each push of his hips was a caress. She was so wet and soft and warm against his skin that he could barely remember to breathe, and for the first time, he lost himself inside of her before she could reach her own climax.

She pet at his hair sleepily as he withdrew from her, holding her as close as he could, a stray tear falling from his eyes on to her shoulder.

“Shhhhh, Bucky, it's going to be okay,” Darcy promised, feeling the splash of his tear against her skin. “You're okay.”

* * *

** Chapter Ten:  ** [ ** You'll Never Know Dear ** ](https://youtu.be/YqhPkbkuEgQ)

Darcy's necklace had tried glowing on the 21st day she had been in 1944. Darcy stubbornly held onto the necklace and glared at it, willing it to do what she wanted with an intense focus. Steve and Bucky watched in fascination as the glow receded, and Darcy remained firmly with them.

They marched happily on, Steve planning the next raid on Hydra with Bucky by his side. Darcy continued her work with Peggy and everything seemed to be going just fine.

On Darcy's 29th day in 1944, the building was rocked with the force of explosions as their small corner of London was besieged with a German air raid. Steve grabbed Darcy's bag and thrust it at her and Bucky placed a kiss on her lips.

  
  


“No,” Darcy shook her head. “I won't.”

“Darcy-girl, you promised,” Steve shook his head. “Go on, get out of here. Come back later. We'll see you soon.”

“Please, no,” Darcy shook her head. Bucky would be gone in less than a year now. Steve would be in the ice in less than a year. She didn't want to miss another moment. She didn't want to go too far.

“Go on now, Four Eyes,” Bucky begged, kissing her lips. “Good bye, Darcy. I love you.”

“Good bye...love you,” Darcy sniffled, looking between Bucky and Steve with tears in her eyes. She gripped the necklace in her eyes and it began to glow. She closed her eyes and focused all her energy on coming back before it was too late.

* * *

Darcy materialized in the dark of night in front of a rather impressing looking castle. She heard Bucky cursing in the distance and saw Steve's shield whipping ten feet away from her at an enemy.

“Not now, Darcy-girl!” Steve grunted, taking on a few attackers. “Get outta here!”

“Dammit,” Darcy cursed, focusing her energy on getting out of there right away.

* * *

She blinked onto a submarine and heard Steve's exasperated groan and the sound of fighting.

“Try for two weeks, Darcy-girl,” Steve ordered gently, despite the violence he was bringing upon the enemy.

“Why are you always fighting?” Darcy huffed angrily. She gave him a rueful smile and said, “See you soon, Stevie-boy.  Tell Bucky I love him.”

* * *

The next time she opened her eyes, she could feel the uneasy sway of a boat underneath her feet and she wrinkled her nose in annoyance. Bucky chuckled at her and when she opened her eyes, she realized she was on a small boat with all of the Howling Commandos plus Steve and Bucky.

“Please tell me I didn't accidentally blip myself into the Battle of _fucking_ Normandy,” Darcy sighed.

“The mouth on you, Four Eyes,” Bucky grinned at her. He opened his arms and took her in a strong armed embrace. He kissed her slow and deep, despite the audience. “Get on out of here. I love you, darlin'.”

“Be careful,” Darcy begged. “I love you, Bucky.”

“See you soon Darcy-girl,” Steve smiled. She glowed again and disappeared mid-wave. He looked around to the other Commandos and shrugged. “She can do this thing...”

“No shit,” Morita rolled his eyes. “Helluva thing.”

“I'll say,” Bucky grinned fully at his comrades his previous moroseness gone thanks to Darcy's little visit. “Let's get this over with. Maybe next time she'll pick a less dangerous place to fall.”

* * *

Darcy opened her eyes and she was standing in front of a destroyed bar in London. A familiar bar in London. Peggy Carter walked into the street, wiping tears from her face. She couldn't help her trembling bottom lip as she looked at Darcy with devastation clear in those warm brown eyes.

“ It's March 1 st , 1945,” Peggy revealed quietly.

“No,” Darcy breathed, her eyes filling with tears. She grasped the necklace in her hands and shook her head. “I went too far...take me back...bring me back to him.”

“I'm so sorry, Darcy,” Peggy whispered. She looked back to the bar she had left a devastated Steve in and said, “He needs you. You need him too.”

“Okay...alright,” Darcy nodded, vision blurry with tears as she walked forward, tripping into the open door and calling out with a broken cry, “Stevie-boy?”

“No,” Steve felt the harsh sob rip through him at the sound of her voice. She was going to be so upset that he couldn't do anything to save Bucky, but she was the only one who could give him any sort of comfort. He was immediately on his feet and rushing towards her. He had her wrapped up in strong arms and sunk to the floor with her, each of them sobbing against the other, bodies wrecked with the physical pain of their loss. “M'so sorry, Darcy-girl. I couldn't---I couldn't reach him.”

“No, Steve, no, please,” Darcy shook her head. “You couldn't have...it's not your fault.”

“I wanted to jump after him---I should've,” Steve whispered. “Could've broken our fall with the shield...done _something_.”

“No, Steve, jumping wouldn't of saved him,” Darcy insisted. “God, this hurts...it hurts so much.”

“I know,” Steve nodded. “Did you---did you know it would happen?”

“I tried to change his mind...tried to stop it all, but it didn't work,” Darcy lamented, her whole body shaking as she began sobbing again. “Couldn't change it....and it won't let me go back again...I'd do anything.”

“I know, Darcy-girl, I know,” Steve nodded, his grip not letting up one bit as he held her to him tightly, both of them letting their grief wash out in burning tears and choking, ugly sobs. “He loved you so much.”

“Yeah,” Darcy nodded. “Loved us both, you know?”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed.

They remained quiet for the better part of an hour, each crying until there weren't any more tears left, sitting on the dusty and debris covered floor of the bar, clutching at each other in an attempt to reassure each other that they were still there. Still with each other.

“I wind up in the future, don't I?” Steve whispered against her hair, finding his voice again.

Darcy nodded against his chest.

“You there?” he wondered.

Darcy nodded again.

“Thank God,” Steve choked out. “I wouldn't be able to do it without you, Darcy-girl. I couldn't live without him and you too.”

“Steve...I came...I came back here,” Darcy reminded him. “I left you there.”

“I'm glad you did, we needed you,” Steve nodded. “But go on now...go back.”

“You need me, Steve,” Darcy shook her head. “I'll stay with you till the end.”

“No, go on, go now,” Steve insisted. He had dangerous business to finish up. The last thing he needed was worrying about her popping up again during a life-ending situation. And he definitely didn't want her stuck here alone. “Go back, Darcy-girl, all the way back. I'll---I'll see you soon. I love you.”

“I love you too, Stevie-boy,” Darcy nodded.

“Wait...just one second,” Steve reached into his front pocket and pulled out a folded strip of photo paper. He opened it up and it was Darcy and Bucky's first kiss. And Darcy's first slap of Bucky. He handed it to her before pulling her into another hug, tight and desperate. He placed one kiss to the top of her head before whispering, “Goodbye, Darcy-girl.”

She dug into her bag and pulled out the necklace, taking a deep breath as Steve took a small step backwards, his lips a firm tight line, his eyes steadily leaking tears. He was tense, as if his muscles were actively trying to keep him from reaching out for her, to either keep her with him or leave with her, he didn't know.

The necklace glowed bright, emanating from the stone and growing brighter and brighter until he had to close his eyes.

And when he opened them she was gone.

* * *

In 2014, Steve Rogers took a step back from where Darcy had just disappeared from, and with her, all his hope for any feeling of home. Of comfort. Of  _ Bucky and Darcy _ .

He was prepared to wait though. She spent three weeks every few years with them, approximately. She had gained a little control over the mysterious gem towards the end, but he was being cautiously pessimistic. He could wait for her again. Until she could come back and they could help each other through the pain and the darkness and the _hole_ that Bucky's death had left inside both of them.

He would wait.

He had waited. He'd woken up in the future and waited for over a year to find her again, living with the emptiness and the grief and the loneliness until she burst back into his life like a sunbeam. He'd spent the last six months preparing for her departure and building that beautiful love and friendship she had poured into his dreary simple life back in 1937.

But at the moment, the moment after he said Good bye to her fully for the second time in his life, he just really wanted to wallow in the empty, horrific sadness that she was gone. The backs of his feet found the street curb and he was folded in half, sitting down right there on the curb, his head in his hands as he tried to face the idea that he was well and truly alone now.

He had Peggy, when she was lucid enough to remember.

And he had Rebecca, who had worked past the grief back in the 1940's and had built her own happy life full of love and family.

But Darcy was the only one who understood. Who had the capacity to understand.

And she had just left for God knows how long.

He looked to his phone, thinking about calling Natasha back. Natasha, who five months ago had approached him as he waited for Darcy to get done with work with an old photograph taken from the SSR files that had been donated to the Smithsonian. A picture of Morita and Dum-Dum arguing at their bar in London, with Darcy in olive drab dancing with Bucky Barnes in the background.

Natasha had helped him with the money, with the paperwork, with a daily call each day to see if Darcy had gotten her hands on the mysterious necklace yet.

Natasha couldn't help him any more though. There was nothing she could do to make Darcy come back any quicker. There was nothing she could do to fill the void Darcy's absence left in his heart and his life.

His head was in his hands and he missed the flash of light.

He did not miss the body flinging itself at him and wrapping him in an embrace.

“Steve!” Darcy cried, dressed in olive drab, broken glasses slipping down her nose, fogging up thanks to the thick tears erupting from her eyes.

“Oh thank God,” Steve cried, clutching her against him, his head laying against the top of her head as she cried into the front of his shirt. He held her to him, rocking her slightly as she sobbed against him, letting his own tears fall until there weren't anymore. When she quieted a little he whispered, “I'm never leaving you go now, Darcy-girl.”

“I'm not going anywhere,” Darcy nodded against his chest. “Jesus, this hurts so fucking much.”

“I know, I know sweetheart,” Steve nodded.

And Darcy knew that he did. He knew what she was feeling. Bucky was gone.

“Let's go home, Darcy-girl,” Steve stood up, pulling her to her feet with him.

“Alright,” Darcy nodded, not giving up her hold on him, her arms around his torso, her head buried against his chest. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, his other hand on top of the hand she had on his waist. They walked in silence the rest of the way, climbing the stairs to Steve's apartment. She brought her head up, but didn't let up on her hold of him. The pictures of the Howling Commandos, of _Bucky_ everywhere were familiar, but held so much more now.

She finally detangled herself from Steve and went for her purse, pulling out the small box that held her bracelet from them and the small photo strip of she and Bucky's first kiss at Coney Island. The bracelet went around her wrist, and the photo was carefully unfolded and placed in between the framed picture of Steve and Bucky smiling and laughing and the picture of she and Steve at Beck's 85th Birthday that were on Steve's mantle. She nodded and turned to Steve, giving him a small, sad smile.

“Does it get easier?” she wondered.

“No,” Steve shook his head. “Hoping it does now that I have you back.”

It was funny, because Darcy had only been out of his life at that point,  _ technically,  _ for five minutes. But the Darcy that had left him couldn't have helped him through the grief. The Darcy that came back was sadly more than equipped to understand.

“I didn't want to love him so much,” Darcy admitted quietly. “I knew I would lose him.”

“Yeah, I know,” Steve nodded. “I'm so sorry...”

“Stop that,” Darcy ordered. “You're no more to blame than I am. I couldn't save him either. Couldn't stop it.”

Steve only nodded again, sitting down on the couch, holding out his arms for her as she joined him, cuddling against him in a way they had often done long before the serum. His hands were stroking against those long, dark brown spirals that she had refused to wear as Peggy had taught her to.

“Can we go see Becks again?” Darcy wondered hopefully. “And Peggy?”

“We'll go see Peggy tomorrow,” Steve promised. “And I'll call up Becks and plan to see her this weekend. I had warned her before the birthday party, that you would be there and be...you. But she still, she couldn't help her reaction. She really wants to see you again though.”

“Good,” Darcy nodded. “And when we get back to New York, can we visit Mrs. B's grave?”

“Course, Darcy-girl,” Steve agreed. “Anything you want.”

“What do you think he would have wanted?” Darcy whispered.

Steve's words caught in his throat. He had a letter from Bucky and a ring in a safe back at Avengers' Tower that gave exact instructions on what Bucky would have wanted. But he couldn't. Times were different. Everything was different now.

“For you to never have to say good bye ever again,” Steve wagered, his voice soft and comforting.

“Okay, then that's what I'll do,” Darcy nodded, her arms tightening around him. “Love you, Stevie-boy.”

Steve nodded, kissing the top of her head as he felt her body going slack as an overly exhausted Darcy, who had jumped in and out of those last few months in Europe of 1944 and then all the way back to him in 2014, went quickly into a deep and dreamless sleep. He held her to him, sniffling back his own renewed tears.

“Love you too, Darcy-girl.”

* * *

* * *

  
  



	24. The Patient Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: The Patient Man
> 
> Summary:  
> After her trip through 1937 to 1945, Darcy lands next to Steve again in the Spring of 2014.  
> Their shared grief is slow to heal, but Darcy finds that her special necklace doesn't just send her through time, there are many other things the stone can do. And no one is better equipped to sympathize with her loss than Steve, for a lot of reasons Darcy never knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: F/M, M/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers,  
> James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis  
> Character: Steve Rogers, Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Thor (Marvel), Rebecca Barnes  
> Additional Tags: time travel au, darcy still has that pesky infinity stone, one sided  
> pining, Grief, Darcy and Steve help each other through losing Bucky,  
> feeling feels and stuff and stuff, Friends to Lovers, bisexual  
> supersoldiers, how Darcy and steve spend their time leading up to  
> Captain America The Winter Soldier  
> Series: Part 2 of Through the Years  
> Stats: Published: 2016-02-08 Completed: 2016-02-11 Chapters: 4/4 Words:  
> 20145

** Chapter One: You're Just Lonely, You've been Lonely Too Long **

** 1937 **

Darcy had gone missing.

She had disappeared out of their lives as quickly as she had appeared in their lives, leaving behind all of her possessions, save for the big black purse and the clothes she had worn out of the Barnes household.

Steve was out of his mind with worry.

He and Bucky had spent the last two weeks canvassing the neighborhood. They'd applied to the local police, but were told that Darcy Lewis didn't exist and therefore, couldn't be missing.

Darcy Lewis did exist though.

Steve knew she existed.

She had been the first and only girl to talk to him voluntarily, really. And she didn't only talk to him. She _touched_ him. Of her own will. She never stopped. In three weeks, Steve had gotten more hugs and hand holds and kisses on his cheek than he had ever gotten in his life save from his mother.

He was sweet on her. He knew that. And he also knew if he found her again, he would never say a word to her about it. He had been telling Bucky the truth that day Darcy had disappeared. If he told Darcy that she was suddenly all he thought about, and that he thought about her  _ in that way _ , without a doubt she would laugh at him and then run away again.

When his mind drifted to darker places, he thought he must have inadvertently drove Darcy away that day. He must have gotten too obvious in his true affection for her. His face must have betrayed him somehow and she had seen just how far gone he was on her and she ran away. Steve hated when his mind drifted to darker places.

Steve opened up the bags Darcy had brought with her that first day, that he had carried home when she had appeared out of nowhere calling for his help. The sweaters looked warm and soft and handmade. He pulled one out to admire the work on it, and a small slip of paper floated to the ground.

_ Donnelly and Daughters Knitware, est. 1978 _

_ Steve furrowed his brow and stared at the piece of paper for a good twenty minutes. 1978. Forty-one years in the future. _

“ _Darcy-girl, where are you?” Steve whispered._

* * *

** 1940 **

“She just disappeared?” Steve repeated, his mouth dry.

“In a bright orange golden light,” Bucky nodded, looking through the encyclopedia in the library he had dragged Steve to right after he had returned from Coney Island, hoping to figure out what had happened to Darcy. “It was a pretty orange golden light, but then again, what about our Darcy isn't pretty, you know?”

Yes. Steve was very aware of just how pretty Darcy was.

Prior to Bucky's return from Coney Island, Steve had thought Bucky's fascination with Darcy was only because she seemed to be the only girl in Brooklyn not ready, willing and desperate to step into Bucky's arms at the smallest smirk from him. Steve had also seen Bucky looking at him with an awful lot of something that looked like jealousy. Which was not only alien but also ridiculous. Because it had been proven time and time again that Darcy only considered Steve a friend. Her best friend. But a friend.

Steve watched Bucky as he stared down at the little strip of photos they had gotten from the booth at Coney Island. It was sitting right next to the open encyclopedia, and Bucky looked at it just as often as he was looking at the book. Bucky hadn't let Steve see it, not really. His thumb had been blocking one of the photos. The one right before the photo of Darcy slapping Bucky.

Steve strongly suspected that the hidden photo was of the two of them kissing.

Just the thought of it sent painful stabs through his stomach.

“Rosie Burns came by looking for you this morning, said she missed seeing you at the dance hall last Friday,” Steve said quietly.

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded. He shrugged and gave Steve a hopeful smile, “I don't think I'll be going to the dance hall very much anymore.”

“Buck...she, Darcy won't be back for a while,” Steve said gently, his voice soft. “She was gone for three years last time.”

“She thinks I'm a cad,” Bucky shrugged. “Gonna have to prove her wrong.”

“ Well...I hate to break it to you, jerk, but you kind of  _ are  _ a cad,” Steve gave him a rueful smile.

“Yeah, but that was before,” Bucky wrinkled his nose. “It's gonna be different now, punk. I'm a one woman man.”

Steve nodded and silence stretched between them as the soft sounds of the library softly echoed around them. Someone came to the little table they had been sitting at and Steve gave a small, tentative smile to the arrival. A very small boy, no more than four years old was looking between Bucky and Steve with big, curious light blue eyes.

“Heya pal, what're you doing here all alone? Where's your ma?” Bucky wondered.

“She's busy,” the little boy shrugged. The passive expression on his face melted and he looked to Steve with an impish smile and demanded, more than asked, “Got any candy?”

Steve couldn't help but take in the wheedling little expression with a sense of familiarity as his hand automatically went to his jacket pocket, going for a wrapped butterscotch that Darcy had always requested he carry around. He handed it to the little boy and gave an expectant arch of his eyebrow when the boy grabbed for it.

“What do you say?” Steve cajoled.

“Thank you,” the boy sighed in exasperation.

“You should probably go find your mother now,” Steve advised.

“ I  _ told  _ you, she's busy!” the boy huffed dramatically, blowing curly brown locks off of his forehead with his breath. He shrugged and said, “I'll go find her anyway. See ya later!”

“That's a bossy little man,” Bucky grinned at Steve as the boy scampered away. He turned to Steve to see that any amusement from the little boy was gone and only contemplative silence remained as Steve kept looking to the partially covered strip of pictures. He watched Steve carefully before reaching out a hand and placing it on his forearm.

“You okay with all this, Steve?” Bucky whispered. “I didn't mean to steal her from you or anything like that, I know you're a little sweet on her.”

Steve gave Bucky a sharp glance. A little sweet on her. A _little_ sweet on her?

The sharp glance immediately softened when he saw the care and concern on Bucky's face. Steve knew, he _knew_ that if he asked Bucky not to pursue Darcy, if he asked to keep things just friendly between all three of them and not involve romance at all, that Bucky would definitely comply. He'd give up that happiness and joy to make sure that Steve was okay. And Steve loved him for it. He did.

His affection for Darcy was high, but it was equaled by his affection for Bucky.

He knew it was wrong to have those kind of feelings for Bucky, to think that his best friend was one of the most beautiful people on the face of the planet, to find him desirable and attractive. He'd been struggling with those feelings for a long time. And then Darcy showed up and Steve thought that maybe it had just been a phase or a result of how close he and Bucky were. All of his affection and desire was focused on Darcy for those first three weeks in 1937. And now it was definitely... _blended_ .

Steve reached out and took the photo strip from Bucky's other hand and stared down at it. Darcy and her wrinkled nose, face full of fiesty annoyance. The second picture had Bucky cupping Darcy's jaw and she looked down at him with surprise widened eyes. The third picture was what Bucky had hidden from him.

It was a kiss.

A very beautiful kiss if Steve was looking at it with an artist's eye.

If it weren't black and white, Steve could imagine a blush painting Darcy's cheeks. He could see red tinging at the tops of Bucky's ears. It looked lovely. It looked... _wanted_ .

It must not have been entirely wanted, because the last picture on the little strip of paper was Darcy slapping Bucky, her face incredulous and full of indignation and surprise. Bucky, to his credit, didn't look phased by the slap. His features were still full of that lazy, happy fulfillment that the kiss had inspired.

“It's alright, Buck,” Steve said softly.

Bucky swallowed and felt that it wasn't quite right, but he'd take Steve's slight approval. He clapped his hand on his shoulder, and squeezed. He didn't have the words to say that whatever was happening between him and Darcy wouldn't change what Steve and Darcy had. It wouldn't change what Bucky and Steve had either.

“But you know I'll tell her the truth. If I catch you stepping out on her, I'll tell her, first thing. So...best behavior, Buck.”

* * *

** 1941 **

Steve stared down at the compass, shiny and silver and new. His initials were engraved into the front of it and he couldn't help but marvel at the idea behind it. She could have gotten he and Bucky the same gift, but Bucky's new pocket watch was sitting on the table next to Steve. She'd given Bucky time and she'd given Steve direction.

In return, they'd given her a heart with them in it.

Steve sighed. He knew that Darcy wouldn't be walking back into the apartment with Bucky. He knew that she was due to leave again, landing somewhere in their future not too far from him. He hoped it wouldn't be too long this time.

Everything felt like it was changing.

He and Bucky would be enlisting on Christmas Eve. If everything worked out, they'd be heading out to basic in a few months.

Steve prayed that by the time Darcy came back into their lives the war would be over, and she'd reappear next to them in Brooklyn, safe and willing and able to stay that time.

His mind drifted to the sales receipt in Darcy's bags of sweaters that was still in their apartment closet. Darcy had told him she'd meet him in the future. The paper had said _established 1978_. If she was twenty-six, in 1978, that meant she was at least thirty years younger than he and Bucky. It was hard for him to wrap his head around, because from the moment Darcy had popped into their lives she'd been _older_ than them. But as time passed for Bucky and Steve, changing them from teenagers to young men, Darcy had remained twenty-six.

Darcy knew him from the future. She knew _him_ when he was well into his seventies, at least.

A small, petty part of his brain clung to that. No wonder she'd treated him as a platonic best friend from the moment she'd laid eyes on him. She'd probably met him when he was a senior citizen.

_Why couldn't you have loved me, Stevie-boy_ ?

Steve's hand fisted around the compass as he tried to banish that night from his brain. He'd fallen asleep miserable while Bucky made time with Darcy in their living room and he'd woken up quickly struggling to breathe. Bucky had come in, quickly followed by Darcy and they had bracketed him in the bed, helping him back to himself.

He had been safe between them, warm and _loved_ .

He'd slid back into sleep easier than anything, comfortable and happy. He'd never been so happy, despite there being so many reasons for him to be sad.

Bucky trudged back into the room, his eyes red with tears.

“She...she's gone, think she went away on purpose this time,” Bucky mumbled. “Broke it off with me. Told me she couldn't love me.”

“Buck...I'm sorry,” Steve said softly, putting his compass into his pocket as he rose from his seat and approached his best friend, who was rapidly breaking down into messy, silent tears. Thin, reedy arms went around Bucky's torso as the larger man nearly bent in two, his head going against Steve's shoulder, tears splashing down and soaking Steve's blue button down shirt. Steve put a hand in Bucky's hair, stroking with a soothing gentleness. “She didn't mean it, Buck. She didn't. She does love you, I know she does.”

Bucky's knees slowly gave out and before Steve knew it, he was kneeling, Bucky's head now against his chest as he crumpled in on himself on the floor. Steve remained kneeling, giving whatever comfort he could to his devastated best friend. Ten minutes ticked by on the clock and Steve's knees were burning, but he didn't waiver, he was the rock that Bucky needed to lash his frustration and sadness onto.

“She told me not to wait for her,” Bucky said miserably, the tears drying on his cheeks. “Like I'll just run out and find the nearest dame and try to replace her.”

“Don't think she knows how irreplaceable she is,” Steve said softly.

“No, she doesn't know,” Bucky shook his head. “If---if I'm not here the next time she comes around, make sure you scold her for hurting me, okay Stevie?”

“Alright, Buck,” Steve nodded as his friend righted himself a little, going to his knees as well. Steve's eyes widened as Bucky caught him up in a tight embrace, tear slick lips finding Steve's forehead and pressing there for an extended moment.

“Thanks, punk. Don't know what I'd do without you.”

* * *

** Summer 1943 **

Steve had said goodbye to Darcy once more just a few days ago. He had just gotten back from a meeting with the USO. He would be heading to Europe in October after touring as much of the United States as he possibly could in his war bond raising attempt. But Europe was where he needed to be. Darcy had told him as much.

He sighed, wishing that he and Darcy had parted on better terms this time around. She'd seen him making time with one of the eager girls who were always waiting for him after each show, asking him about the mask, asking him about how he managed to lift the motorbike at the end of the show, asking him if he was strong enough to lift _them_.

Darcy never asked any of that. Darcy looked at him like she had always looked at him, as if he was still that skinny little twerp in Brooklyn who was just barely half an inch taller than her and didn't have the strength to open a jar of preserves. Her looks had been full of love and adoration, sure, but she didn't stare covetously at the muscles like the other girls did.

She'd been gone twenty-four hours before Millie Adams, third brunette in the kick line to the left had come into his dressing room after the last show.

“You're awful low, Captain, since your little sister went away.”

“Darcy isn't my sister,” Steve had disputed, his face a picture of confusion.

Millie shrugged in dismissal and sat right down on his lap, “Some of us girls worked out a rotation schedule. We don't like seeing that sweet face so sad all the time.”

And they _had_ worked out a schedule. Millie Adams had stripped him out of his costume and sunk to her knees right in the dressing room, working him into a frenzy before sitting him down in front of the vanity, rolling a condom down his length and climbing on top of his lap.

He'd never been with a girl before that, the closest he had ever come was some making out and over the clothes petting with a girl when he was sixteen and sleeping with Darcy in his arms and waking up with a hard-on.

Millie had no complaints about his performance once he had gotten over the initial shock. He really was strong enough to lift her and she had no problem with those strong hands gripping her hips and moving her up and down his stiff length. Millie definitely had no complaints.

Neither had Sally or Catherine or Annie or Bonnie-Sue or Mitzy and on one particularly impressive day without a show Doris and Alice _at the same time_ .

Steve wanted to feel bad about all the sex he was suddenly having, but the serum had changed a few things about him.

Dr. Erskine had said that it would take everything good in him and magnify it.

It had apparently taken his libido and quadrupled it.

To Steve's mild surprise, it wasn't just girls. Millie had returned to his dressing room one and a half weeks after Darcy left. And Millie brought with her Tommy, one of the guys who rigged up the fireworks and special effects before every show and had unabashedly proposed _sharing_ her.

And if in the process of the sharing, Steve had shared a few interesting touches with Tommy that he definitely had not minded one bit, well...a lot of things and feelings that had been floating precariously in Steve's past suddenly cemented down and made a lot more sense.

Tommy had assured him that it was more common than people thought. Steve and Bucky had grown up in a neighborhood famous for homosexuals. Despite what the church had tried to bash into his skull, he knew that homosexuals were just people who liked something different in bed.  But he'd never thought it was okay  to want both women  _ and  _ men. He began to realize that It didn't mean you were going to hell, it wasn't wrong or greedy, it just meant you liked both. And there were apparently lots of people floating around the world that liked both.

Steve suddenly felt comfortable in his own skin at this little epiphany.  It was okay that he wanted the both of them. 

The three weeks Darcy had been gone this time had been filled with an awful lot of sex. Steve was always safe, and it was always the girls in the chorus and occasionally Tommy. The handlers of the tour refused to let Steve sully his reputation by letting the fans have at him, and all the girls had signed iron clad contracts before the tour started.

But once Darcy came back and caught him buried deep inside of Mitzy, Steve had put a stop to his extra-curricular activities cold turkey.

Darcy hadn't been outright disappointed in him, and she hadn't appeared jealous in the few moments before she left again. But she had left right away, and that spoke volumes to Steve.

He focused on getting to Europe. It's what she told him he'd needed to do. So Steve Rogers' sexual awakening had ended 21 days after it started. And it would restart a few months later, once Bucky was rescued.

* * *

** Fall 1943 **

Bucky was having a nightmare again. Steve sighed and went into the tent they had been sharing ever since Bucky had been cleared by medical just twelve short hours after the march back from Austria. They were leaving for headquarters in London in less than a day, and Steve hoped to get a little shut eye in before he had to pitch his ideas to Colonel Phillips.

But with the way Bucky was tossing and turning in his sleep, Steve wouldn't be able to get in a wink. Not when his best friend was crying out for unseen torturers to _Stop_ . He was out of his makeshift bed in a heartbeat, and was soon settled next to Bucky, wrapping still foreign, big arms around the man, pulling Bucky's chest against his back and squeezing him close, just as Bucky used to do with a smaller Steve during an asthma attack or on particularly cold nights in their apartment.

“I'm right here, Buck...no one is going to hurt you anymore so long as I'm here with you,” Steve promised in a low, soft voice. He continued to murmur soft promises in Bucky's ear, until Bucky's nightmare ebbed away from him, and Steve could feel an alert wakefulness settle into the muscles in Bucky's back. “Hey. You okay?”

“I'll be okay,” Bucky whispered, his hands settling over the forearms resting against his chest. “Thanks, punk.”

“Anytime jerk,” Steve nodded, his chin on Bucky's neck.

“Love you,” Bucky's words were barely heard, the quietness of them still causing Steve to melt a little at the sound of them.

“Love you too,” Steve nodded again.

“I---”

Steve furrowed his brow at Bucky's loss of words. The smooth talking ladies man had never had a problem spitting out words ever since he learned how to speak. Steve couldn't help but wonder again at what those monsters had done to Bucky during his captivity. He was a changed man. The confidence in him had been destroyed. He was timid where he usually would have been brash. He was angry when he usually would have been joking and funny. He was broken when he usually would have been whole.

With a strength that most men couldn't exhibit against the newly strength enhanced Captain America, Bucky pulled at the band of Steve's arms around him and gave himself enough wiggle room to turn so that he and Steve were face to face.

Bucky kissed Steve's cheek, lingering for an extended moment before letting his lips land against Steve's. If there had been softness in the gesture, it quickly melted as both men kissed each other with a sudden, fierce passion, tongues against each others in hard caresses, lips bitten and sucked and soothed for a good five minutes until Steve's hips moved forward in a quick jerking motion and they both realized how quickly things had escalated.

When Bucky pulled away it was Steve that whispered,

“ _ Darcy _ .”

“Sorry...sorry, I can't...I don't know what's wrong with me,” Bucky shook his head. “Like I can't control it. What I want is there and I just want to take it. You're mine, Stevie.”

“No, there's Darcy,” Steve shook his head, pulling away and sitting up in the tent. “I'm sorry, Buck.”

“I know, it's not...it's not you,” Bucky nodded. He looked up at his best friend with gray eyes full of fear and confusion, not understanding how he was feeling or why he was feeling like this so suddenly. He _loved_ Darcy. He did. But he loved _Steve_ too.

“Don't tell Darcy,” Bucky whispered.

“I---we...she'd understand,” Steve shook his head. “She'd know what you've been through...”

“She doesn't need to know,” Bucky shook his head. “Just promise me, Stevie, you won't tell her.”

“I----okay.”

* * *

** 1944 **

Making Darcy go away during the air raid had been a necessity, but when the dust settled and the building had taken little damage, it felt like a waste to send her away for God knows how long. Steve felt like he had overreacted and cheated both he and Bucky out of spending time with what Bucky had rapidly begun referring to as _their_ girl.

They sat at the bar, two days after Darcy left, heads throbbing with the logistical planning of trying to invade a centuries old castle.

“M'sorry I sent Darcy away,” Steve sighed into his drink. Their bar, the one the Howling Commandos went to whenever they were at headquarters, had taken to making Steve specially formulated high calorie milkshakes (ingredients courtesy of Stark) in lieu of any alcoholic libations that would do him no good. Bucky had taken to ordering the shakes as well, claiming to like the chalky, disgusting taste.

“Don't be, it was the right call to make,” Bucky assured him. “She'll be back quick as she can.”

“Her quickest was three weeks, when she caught me with my pants around my ankles,” Steve smirked, taking a long swallow from his drink, missing the way Bucky's jaw ticked in annoyance.

“Didja tell her?” Bucky wondered, his soft, secretive tone conveying what he was referring to without words.

“Buck, when did I get a moment alone with her the whole month she was here?” Steve furrowed his brow. He tried not to sound bitter as he reminded him, “Every minute she was in bed with you or she was with the both of us or with Peggy at the firing range and whatever else the two of them got up to.”

“Sorry...didn't mean to monopolize our girl's time. But I needed her,” Bucky shrugged, taking a sip from his milkshake and wincing at the taste of it, chasing it down with a pull from a bottle of cognac he had purchased at the beginning of the night and had rapidly consumed three quarters of already. “Can't tell you how much I needed her all the time. Every time I saw her, all I wanted was to haul her off somewhere and have my wicked way with her.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Steve muttered. And his serum enhanced libido did get it. He'd been plenty sweet on Darcy before the serum. And after the serum, he figured he was plenty sweet on both Darcy _and_ Bucky. He totally understood Bucky's needs.

“Wouldn't have minded you being there,” Bucky mumbled, his head against the bar.

“ Buck...she's a lady, in spite of her foul mouth,” Steve whispered, his cheeks flaming red. “She's your girl, you can't...you can't want her to do things like that, no matter how much you or I would...would  _ want  _ it.”

“Just saying, would've felt nice,” Bucky barely whispered, his eyes heavy with sleep, his words drunken and truthful. “Love you both. Different, but the same.”

“C'mon, punk, let's get you back home and in your bed before you're drunk under the table,” Steve sighed, pulling Bucky to his feet. He supported the heavy weight of his friend before waving at the other Howling Commandos and trudging back the two blocks to headquarters.

“When she comes back, m'gonna ask her,” Bucky nodded decisively.

“To marry you?” Steve whispered, his heart in his throat.

“To marry---to marry us,” Bucky shook his head.

“Buck, you're drunk. She can't marry both of us,” Steve sighed.

“Well then...to be with us, all together,” Bucky slurred. “That way, when she's gone, you and I won't be so lonely without her. And...and when she's here, she'll get twice the love.”

Steve was silent as he made it to the secret entrance to their residential area and Bucky was placed in his own bed five minutes later, a glass of water by his bedside. Steve went to leave the room and Bucky's voice skittered around the dark walls of his bedroom.

“Being with her. With me and her...s'not what you want?”

Steve remained silent for a long five minutes, waiting for Bucky's breath to even out and sleep to overtake him. But his stubborn best friend refused, waiting to hear what Steve had to say about Bucky's drunken proposal.

“It'd be all I want, Buck.”

* * *

** 1945 **

Bucky was gone.

Darcy was gone.

Steve was the only one left in 1945.

He had Peggy. Peggy who he could learn to love just as much as he loved Bucky and Darcy. It would be hard and it would be painful. Probably just as painful for Peggy as it was for him.

Darcy would be in the future for him. She would return to the future with all the pain of Bucky's loss weighing heavily on her.

Steve took a deep breath and wiped the tears away from under his eyes with the back of his hand and squared his shoulders.

He had a lot of dangerous work to do, he knew that.

He'd do it for Bucky. He deserved that much.

And he'd find Darcy on the other side.

* * *

** 2012 **

For the first few days in 2012, it took everything in Steve not to ask Nick Fury to find Darcy Lewis for him.

He wanted to hold her in his arms and cry and rage and commiserate over the loss of Bucky.

He'd been awake for a sinfully short amount of time before the Chitauri invaded New York City.

It was Thor who had been the first person in this new world to utter her name.

“Barton, you know of Jane and Darcy, do you not? My Lady is brilliant and her hand maiden is a fierce warrior!” Thor clapped Clint on the shoulder. “Lady Darcy felled me with her own lightning contraption. Such bravery in the face of danger is to be rewarded!”

“She's a little firecracker,” Barton nodded. “Three weeks ago, she put itching powder in my suit back in New Mexico, don't know how she did it.”

“They'll be going back to Culver after the consultation is finished in Norway,” Natasha revealed to the Asgardian. “If you want, we can have Hill arrange a visit.”

“No, it is imperative to their safety to take Loki off of Midgard,” Thor shook his head. “I shall return to Jane. And in the meantime, Lady Darcy of Lewis will protect her in my stead.”

_Lady Darcy of Lewis_ .

Steve hid a smile behind his hand. He'd smiled twice since waking up from the ice. Once when they had won the battle and now, at the idea that his best friend, his and Bucky's Darcy, had taken down the blond behemoth sitting across from him. She'd played a prank on a spy of the highest caliber and Barton still didn't know how she got away with it.

He wanted to go to her. He wanted to find her at Culver.

But the rational part of his brain knew that the Darcy playing pranks on Barton, and protecting Thor's girl, didn't know who he was yet. She couldn't. She'd have been right there for him if she'd known.

He'd be patient. He would have to be patient.

* * *

** 2013 **

“So, she's not the girl for you.”

Steve looked down at the table that Natasha had thrown a small envelope on. He sighed and opened it, knowing what it would have in it, but wondering _which_ picture it would be.

Morita and Dum-Dum had been snapped by the photographer, probably right in the middle of mutual shouted expletives. Steve couldn't help but smile. They always argued and it was usually about what was going to be for dinner the next day. Steve was barely in the picture, just his profile on the far left, and he wasn't looking at the very normal argument between the two Howling Commandos. He was looking back at the dance floor, his expression stoic, his jaw clenched.

On the dance floor, Bucky was grinning as he dipped a laughing Darcy in his arms.

Steve drew in a long shaky breath.

“I've met that girl, Steve,” Natasha said softly.

“Yeah, so have I,” Steve said shortly.  "A bunch of times."

“Did you know then where she was from?” Natasha wondered. At Steve's slight nod, Natasha took a deep breath, immediately settling into mission mode. “You need to tell me everything that happened, from the first moment you met Darcy...how did you figure it out, if she told you anything, did she go back with anything that she---Steve.”

Natasha's rapid fire planning stopped as she realized that Captain America was in tears, his hand covering his eyes as his shoulders shook.

“Steve.” Natasha repeated.

“She's gonna leave to go back. And I don't know if she'll ever come home. I don't know if she'll be safe. She spent three weeks with me and Buck every few years since 1937. I---I told her to come right back to where she left. But....I don't know if she's going to make it. And she's all I have left. And she doesn't even know it.”

“Steve,” Natasha gave him the smallest and most genuine of smiles. “I know Darcy Lewis. I obviously don't know her as well as you know her, but she will come back to you. Just...just have a little patience. And tell me exactly what she had with her when she arrived. I fear we've created a bit of a paradox, and it's kind of important that we get it right.”

“Well...she had an awful lot of money, for one.”

* * *

** Chapter Two: Let Me In the Walls You've Built Around **

** April 2014 **

When Darcy returned to Steve, they spent three whole days in his apartment without even thinking about leaving.

Natasha had groceries stocked in the apartment before they had even returned from the flea market and she had also handled all of Steve's SHIELD duties for a week. When he'd attempted to thank her via text message, he'd only gotten one message in response.

_ Take care of her. _

So that's what he did. On that first day, the hours seemed to blend together in a cycle of Darcy and Steve staring at pictures, crying and holding each other.

On the dawning of the second day, Steve's stomach rumbling woke Darcy up from her place wrapped up in his arms on the couch. Some sort of innate practicality, borne from three years of caring for a grown woman, ignited in Darcy and she had the bacon frying and the coffee percolating in no time.

Steve had a box hauled out of the back of his closet and dumped it out with a small smile.

“Oh my God, Stevie-boy!” Darcy breathed, holding up a very old pair of sweaters that she had just bought the day before.

“Becks kept those for so long, whenever she was missing any of us, she'd haul it outta the plastic bag and hold it,” Steve revealed. “And...the Iron Man doll. It gets passed to each newest baby in the family. It's more tatters than toy, but still...it's beloved.”

“Just because something has been through the ringer doesn't mean it can't be loved,” Darcy nodded. She finished her cup of coffee before getting out of her seat and climbing onto Steve's lap as he attempted to finish his breakfast. He offered her bites of bacon which she insisted he dip in syrup first, earning small huffs of amusement from him. When Steve's breakfast was demolished, Darcy thoughtfully asked, “Tell me something I don't know about Bucky. What did the two of you do when I was gone?”

“Well...which time?” Steve whispered.

He should have just told her about the time Bucky had been chased by a bunch of angry girls that time in 1942, when he had sworn off all the neighborhood girls in order to be chaste for Darcy. His hesitation was well read by the girl he happily called his best friend and she twisted her head to look at him curiously.

“You hesitated,” she accused. “What trouble did the two of you get into?”

“No trouble, Darcy-girl,” Steve shook his head. “I promise.”

Darcy gave him her best Natasha eyebrow, and he gave her his best unimpressed look. She switched tactics and gave him her best wheedling Darcy expression which they both knew he had no power to resist. Darcy had a great wheedling expression.

“Hey, no secrets here, Stevie-boy,” Darcy said softly. “We've been through too much now, I will never keep a secret from you and I expect you not to keep any from me either.”

“I---he made me promise not to tell you, Darcy,” Steve sighed.

“There's nothing the three of us didn't tell each other,” Darcy disputed. “He told you about that time he and I got caught by Falsworth in the ammo closet!”

“He was probably just trying to get me riled,” Steve rolled his eyes in fond exasperation.

“ Steve,” Darcy whispered. She aimed those big blue eyes at him, filled with concern and worry about the potential secret and her bottom lip wobbled just so before she implored, “ _ Tell me _ .”

“He and I kissed once,” Steve blurted quickly, his cheeks flaming quickly to red.

Darcy was silent, but Steve could tell she was trying to hide her gut reaction to his confession. He squirmed at the lack of response and gave her pleading look, begging for some kind of words.

“Just the once?” Darcy asked him skeptically. “Because, Stevie-boy, I hate to break it to you, but if you think that's a surprise to me, you're sorely mistaken.”

“ ... _ What _ ?” Steve whispered. “Bucky said---He said he didn't tell you!”

“ Steve! Honestly!” Darcy laughed. “Sure platonic male affection was different back in your slash  _ our  _ day, but you and Bucky were...closer than close. And you lived together...and young men---they  _ experiment _ . I mean, I just assumed smooching had occurred at one point. And I wouldn't have minded, because you know...boy kisses are pretty.”

“It was just the once, after...after Austria,” Steve explained, hoping to stop her word vomit. His cheeks were still flushing as she stared up at him unabashedly. “I wanted to tell you when you came back....but, I promised Buck I wouldn't. I was having trouble adjusting to the serum and Bucky had been...he'd been so shook up by whatever they did to him.”

“Steve, it's okay, I'm not jealous or mad,” Darcy shook her head. “Let's be honest here, if you had ever had one ounce of attraction for me back then, it would have been less the Bucky and Darcy show and more the Bucky and Darcy and Steve show.”

“... _What?”_ Steve whispered again, putting ginger hands on her waist and placing her on the ground next to his chair before standing himself and looking down at her amused confusion with the closest thing to anger he could muster against the girl he had been painfully sweet on from the moment she dropped into his life. “ _What_?”

“ Oh...sorry, I mean...you know about it, I mean. It's called polyamory now, but back then you guys just said it was... _ friends?  _ Mr. and Mrs. Frankle downstairs from your apartment, who always had Mrs. Frankle's best friend Alice  _ spending the night _ ,” Darcy did air quotes. “I mean...you know what was happening there, right?”

“ Mr. Frankle was a bigamist, that's what was happening,” Steve clipped out angrily. It was the first emotion aside from sadness and grief and love that he'd felt in three days. It was an awful lot to process all at once. The fact that Darcy  _ knew  _ that he and Bucky must have done something with each other in the past, the fact that she accepted it so easily was enough to have Steve reeling. Add the thought that she thought he had never been attracted to her and that she had thought of what Bucky had admitted he  _ wanted  _ towards the end of his life? Steve was suddenly angry with what they'd all lost.

“Stevie-boy,” Darcy sighed, misinterpreting his anger. “This is all a moot point. You only ever saw me as a friend. And I don't have any problem with whatever you and Bucky shared. You and he are the best men I've ever known, I would never begrudge you affection or love. I mean...I knew going back that Bucky was going to---he only had a little bit of time before the train. He deserved every small shred of love that the world could give him before---”

“Sweetheart,” Steve couldn't take seeing her eyes water up again, he reached out for her and pulled her into his chest once more, cuddling her close, feeling the anger ebb away from him quickly. No secrets. She wanted no secrets. He rubbed her back as he whispered softly, “He was going to ask you next time you landed.”

  
  


“Ask me what?” Darcy breathed, her body tensing. If Steve told her that Bucky was going to ask her to marry him, she'd curl up into a ball on the floor and wail at the injustice of it all.

“If you wouldn't mind it being the three of us,” Steve admitted, his eyes down on the ground, unable to watch her reaction, absolutely terrified that he'd see dismissal or any trace of disgust. Steve had spent two years thinking on what Bucky had suggested, had wanted between the two of them and Darcy. It had become a bittersweet dream for Steve. It was all he would ever want and everything he could never have.

“Oh,” Darcy nodded, relief going through her. “Well---it was practically that way anyway. But---I wouldn't have let you, Steve. You deserved to be in a real relationship with someone you cared about in that way. With Peggy. But I would have never stopped you and Bucky from loving each other.”

“Cause Bucky deserved to be happy,” Steve nodded.

“You _both_ deserved to be happy,” Darcy nodded. She smiled as big as she could and looked up at Steve with watery eyes. “C'mon, let's fall asleep on the couch watching Harry Potter.”

* * *

Five days after Darcy's return to 2014, she and Steve finally left the apartment and made a trip to the Smithsonian. The curators and organizers had invited Steve to tour his exhibit in private the day before it opened to the public. They were shocked to see him there when he arrived, but let him in regardless.  They wandered through the exhibit hand in hand, staring in stunned wonder at some of the pictures.

“ Look at how young Becks was,” Darcy sighed at the small picture of Bucky and Steve with a very small six-year-old girl. “It feels so strange to know that she has  _ grandkids  _ that are older than me now.”

“I completely understand what you're saying,” Steve chuckled. “The first time I saw her when I woke up, she tried to mother hen me. I remember a day when she couldn't even talk yet, didn't have any teeth and she was trying to tell me that I needed to go and search for you and how I should go about doing it. She had found the receipt with the year on it for the sweaters and pieced it all together, knowing you were from somewhere in the future. She tried to get her grandson to explain google to me so we could find you, without letting him know why.”

“Why didn't you try to find me, Stevie-boy?” Darcy wondered softly as they stepped in front of the life-size hologram of pre-serum Steve. She grinned as she stared into the hologram's eyes. For as hard as it was to get accustomed to small Steve, she found that she really did miss him some times.

“Thought it would mess things up, figured you would come to me,” Steve shrugged. “And I don't know Darcy-girl, I couldn't begin to think about finding you and you not knowing me. It would have hurt so much. It helped that after the Battle of New York, I realized you'd be coming into my life through Thor or Clint soon enough, and I would have some time with you before you went back.”

“Still, it had to be so lonely,” Darcy sighed, watching as the small Steve morphed into the Captain America-sized Steve she knew now. She turned to him and wrapped her arms around his torso, squeezing hard while her head practically burrowed into his chest. “I'm so happy that I have you, I don't know if I would be able to do it alone.”

“I just knew you were on your way,” Steve smiled down at her, before wrapping his arms around her tightly. “All I needed was a little patience.”

“No, Steve, this is more than patience,” Darcy insisted, turning her head and seeing the Bucky Barnes panel in the distance. She sighed heavily and said, “You lost Bucky, then sent me away, and a few days later you crashed the plane...then you spent a year and a half alone, and then six months building everything we have. And...I couldn't do that all by myself, I can barely want to leave the apartment, and I---I don't know what I'm going to do when you have to go back to work.”

“Shhh, Darcy-girl, it's okay,” Steve rubbed her back up and down in soothing strokes. “I'm going to take off from work for as long as you need me. I promise. We can stay holed up in that apartment together forever if that's what you want.”

“I'm just---I love you,” Darcy whispered. “Don't know what I'd do without you.”

“Well, you don't have to worry about that,” Steve promised her. “I love you too, Darcy-girl.”

They eventually began walking around the exhibit again, spending a lot of time at each display, studiously avoiding the sections devoted to Bucky. After an hour of walking around, with Steve filling Darcy in on how the other Howling Commandos spent the rest of their lives, they eventually wandered hand in hand to where they had been avoiding.

It was so surreal, Bucky's face on the holographic display, the narrator speaking of how special the friendship had been between Bucky and Steve...how Bucky was the only Howling Commando to lose his life during the war. Darcy's eyes darted between the closeup picture of Bucky's face, and the footage of Bucky and Steve laughing. The picture was odd. It was one snapshot of a moment in time. It had probably been taken less than a week after Steve had rescued Bucky from Hydra. The shadows under his eyes, the clench of his jaw, the frown on his lips all spoke of someone that was uncomfortable, agitated, upset.

But the footage took the same man, and a laugh with Steve had transformed him. All the dejection and pain was gone for a blissful moment as two men who meant the world to each other shared a joke.

“We were talking about you,” Steve whispered, following Darcy's line of sight to the laughter than played on a loop.

“No, really?,” Darcy smiled softly.

“Yeah,” Steve squeezed her hand tenderly. “He said he couldn't wait to see your face when you saw me in the suit. I told him you'd seen worse since you had a lot of input on the first costume. And you had especially enjoyed the small little shorts I had to wear over the tights.”

“I loved the Cap Booty shorts!” Darcy couldn't help but giggle, her laughter matching up to the looped laughter from Steve and Bucky in 1943. “I'm glad you got him to laugh. He needed it after whatever they did to him.”

“He never said what they did to him,” Steve sighed. “I wish I coulda helped him more, but he never wanted to talk about it.”

“Never told me either,” Darcy sighed. “He was so different though. Fuck Hydra, Steve. I'm so glad you destroyed them.”

“Well, Peg and the rest of the Howling Commandos definitely did the heavy lifting,” Steve assured her. “And when we see Peg at the end of the month, you make sure you tell her I told you that. She's always saying she didn't get the credit she deserved there.”

“Captain Rogers? We were hoping to steal you for a moment to sign a few things for auction,” one of the curators came up to them with a cautious smile.

“You go, I have to go visit the little girl's room,” Darcy insisted.

The curator pointed her to the set of restrooms just outside of the exhibit doors before walking off with Steve. Darcy gave the hologram of Bucky's face one more sad look, her hand going out to his chin and stroking her index finger against it.

“I love you, Bucky,” she whispered, her smile small and sad.

She was lingering outside of the exhibit, staring in wonder inside at the beautiful, extra large mural behind all of the mannequins with their uniforms. Bucky stood next to Steve, painted on the wall, both men larger than life and captivating her as her eyes darted between their faces, when she felt a small tugging against her sweater. She looked down and smiled at a small boy, no older than five staring up at her with blue eyes full of wonder.

“Hi,” the boy said shyly.

“Hello,” Darcy smiled down at him. She went to her knees to look him in the eye with concern before asking, “Are you lost? Do you want me to help find your mom?”

“No,” the boy shook his head slowly, brown curls swaying under the force of it. “She's busy but I know where she is.”

“Oh, okay,” Darcy shrugged. She pointed into the exhibit and said, “Are you going to come back and see the Captain America exhibit tomorrow?”

  
  


“No, I seen it already,” the little boy grinned at her, his blue eyes crinkling adorably. “You're a swell dame.”

“ YOU are a  _ charmer _ ,” Darcy laughed. She looked to the exhibit again and saw Steve walking towards them. “But be careful, cause I got a fella already, and he might not like you trying to charm me away.”

“I ain't scared of that punk!” the little boy laughed.

Darcy's eyes widened as she saw the laughter transform the little man's face, a small dimple in his chubby little chin on display for a moment. Before she could dwell on it too long, the little boy smacked a kiss on her cheek and was off like a rocket, waving at her.

“See you!” he called out jovially.

Steve opened the door to the exhibit and pulled Darcy's hands to stand her up straight.

“What was that about? You going after a younger man again, Darcy-girl?” Steve smiled.

“Well, I mean, I met the two greatest men I'll ever meet when they were _teenagers_ still,” Darcy laughed.

“I'll have you know, Bucky was _twenty_ when you met him,” Steve corrected her, that familiar look of teasing sarcasm on his face. “You were such a cradle robber.”

* * *

“Darcy-girl?”

“Hmmm?” Darcy asked from under the pile of blankets on the bed in his room. She had burrowed under two of them when Steve had suggested going to the store. Steve had retaliated by layering five more blankets on top of her.

They had been sharing his bed ever since Darcy returned, Darcy would fall asleep spooned against Steve's back every night, her arms banded around his waist, her cheek smashed against his back. Steve would envelop her hand in one of his, his thumb against her wrist, feeling her steady heart beat was better than any lullaby. It was innocent and pure comfort and seemed like the most natural thing in the world to do.

She didn't toss or turn during the night, but she would somehow cuddle closer in her sleep, and Steve had woken up hard too many times with the feeling of her breasts on his back and her hand on his stomach. He'd shuffle off to the bathroom every morning before she woke and took care of his problem before coaxing her awake with a fresh pot of coffee and sizzling bacon. Darcy never noticed and never said anything, and at that point, Steve didn't want to bring it up. Bucky's death had been over two years ago to him, but for Darcy it was less than a month ago.

He didn't want to keep secrets from her, but there were still some things she didn't need to know.

What he could see out of the peephole on his front door was not one of those things.

“Where's that necklace of yours?” Steve wondered warily, looking out of the peephole of his apartment in confusion.

“What're you on about?” Darcy demanded, hauling herself out of bed and padding through the apartment. “The necklace is in the purse.”

“Look,” Steve sighed, putting hands on her shoulders and placing her in front of the peephole.

Natasha Romanoff was on the other side, her hand reaching out for the doorbell, as if in suspended animation, her other hand full of grocery bags.  SHIELD hadn't tried to contact him the whole time he and Darcy had been homebound, and he figured that Natasha was handling things just fine without him.

“What the hell?” Darcy whispered. She stepped away from the door and ran towards the hallway closet where the big black purse that she had constantly carried throughout her travels in time had been since they got back from the Smithsonian. As soon as she opened the closet, there was a soft orange light filling Steve's apartment. “I didn't do it, I swear.”

“I know...I know, sweetheart,” Steve pulled her away from the closet, putting himself between her and the closet before shutting the door.

“What's it doing?” Darcy demanded.

“It's...it's slowing down time,” Steve shrugged helplessly.

“Just for us?” Darcy turned her lips downwards, going back to the front door and staring at Natasha as she continued to hold her arm up to the doorbell. “Stevie-boy, it didn't just slow down time, it _stopped_ time. How long have we been in the apartment?”

“...I don't know,” Steve admitted quietly.

It had felt like a long time, to be honest. Steve had been gently trying to drag Darcy from the apartment for days. This morning her persistent refusal had him playfully burying her in blankets. They hadn't left the apartment since they had returned from the Smithsonian, and that had felt like...at least two weeks. He knew after dinner that they would need more groceries soon. He went to Darcy's phone plugged into the charger on the wall, she had let it there after coming home and had promptly forgotten about it. Spending so many weeks in the past with very poor service had seemingly cured Darcy of her addiction to electronics. She rarely remembered that her phone existed at that point.

“Darcy-girl,” Steve whispered. “It's...it's been less than eight hours since we came home from the Smithsonian.”

“Holy shit,” Darcy's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

It wasn't the worst thing that could happen with the necklace. Instead of being zapped into the past or even worse, into the future, Darcy's necklace had trapped them together in the apartment for days, nearly frozen in time with only each other for company.

It was still time travel, just a very different kind of time travel to what he and Darcy had grown accustomed to.

“I want to try something,” Darcy said softly, gripping his hand and reaching back for the door handle of the closet. She grabbed the glowing purse with her free hand before marching to the front door, Steve in tow. She gestured for him to open the front door and took a deep breath.

Natasha practically fell into the room once Steve had the door open, and Steve slammed the door behind her, giving her stunned look a sheepish shrug.

“Something is happening!” Darcy insisted, holding up her bag, which was still emitting that beautiful golden orange glow. “We've been inside this apartment for at least two weeks.”

“You've been inside the apartment since last night. Your security detail reported you were safe since nine in the evening last night,” Natasha corrected.

“Security detail? I---no, we'll go back to that later. Just know that it's been a lot longer for us,” Steve shook his head. He gripped Darcy's hand tighter before leading her and in turn Natasha to the one window in the apartment with an outside view of the street.

He pulled the curtains open, which had done so well in blocking out the natural light that Darcy and Steve hadn't noticed that it was a gray and cloudy day the entire time. All three of them watched the outside world in astonishment. Everything seemed to be in a state of suspended animation. The cars were at a standstill in the street. The few pedestrians present were standing still, mid-step.

“This is---this is unusual,” Natasha furrowed her brow. “I think that we may need to consult Thor.”

* * *

** Chapter Three: You're Like a Mirror, Reflecting Me **

* * *

Natasha stayed by the door like a hawk, waiting for the slightest hint of Thor.

It should have only taken him half an hour to fly from New York to Steve's Washington DC apartment.

Ten hours of waiting and Natasha was ready to bang her head against the door as only ten minutes ticked by on her phone.

“ How can the two of you  _ stand  _ this?” Natasha asked in annoyance.

“We didn't notice,” Steve shrugged.

“You didn't notice that you had spent two and a half weeks in an apartment with no company and no contact with the outside world?” Natasha gave the both of them a look of appraisal.

“I don't understand the question,” Darcy pursed her lips at Natasha, earning a smile from the exasperated woman. “I love spending time with Steve. I didn't really notice how much time went by.”

Natasha's eyes went to Steve then very quickly, catching the small beam of pride and happiness there. Her frustration melted and she gave them both a small, sad smile.

“One of you watch the door for Thor, I really have to use the bathroom.”

* * *

Twelve hours later, Thor still had not arrived. Natasha had given up her obsessive watching of the peephole and had decided to just go back every hour.

She sat on the armchair next to the couch where Darcy had fallen asleep in Steve's arms.

“Do you still think that she's not the girl for you?” Natasha wondered softly.

“C'mon, she's grieving. We're both grieving,” Steve shook his head. He looked down to where Darcy had her head against his chest, her arms wrapped around his torso, her left leg hitched around his thigh. His hand did a pass through the dark brown curls hanging down her back and he felt himself calm at the touch, any annoyance towards Natasha fading immediately. He sighed and said softly, “It's never going to---”

“Bull shit,” Natasha said resolutely, but in a gentle tone. Her face was unimpressed when Steve looked up to glare at her. “I don't claim to know what happened seventy years ago, Rogers, but I can recognize two people who are in love with one another. I'm guessing that things between you and Darcy and Bucky were more complicated that you led on or even thought.”

“I always loved her, Natasha. I loved them both,” Steve said softly. He searched Natasha's expression for any hint of condemnation. She only had that same small, genuine smile barely curving her lips upwards. He shrugged and said, “But it's not the right time. She's hurting over Bucky, the last thing she needs is me telling her that I've loved her since I heard that first swear word come out of her mouth.”

“She's slowing down time for you,” Natasha hypothesized.  She wanted Thor to confirm, but she had an idea about what that mysterious necklace was.   “She's using the necklace to make time slower for just the two of you.”

“Because we're best friends,” Steve nodded his hand stroking at the dark curling locks of hair hanging down Darcy's back again, trying to retain his calm as she hit a deeper point in her sleep cycle and fairly melted into him, limbs going loose and pliant so that he had to hold her closer and tighter to keep her in place. “We're the only two people who can help each other when it comes to losing Bucky.”

“Alright,” Natasha nodded. She knew when to save her battles. Steve wasn't ready for it yet, but she knew she was right. “But you still need your own life, you can't be wrapped up in Darcy and grief and pain all the time.”

“It's not like that,” Steve disputed. “We're happy a lot, it hasn't been seventeen days of tears...”

“Still...you should get out in the world,” Natasha shrugged. “I'll stay here with her, and you can go out and give Helen a call. I mean, you went out for coffee with her the last time you were in New York. How'd that go?”

“Uhm...not well,” Steve looked down at Darcy's sleeping face. It had taken Helen ten minutes to stop him from talking about something Darcy had done, with a gentle hand over his and a knowing light in her eyes. She had given him an understanding smile. She'd been clear that she wasn't interested in getting involved with a man who was clearly in love with someone else.

“Okay. So, I'll be on the lookout, for other dates for you,” Natasha shrugged.

“You don't have to do that,” Steve sighed.

“But I will anyway.”

* * *

Thor finally arrived after another twelve hours. When Steve opened the door and allowed the man to fall through the entryway into the small vortex of time, an astonished look crossed Thor's face. He turned to Darcy, who was standing next to Steve, the glowing orange-stoned necklace in her hands. The astonishment melted into something akin to understanding.

“It is not so surprising that my Lady and my chosen sister are able to host such power and not be adversely affected.”

“You think this is like the Aether?” Natasha questioned. There was a reason she wanted Thor there. She had noticed some striking similarities between the stone that Darcy had found and the aether.

“Nay, I know this is exactly like the Aether,” Thor shook his head. “Lady Darcy wields the time stone in her hand.”

  
  


“She can control it,” Steve revealed.

“A little...and not very well,” Darcy shook her head, going to the couch and sitting down, placing the necklace on the coffee table. She grinned when Thor sat next to her on one side, and Steve on the other. She leaned into Steve, furrowing her brow at Natasha's pleased smile as the woman sat back down in the arm chair.

“To not have it split you in two is a feat,” Thor shook his head. “Tell me of your journeys, lightning sister. I wish to know of what you can do.”

“Well...a few days ago, Steve and I were at a flea market, and I found this...”

Steve was quiet as Darcy told her tale. It was interesting to hear it from her point of view, to hear how she had managed to gain some kind of control at the end. To hear what it felt like for her when she made her jumps through time. It made his heart warm when she spoke about knowing she'd always land near Steve, if not right next to him.

“I---I guess I should have tried to see if the stone would have taken me to where I could have saved Bucky,” Darcy said quietly as she finished her tale.

“No Darcy,” Thor shook his head. “From what research I could gather after Jane's time with the Aether, the time stone is one that chooses who is worthy of wielding the immense power. There is no greater force than time. It can only be used by one who will not alter the fabric of the universe.”

“So...you should take it back to Asgard now, right?” Darcy wondered, looking down at the necklace with a small, sad downturn of her lips.

“No, sister,” Thor shook his head. “The time stone has found its home with you. I could not take it away now, and no realm could keep it from your hands.”

“But---no one will try to take it from her?” Steve furrowed his brow, his arm tightening around Darcy's shoulders. “I don't want anyone to come after her, Thor.”

“Darcy will remain safe,” Thor shook his head in confusion. “She has already used the power to stay safe in many of your battles of the past, she has just told us of the Battle of Normandy.”

“But I don't want to go for so long if it's dangerous,” Darcy shook her head.

“Then ask it what you want,” Thor encouraged her. “It shall keep you safe, sister. I promise you this. If you were not capable of wielding it, the stone would find another. It must reside with the person who would not go back and undo everything. Now...let us feast and honor you and your departed beloved.”

“Well, I would say we should order pizza, but it might take three days to get here,” Natasha smirked.

“We have enough rations left to make some spaghetti,” Steve chuckled, easing Darcy out of his hold before he got off the couch. “C'mon Romanoff, come and hep me.”

* * *

Natasha didn't stay for dinner, instead, she left to go and procure anything Steve or Darcy might need for their extended stay in Steve's apartment at the grocery store down two blocks from Steve's apartment, joking that she'd be back in half a week.

Steve busied himself in the kitchen, giving Thor and Darcy some privacy in the living room.

“Steven takes excellent care of you, little one,” Thor said thoughtfully. “His heart has been sick since the moment I met him, with the loss of your shared James and now, I realize, the absence of you.”

“We didn't share him...not like...not like you think, really,” Darcy shook her head. “It never got that kind of Asgardian kinky back in 1944, with your triple, quadruple, quintuple love bonds.”

“Ah, it would have, if you had been given more time,” Thor smiled. He patted Darcy's knee before his hands went to the heart shaped locket on the bracelet from Steve and Bucky. He clicked it open and smiled, “A shared heart amongst souls is most beautiful when it is pure and right. It can cure all ailment, it can mend any sickness.”

“He doesn't love me like that, Thor,” Darcy whispered.

“You are mistaken,” Thor shook his head. “He has loved you throughout time, with patience and no hope or expectation of it being requited. It is a pure love.”

“Thor, you've not known Steve that long, you can't know that,” Darcy chided.

“You forget that I can see these things that Midgardians cannot. The All-speak understands the language in looks, and in feelings,” Thor explained gently. “Steven loves you, just as he loved James. Just as you loved James and you love Steven. You are three bonded without ceremony.”

Darcy was silent as she thought that through. Her hand reached out and grabbed the necklace, feeling the change in the glow. The strange sound of a bell chiming very slowly began echoing throughout the apartment and Darcy's eyes darted to the door as Steve tensed and went to look through the peephole.

“It's Brock Rumlow, from the STRIKE team,” Steve muttered, angry and annoyed at the man pressing his hand into the still slowly ringing bell.

“Ask the necklace to take you a short time away this time, Lady Darcy. Your place is here now. You and Steven and the babe will make a happy family in remembrance of your fallen love,” Thor promised in a whisper as she shoved the necklace into the purse and gripped the handles.

Darcy's eyes flew to Thor in shock and surprise before she felt the familiar warmth take over and the orange glow begin to overtake her.

“Don't stay away too long, Darcy-girl,” Steve begged, missing whatever had put that blank look of shock on her face, his hand on the doorknob, looking at her with tear filled blue eyes. “I love you.”

* * *

Time went back to normal with Darcy's disappearance through time. Rumlow's appearance had been suspicious, but brief as he seemed to be uncomfortable with Thor's presence and the sudden arrival of Natasha with bags and bags of supplies.

“She will not be long, Steven,” Thor promised. “I must go back to the Tower so that my Jane can transport me home, there are many things I need to learn in order to put yours and Darcy's minds at ease.”

Natasha had stayed with him after Thor had left, eager to see Darcy's return, but she was called away with a short mission by Fury, so Steve was alone again.

The slowed time of the last few weeks had flown by with Darcy there. She had told Natasha that she loved spending time with him, and it was a feeling he certainly reciprocated. Without Darcy with him, time seemed to slow and the seconds ticked by painfully. Steve had caught up with reading work debriefs, cleaning the apartment, and had even managed to go for a jog and only twelve hours had ticked by.

He attempted to sleep, but found that he couldn't without her in the bed with him.

He had an absolutely terrifying panic attack at hour fourteen when he realized that if Darcy couldn't control the stone, she may be gone for not a few days but a few years. He'd broken a coffee mug in his hands as the terror gripped at him, causing his breathing to speed up and his muscles to clench.

He spent an hour staring at the pictures on his mantle. Bucky and Steve and Darcy in all different combinations.  His eyes lingered on the fierce, determined look on Darcy's face as she slapped Bucky all those years ago in a photo booth at Coney Island. 

She would return to him. He knew that. And he trusted her to exhibit control over the necklace. If anyone in all the universes could do it, it was certainly Darcy.

He forced himself out of the apartment when he realized Natasha's supply run had been more about long term staples and non-perishable items. Steve was getting used to the fact that Natasha was always in what Barton had described as  _ zombie preparedness mode _ . The worst case scenario should always be prepared for in Natasha's book.  Because in Natasha's life and line of work, the worst case scenario usually happened.

But he and Darcy would be unable to function without bacon and eggs every morning, and Darcy had complained the other day of having to use his old man, spartan toiletries, so he went out with the aim of getting her more Darcy friendly supplies.

At hour eighteen he was putting away groceries and contemplating a call to Becks or a visit to Peggy to pass more Darcy-less time. He was desperately trying to fight the tsunami of sadness and depression that her short absence was bringing upon him and he was doing an absolutely terrible job at fighting it.

“I think I'm pregnant.”

Steve had a carton of eggs in his hands when the orange glow had flared and Darcy had appeared out of nowhere right before his eyes, the necklace's glow receding, a painfully blank look on her face. He looked down to see that the carton of eggs was now in two pieces on the ground, yolks and whites pooling on the tile of the kitchen floor. He looked back to Darcy, feeling that her face mirrored his.

Blank. Lips parted as shallow breaths blew past his lips. Eyes slightly widened, the shadow of panic mixed with amazement flirting in two different shades of blue.

“Darcy-girl,” Steve whispered, his hands itching to hold her. He fought the urge for a valiant moment before giving in, reaching out for her and holding her to his chest.

“How long was I gone?” she asked.

“Eighteen hours,” Steve told her in relief. “You did the right thing. I don't...I didn't want Rumlow knowing you were here. You think---why do you think---”

“Something Thor said. Fertility is a thing he does. We need...let's...let's go to the store, and get a test. Or fifteen. To make sure,” Darcy said softly, grabbing the purse from the couch and slipping the necklace inside of it, now glowing softly again, slowing down time for them. She slipped on a pair of house slippers before going to the kitchen and grabbing Steve's arm, dragging him towards the front door.

Steve managed to slip on a pair of shoes and grab his keys before they walked outside. He looked around in wonder at the frozen world around them, all of it affected by the stone Darcy carried with her. Everyone and everything was frozen in time except for them.

The corner store was a nice little bodega, run by an adorable old man with a limitless supply of Hawaiian shirts. He was sitting behind the cash register, mid-laugh at something on the small television sitting in front of him.

“Oh...this is strange,” Darcy furrowed her brow, her hand already full of all the pregnancy tests that the little shop had in stock. She looked down at the necklace and took a deep breath and Steve let out a little gasp as the world started to move at the correct pace.

“Woah...you two snuck up on me!” the shopkeeper gasped in shock at the sight of Darcy and Steve in front of him. He looked down at the tests on the counter and gave a small, knowing smile. “Will that be it?”

Steve grabbed three candy bars and threw them on the pile before Darcy reached into her bag and pulled out some of the money leftover from her time in the past.

“That's some old cash,” the shopkeeper stared down at the bills from the 1930's.

“Yeah, it might be worth more than what it says,” Steve gave a friendly smile as their purchases were bagged up. As soon as the bag was in his hand, Darcy took another deep breath and the rest of the world slowed to a near standstill. He looked down at her in amazement and asked, “How are you doing that?”

“It just...it knows what I want,” Darcy shrugged. “It knew that I wanted to get away yesterday. I don't like that guy Rumlow, Stevie-boy. He's...I don't like him. You shouldn't trust him.”

“Okay, I won't. But the necklace, Darcy-girl...that's---that's amazing,” Steve remarked. And it was. If what Thor thought was true, Darcy had control over one of the most powerful items in the universe.

“We're old friends now,” Darcy shrugged, looking down at the necklace with a sad smile.

The smile remained on her face as they quickly made it back to the apartment, Steve placing the bag of tests and candy on the kitchen counter. He didn't know what to do next. Did he wait to do anything until Darcy took the tests? Did he tell her how he felt about the possibility of her carrying Bucky's baby? He settled on something automatic, and shucked off his shoes and went to clean up the eggs, managing to do a passable job at it before he heard Darcy exhale a shaking sob.

“I don't want to take the test,” Darcy shook her head, looking at him with huge, tear filled blue eyes.

“Darcy-girl,” Steve sighed, going to her and wrapping her up in an embrace. “No matter what, I'm here for you. You gotta believe me. I love you. And I'll help---I'll give you whatever you need.”

“What if it's negative?” Darcy whispered, feeling a choking sob work its way up the back of her throat. “What if I'm not?”

Steve pulled away a little, bending his knees so his head was almost level with hers. His confusion was clear.

“You want it to be positive?” Steve asked in amazement, the hint of excitement tinging his voice. Cracks appearing in the dam he had built around his hope.

“Of course I want it to be positive, you idiot!” Darcy looked at him in confusion. “Stevie-boy, if I'm pregnant...this is the last piece of Bucky that you and I will have left...and we'll raise him together and it'll...we'll be a _family_ and it'll be because of Bucky and...it's what I want. I need it and what if...what if I'm not?”

“ Sweetheart,” Steve breathed out before cupping her face in his hands, thumbs brushing away tears before he let his lips land on hers, chaste and soft and full of all the love he felt in his heart for her. His heart felt like it could burst, the hope, the very idea of  _ family _ , just as she said it with all that want and need in a single word was filling him up and warming him throughout his whole body. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Darcy nodded. No secrets. She had promised him there would be no secrets. “I love you. And...not as a friend, Steve. I want you. I---please, I...”

“ I know, I  _ love  _ you, Darcy-girl,” Steve promised, kissing her again, the passion in the soft touch was undeniable and when he pulled away, Darcy drew in a long, stuttering breath as she looked up at him in wonder. He smiled down at her, happiness filtering through his veins at that point. “You and Bucky...you both were all I ever wanted.”

“You _want_ me?” Darcy whispered, her mouth going slightly slack.

“I always did,” Steve's voice was barely heard as he stared at her, gauging her reaction carefully.

“You IDIOT!” Darcy laughed, wriggling from his hold and punching him in the bicep before throwing herself in his arms again, her body shaking with either tears or laughter, Steve didn't know. It took her a few extended moments to get it under control before she whispered, “Why didn't you ever say anything?”

“Back in 1937? Didn't think you liked me like that, thought you saw me as a brother,” Steve shrugged. “And in 2013, you were Bucky's girl to me then. And...didn't think it was smart to send you back in time knowing how I felt.”

He paused and shook his head.

“How I feel.”

And that was it, they held each other standing next to the kitchen island, tender words of love spoken, the switch being flipped from hiding the romantic intentions behind a well-made platonic wall to having everything said softly and put out in the open. Steve had watched enough sweeping romantic movies with Darcy in the past few months to know that this wasn't what was in the movies.

It was comfortable and easy and natural.

And  _ right _ . Just as their friendship had always felt, but now there was an extra layer of security around it.

No more hiding how he felt. They both knew how the other had felt about Bucky. And now they both knew how they really felt about each other.

“Steve,” Darcy sighed, pulling away and standing on her tip toes, placing a tear-wet kiss against his lips. “Let's take this test.”

“Alright,” Steve's hands shook. Darcy had explained quietly on their way back from the store how the tests worked. He wanted to do whatever he could to help her through it, but he didn't quite know what to do. “Do I---what should I do?”

“Grab the kitchen timer while I go pee on these sticks?” Darcy shrugged. She looked to the purse she had carefully placed on the kitchen island. “I'd say we could fast forward till the sticks developed, but I don't trust to not blip us three years into the future.”

“Yeah, maybe just...let time go normal?” Steve suggested.

“Normal...I can do that,” Darcy took a deep breath before grabbing the bag, pulling out the candy bars and putting them in the bowl Steve had filled with apples before she had returned. She gave him a small, hopeful smile, before turning and walking softly to the bathroom.

Steve rolled his eyes as she didn't even bother to close the bathroom door, letting him hear the ripping of cardboard boxes, the rustling of plastic wrappers and then the gentle tinkling of her going. He got back to the bathroom and held the kitchen timer in his hand and knocked on the door frame gently.

Darcy smiled at him as she washed her hands, four of the tests set out on the bathroom counter in a neat little row and said, “Set it for eight minutes.”

He did as he was told and walked to stand next to her, his arm going around her shoulder.

“ You said  _ him _ .”

“Hmm?” Darcy made a questioning sound.

“You said we'd raise _him_ together,” Steve whispered.

“Of course we would, Stevie-boy,” Darcy smiled. “I could never do this without you.”

“No, I know that,” Steve nodded. And he did. He'd waited so long to tell Darcy how he really felt about her. He'd spent years thinking of the inevitable rejection. The quick, insistent reciprocation had settled into his veins and coursed through him. It was forever now. It was comfort and love and forever and Steve _knew_ that now. He gave her a hopeful smile and whispered, “But you said _him_.”

“Oh, yeah, obviously I don't know, since you know, I don't even know if he's real or not yet,” Darcy sighed, looking down at the timer, watching as the seconds ticked noisily by. “Don't you see a little boy though?”

“Yeah...I do,” Steve nodded. “Little James?”

“James Rogers Barnes,” Darcy sighed. She shook her hands back and forth a few times and wrinkled her nose. “Stop, no building dreams....if it's not real...if it's negative, I'll---I can't.”

“Hey, no, it's okay,” Steve promised, pulling her into his arms again. He kissed her, hoping to distract her from the noisy passage of time. When he pulled away, he drew in a soft breath and smiled, “I've been wanting to do that since 1937.”

“Then shut up and do it again,” Darcy dared.

Steve shook his head in amusement, wanting Bucky there with them now more than ever. She was going to drive him up a wall in the best of ways. He leaned in and kissed her again, still soft and shy and tender. He felt like it was a dream and he was going to wake up any second now.

They'd been focusing on the sad, the grief, the pain for weeks now. Weeks for them. Darcy and her time bending necklace had turned one week of normal time into so much longer for just he and Darcy.

Darcy's thought that she may be pregnant, then the revelation that she _wanted_ to be, that she wanted to make a family with Steve. That she _wanted_ Steve. It was all so much happiness all at once, that it felt too good to be true. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The kitchen timer went off and Darcy pulled away from the kiss that had been slowly building in intensity and passion. She was nearly breathless and Steve took her shaking hands in his and gave a gentle squeeze.

“What should it look like?” Steve wondered.

“Plus sign,” Darcy whispered.

Steve looked over at the neat row of tests while Darcy looked down at the ground, fairly trembling as she waited for Steve to say something.

Four tests lined up on the bathroom sink in a neat little row.

Four plus signs all in a row.

“You're going to have a baby,” Steve murmured, feeling his breaths coming in short gasps. “Christ, Darcy-girl, you're going to have Bucky's baby. This is a miracle.”

Darcy burst into happy tears and reached for him again, arms going around his torso as she buried her face in his chest. Steve kissed the top of her head and held her to him with one arm, his other going to rest on her stomach, rubbing low on her soft belly.

“It's a miracle.”

* * *

Steve never really trusted anyone BUT Darcy when it came to her safety before.

Steve was starting to have some real anxiety about Darcy's safety now that he knew she was carrying Bucky's baby.

She had soothed the rough edges of his fraying nerves that first day of knowing about the baby, promising that she would always have the necklace with her, and at the first sign of danger, she would go. She'd even humored him when he'd demanded she start practicing on slowing everyone else in the room but her so she could make quick and easy escapes.

“I need to see a doctor,” Darcy whispered as she dangled her legs off the bed, her head on Steve's stomach as he lay flat against the pillows. They had spent at least another week of molasses slow time in Steve's apartment, exploring the fun new facets of a romantic relationship. Beautiful kisses, contented groping over the clothes, and a more tangled way of sleeping in the same bed were just a few of the things that they were enjoying now that everything had changed.

“I don't actually know how pregnant I am...I mean, I know when it happened, obviously, there was only one time we did it without protection, but---time has been so muddled since then,” Darcy continued. She began kicking her feet in small motions as she contemplated with a humorous smirk, “Am I six weeks along or am I two and a half weeks along? Or like, 69 years pregnant?”

“We can call Bruce,” Steve suggested, his hands combing through her hair. “Or Helen.”

“I'd feel better going to someone who specializes in babies and lady bits. Or we could just go to a clinic somewhere, use fake names, pay cash?” Darcy offered.

“Not safe enough, Darcy-girl,” Steve shook his head.

“ _ Steve _ ,” Darcy sighed, her fingers cupping the necklace as she stared down at the warmly glowing amber orange stone that was keeping them in a safe, slow bubble of time apart from the rest of the world. “I can keep myself safe now, you know that. I proved that yesterday...or last week.  Whenever it was.”

“I can't lose you,” Steve whispered, the hint of desperation in his voice. “I don't...I've got a bad feeling with things happening in SHIELD. I---there's something going on. You're not safe.”

“I am safe,” Darcy promised. “Watch...”

Darcy took a deep breath and suddenly felt her will influencing the stone, Steve's breathing slowed instantaneously, the stomach her head was on becoming even more rock hard and unmoving. Darcy grinned as she placed the necklace under her pillow before hopping up from the bed and staring down at Steve, frozen in time. Her mischievous grin turned wicked very slowly and she made quick work of her own clothing, stripping down to her underwear before going to work on his.

The pants were easy enough, if not a little physically taxing, because a frozen in time super soldier's limbs weighed an awful lot. She stared at the tight t-shirt on his upper body and looked at it thoughtfully before rushing to the kitchen and grabbing a pair of kitchen scissors and using them to cut Steve out of his shirt.

He lay still, frozen in time, but now only clad in a pair of old fashioned boxers. She climbed on top of the bed again and straddled his hips, as she bent down and kissed him, her hand went to the necklace and brushed it, bringing him back to her speed.

“Mmph,” Steve made a sound against her lips in surprise. He grinned against the kiss before deepening it, his hands going to her hair as she licked into his mouth, playful and sexy and _more_ than any kiss they had shared before.

“See, I can control it, I'll be safe,” Darcy promised when she pulled away breathless. “You just worry about you.”

“Darcy, I trust you. I do, I know you can take care of yourself,” Steve whispered, his voice raspy with need. He managed to sit upright with her in his lap, her legs loose and pliant on either side of his waist. “Darcy-girl, you sure about this?”

“I want you,” she nodded. “I love you, Steve.”

“Christ,” his chest heaved with a heavy breath before he devoured that pouty mouth again, his hands drifting from her hair to her back where he made easy, quick work of her bra clasp. He hummed in appreciation as she shrugged out of the bra, his hands ghosting up her sides as his mouth moved from hers to place slow, wet kisses down her throat. “I've wanted you for so long, sweetheart.”

“Mmmm,” Darcy hummed in appreciation, his big hands cupping her breasts, squeezing and groping in the best of ways, his mouth moving from her throat to her collarbone before placing wet, open mouthed kisses on her breasts. He took one pert nipple in his mouth, sucking gently before letting his tongue work against her, making her squirm in his lap. “Is Mitzy from the USO still alive? I'd like to send her a fruit basket.”

  
  


“Darcy-girl,” Steve groaned against her skin. “I---you should know, I'm sorry you saw that.”

“M'not...it was hot,” Darcy admitted as he moved his kisses to her other breast, laving her other nipple with the same worshipful attention. “Won't lie...I---I was jealous. Jesus, the mouth on you, Stevie-boy, you're so good...”

“You should know,” Steve looked up at her earnestly. “I---she was the last.”

“Hmm?” Darcy furrowed her brow. It took her a few moments to process, and Steve kept kissing absently at the soft skin of her breasts, even as his right hand slowly meandered its way down her body, fingers tracing the waistband of her panties. “Stevie-boy?”

“Yeah?” he questioned.

“Are you telling me you haven't been with a-- anyone since 1943?” Darcy bit her lip in anticipation as his hands delved beneath her waistband, petting and stroking at her mound as he approached the warmth and wetness at the apex of her thighs.

“That's what I'm telling you,” Steve nodded, his index finger stroking at the puffy little lips of her sex. “I---it felt wrong somehow after you caught me. You were everything I wanted...and I'd driven you away.”

“Okay, that's just...I'm good to go, c'mon, Stevie-boy, I need to remedy this problem of yours,” Darcy insisted. “You've waited long enough.”

“Patience,” Steve laughed, stroking at her, bringing the sweet wetness ebbing out of her to her sensitive little bud of flesh. “Let me treat my girl right.”

Darcy sighed in blissed out contentment as Steve's surprisingly skilled fingers worked at her, never once penetrating her, but swirling and rubbing and gently pinching her just right until she was rocking in his lap, on the knife's edge of her orgasm. His lips went from her mouth to her jaw to her breasts and back up again, never stopping in their ministrations.

“1943,” she shook her head in amazement.

“You're worth the wait,” Steve promised her. And she was, she was writhing against him, her soft, perfectly plush body fairly singing in pleasure as he kept up his honest work. When his lips were on hers, the little moaning sounds were muffled, but whenever he moved, she was letting out stuttering little gasps and and mewling sounds, growing in volume until he felt her whole body tense and she let out a lovely small wail and his name.

“Please,” she finally whispered when she caught her breath, wiggling her body again so she managed to get her knees under her as she shimmied her underwear off. She grinned at him as he licked his wet fingers clean of her taste. “I love you.”

“Hmm, I love you, too,” Steve smiled softly, hazy in his need and want. Her pushy little hands worked at the waistband of his boxers and he chuckled as he got to his knees and helped her, pushing them down and off.

He pulled her to him again, her legs gripping around his waist as he knelt on the bed, set back on his heels. Soft, playful kisses against her jaw landed as gentle hands ran up and down her back before settling on her hips. She rolled her hips against his hold and he gasped when he felt his hard length run against her wet warmth. His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips as he brought her down to his erection, finding her and sinking in slowly.

“Darcy,” he whispered in wonder and awe, the tight heat making the pleasure run up and down his spine as he pistoned his hips out and into her again, sinking in further.

“Open your eyes,” Darcy requested quietly. When he did, she smiled at him, “There's my Stevie-boy.”

He didn't break eye contact with her as he withdrew and pushed back into her, this time feeling himself bottoming out inside of her, surrounded by that lush, wet heat. He was already breathing a little heavy just from the feeling of it. They were both breathing heavy as they stared into each others eyes, the connection intense but so necessary as he began to piston his hips against her, the hold on her body moving her in concert with his rhythm.

“ So perfect,” Steve managed to rasp out after he had lost count of how many times he had sunk himself into her. He was panting, feeling as if he had just run a few marathons in a very short amount of time, the emotion heavy in his chest. Joy and love and that heady feeling of completion as everything slotted just a piece closer to  _ right _ .

“You too,” Darcy nodded. She opened her mouth to speak again and only a low, decadent moan came out, her eyes rolling into the back of her head at the excessively pleasant feeling of him deep inside of her, making her deliciously full. A heaviness was settling low in her belly and she shook her head at the shock of it, “So close already.”

“Me too,” Steve nodded, never taking his eyes off of her as she chased that climax diligently. He gave her a pleasure heavy smile and reminded her, “S'been a while...”

“ _ 1943 _ ,” Darcy whispered, still shocked that he had waited so long.  _ For her _ .

“I love you, Darcy-girl,” Steve whispered, watching as her body started to tense as she fell over the edge. He pulled her down on his length and groaned at that beautiful clenching feeling of her as she came apart around him. All the pleasure and desire he had been denying himself since that day in 1943 detonated and he groaned loud and long as he came, pulsing inside of her for long, extended moments.

“Fuck,” Darcy whimpered at the feel of it, quivering and clenching at his biceps to try and ground herself. “Woah...wow...that was...so so good, Stevie-boy.”

“Yeah,” he managed to hoarsely whisper. He kissed her temple and nodded. “You're worth any wait...”

* * *

 

** Chapter Four: Let Me Hold Your Hand And Dance 'Round and 'Round the Flames **

* * *

“So, Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan, congratulations are in order. You're definitely pregnant!”

Darcy grinned and looked up at Steve, who mirrored her grin, with the addition of shining, happy tears in his eyes.

“Now, you're certainly not at twelve weeks yet, but we're going to do an ultrasound to try and narrow down the due date,” the doctor smiled.

Steve let out a huff of excitement. He and Darcy had ventured to a local bookstore in a time-frozen world and purchased every book on pregnancy that they could. He'd devoured everything and was so impressed with how far the world had come regarding pregnancy. He knew they were about to see the baby and hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time and the happy excitement coursing through him was something he had never quite felt before. There was a heavy bittersweet feeling to it, knowing that if Bucky were there, if he was still with them, it would have been perfect.

Steve and Darcy still talked a lot about Bucky. The sadness had been tempered some with the blissful realization that he would live on through the baby. So much of their pillow talk and everyday talk centered around what Bucky would have done, or thought or said. Darcy had purchased a lot of empty sketchbooks and had requested Steve to draw Bucky, both of them thinking of specific moments in time, specific expressions, so that Darcy could write the words underneath, a little story book for the baby to read about its father.

The happiness would always have the hint of longing and sadness. Steve and Darcy acknowledged it and couldn't imagine it any other way. It was their way of honoring him. Whether it be sexy hushed whispers as they came down from the afterglow of lovemaking, talking about what  _ should  _ have been all three of them, or Steve reading one of his many books on pregnancy and both of them saying that Bucky would have been just as captivated and fascinated with what was going on inside of Darcy's body.

Steve had been terrified to have Darcy at an insecure location, but once he had read far too many chapters about what could potentially go wrong, he was all aboard her fake name, clinic and cash plan.

“Alright, this is going to feel cold.”

Darcy gave a full body shiver at the gel making contact with her body. She gripped Steve's hand in hers and they both stared at the little screen intently, the kind and friendly ultrasound tech checking on her ovaries before moving towards the uterus. Darcy squeezed Steve's hand and he let out a small choking laugh at what he could clearly see on the screen.

“Okay....there's your baby, guys,” the tech smiled at them, pointing out a tiny little bean on the screen. “I'm just going to take a few snapshots, and get a few measurements.”

“Look at him,” Darcy whispered to Steve. “He's a little peanut.”

  
  


“Yeah,” Steve said thickly. He bent to kiss Darcy's forehead. “It's a miracle, Darcy-girl. So amazing.”

“I think that we're going to place you at about seven weeks,” the tech announced. He smiled at them and asked, “Are you ready to hear the heartbeat?”

“Absolutely.”

“Yes, please.”

The rapid little rhythmic beating filled the room and Steve couldn't contain the tears falling down his cheeks. Darcy squeezed his hand even harder and felt her face breaking out into a huge grin.

“Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan. You'll be meeting this little one the middle of October.”

* * *

It didn't take much for both Darcy and Steve to figure out that the slowed and stopped time that Darcy was enacting was real time on her body. The baby was seven weeks along, where it probably should have only been about three weeks along.

“If you want to keep going to that clinic, you're going to have to stop slowing time for us,” Steve suggested as they sat together on a bench at a nearby park, sharing a bag of celebratory cookies they had picked up at a bakery, soft molasses cookies, Bucky's favorite. “They're going to realize something is up when we go back in a few weeks and you're farther along than you should be.”

“I know. I will,” Darcy agreed easily.

Everything felt easier now.

She felt safe in the knowledge that she had the power to do what was necessary to protect herself. She felt safe in the knowledge that Steve loved her and would  _ want  _ to spend as much time as he could with her. She felt safe in the absolute certainty that Bucky would have wanted it to be this way.

“I think that I'm going to go into Helen's remote lab tomorrow, get a little work done,” Darcy said softly. “We should start getting back on schedule. I mean, I'd prefer if you didn't go on any long missions...”

“The only way I'm leaving you further than ten miles away from me, is if it's a rescue mission,” Steve said resolutely. His arm wrapped around her shoulders and drew her to him, his lips landing on her temple.

“What will you do with your time when I'm hard at work?” Darcy laughed. “There's only so much baby proofing you can do to your apartment in the next six months.”

“I'll find things to occupy my time, Darcy-girl.  I should probably get back to running.  I'm feeling a little out of shape.”

"You're such a troll, Stevie-boy.  I love the crap out of you."

* * *

Two weeks later, Darcy was standing in front of the mirror, naked as the day she was born, staring at her profile. More specifically, a very tiny rounded baby bump that had popped up overnight. She hadn't slowed time on purpose since their visit to the clinic, but she suspected she may have inadvertently played around with time when they were in bed together doing their most favorite thing and probably definitely in her sleep when she was doing her second favorite thing, which was curling around Steve's back as the big spoon position she fought him for every night.

It wasn't so much time that the clinic would notice, but she felt like maybe she had gained a week or so, and the little round bump made her err on the side of caution and think it might have been an extra week and a half. She reconciled it with the thought that they could find another clinic as she rubbed at the lovely little bump for a few extended slowed minutes.

She was still doing that when Steve returned from his morning run, decaf coffee and danishes in hand.

“Stop the time control.  I had to make my own change at the bakery,” Steve called out once he closed the door. “And the neighbor is frozen on the stairs. It looks like she just got off a shift at the hospital and is cranky and tired.”

“Look it,” Darcy furrowed her brow, her finger poking at the little bump.

“Wow,” Steve breathed, blindly putting the coffee and pastry bag on the dresser before walking towards Darcy. His hands went down to her stomach and gentle fingertips ran up and down the firm little roundness. “Wow. That wasn't there last night, was it?”

“Cool, right?” Darcy nodded. “He's a real little dude in there, growing all his fingernails and whatnot.”

Steve nodded, dropping to his knees and placing a kiss against the small bump. He smiled and said softly,

  
  


“Hey little baby. It's Steve, I'm going to be your da. Me and your mom are real excited you're here. Your Pop would have been so happy for you, too. He was the best, and he's going to be smiling down at you for the rest of your life, I promise.”

Darcy's smile was soft and full of affection as her hands tenderly ran through Steve's hair.

“I love you, Stevie-boy.”

“Hmmm,” Steve nodded, placing another kiss against her bump. “I love you too, Darcy-girl. ...is there a reason you're naked?”

“The book told you that there's increased blood flow and it might make me all...rawr!” Darcy shrugged before raking her fingernails against his scalp. “You're on call buddy. Danishes will have to wait.”

* * *

“Hey, I miss you.”

“Mmhmm, me too,” Steve whispered on the other end of the line of what Darcy had called their burner phones. “We're heading back now, eta two and a half hours plus debrief. I might...I might have to have a chat with the pirate.”

“Things go sour?” Darcy furrowed her brow.

“Just---odd,” Steve admitted. “Our matchmaker was doing a little side business and I wasn't told about it. It's just...something is off.”

“ That doesn't sound good,” Darcy bit her lip. Steve's instincts were usually  _ very  _ right. If Natasha had done something on Fury's orders, and Steve didn't like it, it was a safe bet something shady was going down.

“How's your project?” Steve wondered.

  
  


Darcy had taken the train up to Philadelphia after Natasha had picked Steve up in DC after a text from him saying there was a pickup he had to do, i.e., a rescue mission. He didn't want her in the apartment alone, and she had been keen to tell Rebecca Barnes-Spencer about the baby, face to face.

  
  


“The baby is good, cooking along very nicely.  And Aunt Becks is...she's absolutely thrilled,” Darcy laughed. “She also pointed out that her latest great-grandchild would be four months older than her only nephew. She started knitting this morning at the crack of dawn, and I don't think she's stopped for breath since.”

“Tell her anything else?” Steve wondered carefully.

“Yeah, she's _absolutely_ thrilled,” Darcy promised him. Rebecca had burst into happy, relieved tears when Darcy had revealed that she and Steve were together in every sense of the word. “Apparently, when we visit Mrs. B's grave, we are supposed to tell her that Becks won the bet. Mrs. B thought that you and me and Bucky were a _thing_ back in 1941 when Bucky swore off man trolloping, she didn't buy that _Darcy is Steve's cousin_ story for a minute.”

“I'm looking forward to your mission report.”

Darcy grinned. It was Steve's little code words he used when he was on the phone with her in front of someone from SHIELD. It meant  _ I love you. _

“I love you too, Stevie-boy. Be careful with the pirate. He's a slippery dude.”

* * *

“ Darcy. ++ _ Darcy _ .”

“Becks?” Darcy grumbled from her warm nest of blankets and pillows on Rebecca's cozy couch. She had been indulging in a mid-afternoon nap. She'd been feeling a lot more tired lately, which pregnancy-guru Steve had told her was totally normal at her current state of pregnancy. Her body was working extra hard to deal with the hormones and stress of creating a tiny little person, so she was prone to napping everyday, without fail from one pm to three pm.

Darcy's stay with Rebecca had extended to its third day. Steve had told her in his coded little words and phrases that something was wrong. That Fury had been killed and the apartment was  _ not  _ safe.

The only person that could reasonably protect Darcy that Steve trusted was Thor, and he was off world. So she would remain at Rebecca's until he gave her the all clear. And if the slightest bit of danger came to her door, she was to transport herself to a safer point in time.

Darcy stared at the television that Rebecca was pointing at with a shaking finger. It didn't look like Steve would be giving her the all clear any time soon.

_ Captain America: Wanted Fugitive _

“ Oh God,” Darcy whispered, sitting up very slowly, her hand going down to her little baby bump, fingers rubbing absently at skin. She looked to Rebecca with terrified eyes and repeated, “Oh  _ God _ .”

* * *

“Stay where you are, Darcy-girl,” Steve whispered into the phone from Sam's house. He had a few hours privacy as Natasha and Sam went to retrieve the wings. “Just---just don't try to contact Stark, or Jane or anyone. Stay hidden where you are.”

“Of course, Steve,” Darcy nodded.

“And if someone comes after you, if you feel like you're in danger, would you please just...just do whatever it takes to stay safe,” Steve begged. “I'm---this is...this is bad, sweetheart.”

“Please stay safe,” Darcy whispered, her voice edged in tears. She felt Becks' hands around her shoulders, offering whatever physical comfort she could. “I can't do this without you, Steve. I told you, I'm not...I can't do this alone.”

“I promise,” Steve said softly. “I'll always come back to you.”

“Actually, I'm the one who always comes back to you,” Darcy reminded him. “Please be careful. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Darcy hung up the phone and Becks was right there with a strong hug. They went back to preparing lunch and Becks did her best to keep things as positive as possible. She was chattering about something adorable her second youngest great-granddaughter had said on the phone the other day when Darcy's knife slicing the tomato got a little too close to her knuckle. She winced and Becks, who had once needed her own patching up in 1937 after sliding into a gravel home plate, went to work on cleaning out the little slice.

Darcy's eyes kept going between the phone and the television, desperate to see when something would happen. When Becks gasped, her fingers clasping around hers gently, Darcy finally looked down.

The deep cut was already healing, had healed so quickly that the blood had stopped and a thin pink line where the cut had been remained.

Becks grabbed her phone and handed it to her, watching anxiously as Darcy repeatedly dialed Steve back, leaving five voicemails in a row.

“Stevie-boy, do you think that uhm...your---your man—stuff---your...”

“SEMEN!” Becks shouted out impatiently, which was wrong, because Becks was still forever thirteen in her mind and yet also, eighty-five years old.

“Do you think it has medicinal properties? Has that been tested? Call me back as soon as you can.”

“Uhm, I should probably explain that last voice mail. I cut my finger and it healed before Becks could open the bandaid. WEIRD right?”

“Stevie-boy, seriously, I'm weirded out, and I know you're busy but this is kind of huge and I might have to call Banner for a consultation about serum semen.”

“Oh, And I forgot on the last couple of calls, I love you and be safe. Okay. See you soon.”

"No seriously, please be careful.  I love you."

* * *

Three hours after Steve's final phone conversation with her, Darcy got that feeling again. She felt the pull of the stone and her hands automatically grabbed her purse, looking around wildly as her adrenaline kicked in. She heard the sirens and Rebecca came hustling into the room, a worried look on her face.

“Go on, now, Darcy, get out of here,” Rebecca whispered. “Go forward...get some where safe.”

“Okay, love you Becks,” Darcy refused to say goodbye anymore. She gave Bucky's sister a tentative smile before Rebecca wrapped her up in a hug.

“Take care of my nephew,” Rebecca whispered in her ear. “I'll see you soon.”

Darcy concentrated on the will and want of the stone, asked it to take her to a safe spot. A spot with Steve when things were safe enough, but not too far. Rebecca stood back and the orange glow grew so bright that they both blinked.

The banging on Rebecca's front door was answered by the kindly old woman, her face the picture of innocence and confusion at the appearance of the HYDRA agents masquerading under the name of SHIELD. They searched the house for hours before giving up, the Asset's only living immediate family had nothing and no one of value under the roof, despite what the lab tech had said had spewed from the Asset's mouth during the last wipe.

They would find other ways to control him.

* * *

Bucky was  _ alive _ .

Natasha, Sam, Fury, Hill and anyone with a mouth at the underground safe house had tried to warn him that the man who had attacked them on the bridge wasn't _his_ Bucky. That he was a brainwashed assassin firmly in HYDRA's hands. A weapon, a thing that Steve's enemies could point and aim at him.

But he was alive.

He had tried to contact Darcy, but Becks had told him in Darcy's coded words that she had _Gone to the store_ _after she realized she had too many nuts and not enough sugar_.

Someone had tried to get her then and she had used the stone to blink into the safety of time. His relief was immense. He knew that even if she didn't go far enough in time she could use the stone to leave again.

And she didn't know that Bucky was alive. He was glad for that too. He needed to be there, right in front of her when he told her. This wasn't something that could be done over the phone.

Steve stared at the larger than life mural behind the costumed mannequins and made a promise to himself and to Darcy and the baby.

He would move heaven and earth to bring Bucky back to them.

He began to walk out of the exhibit, his old uniform in his hands, his shield on his back. He furrowed his brow as he clearly saw in the distance, just outside of the doors to the exhibit, a small boy, maybe seven years old, with wild brown curls on the top of his head, clasping hands with a little blonde baby girl, who couldn't have been two years of age.

The museum was closed, and those two children had made it in there somehow and were staring at him from the other side of the glass doors. The little boy was smirking at him, but the little girl was bouncing in place, a look of delight on her chubby face as she put little hands against the glass and began shouting something at him from the other side.

Steve rushed to them, and the boys' eyes widened in surprise and his mouth turned down as he realized he had been caught at doing something naughty. It was an expression Steve recognized. He had seen Darcy making it plenty of times before. Most recently when she had snuck sips of his caffeinated coffee.  The boy pulled on the baby girl's hands and began rushing away, but had only made it down the hall halfway as the girl refused to move quickly, her little hands making grabby motions at Steve as whining little squeaks came out of her mouth.

“James!' Steve called out on instinct. “James Rogers Barnes! Get back here!”

The boy froze and turned to face Steve with an all too familiar guilty expression.

“Don't tell Mommy!” James begged.

“Geybackhere!” the baby girl repeated Steve's words with an impish little grin. She waved her hands at Steve again and giggled, “Daddy!”

Steve's heart was in his throat as he stared down at the children. Bucky and Darcy were perfectly blended in the little boy, but the girl, with her fine blonde hair pulled up into two little ponytails at each side of her head, and big blue eyes sparkling at him in a rounded little face except for the little pointed chin. That was  _ him  _ and Darcy. Her chubby hand went to pouty little lips and she began blowing kisses at him.

“Daddy hug Audey!” the baby girl insisted, taking a few quick steps towards Steve, who was shaking in wonder at the miraculous little children in front of him.

“Audrey, no! Shit,” James hissed as he put his hands on the squirming baby's shoulders. His eyes went impossibly wider as he looked up at Steve and whispered, “Don't tell Pop I said that.”

“James...” Steve breathed.

“Da, please don't tell!” James ordered him, looking exactly as Darcy would look at him when she ordered him to change the DVD in the player. “It's a secret!”

The orange glow started from James' hands. James and the little baby Audrey didn't have the necklace on them, from what Steve could see it was emanating from their  _ skin _ . Audrey waved happily, blowing kisses while James gave him a sheepish smile and Steve's eyes blinked on their own accord after the light became too bright. When he opened them again, the children were gone.

Steve was struggling to right his breathing, blinking tears out of his eyes as his pulse jumped erratically. This wasn't the first time that James had visited him. He realized it was the same little boy from the library back in 1940. The same little boy he had seen kiss Darcy at the exhibit weeks ago.

For one brief moment he was filled with a ridiculous amount of hope. _Don't tell Pop I said that_ . He'd been calling Bucky _Pop_ to Darcy's belly since the moment they learned Darcy was pregnant.

He closed his eyes, willing the sight of the children to burn into his memory, to never let it go, to hold it tight until they were right in front of him again. Until he and Darcy had Bucky back and they found that happiness. A little mischievous, foul-mouthed little boy and a tiny baby girl full of smiles and blown kisses. Both with the orange glow of the infinity stone contained within their skin. A  _ family. _

He would do anything for them. He walked out of the museum, his hands clenching the material of his old uniform. His focus regained, sharp and powerful.

It was time to get that family back.

* * *

Darcy opened her eyes, her feet sliding against unsteady ground.  She looked up at the sound of an explosion and saw three helicarriers burning and falling from the sky. 

And she saw a very familiar star spangled body falling from one of the destroyed helicarriers, followed by another figure all in black except for the hint of shiny metal glinting in the sunlight.

"STEVE!" Darcy shouted, to no avail.  He was so far away, and her voice was barely heard over the sound of explosions and crashing metal.  She took two careful steps down, intent on wading into the river to get to Steve when she felt the pull of the stone again.  She gripped it in her hand and shouted, "No, NO!  I'm not going,  _ please _ ! Steve!"

She felt the pull into time, the stone acting on its own with no input from Darcy, placing her into a safer place.

When Darcy opened her eyes, she immediately shut them with a cry of tormented pain.

She had willed the necklace to bring her to a safe point with Steve, and when it couldn't find a safe space it had pulled her even further.  It had brought her to a cemetery on a mild spring day, the sunshine bright and beautiful.

She sank to the ground, the thick heavy feeling of tears clogging her throat as she struggled to breathe.  She knew what must have happened.  Steve falling from the sky had been his last moment she could get to. Steve was dead. He was buried here, safe, but lost to her. She was alone with the baby and would never feel whole again.

“Hey, woah, hey,” a man's voice could be heard as he rapidly approached her. “You okay, lady?”

Darcy choked out a sob and got out Steve's name in a ragged whisper.

“Cap!” the man called out.

Darcy's eyes flew open and she saw him in the distance, next to Natasha. He turned and his face went from sad and conflicted to nearly euphoric in his relief. He ran to her and sank down on his knees, wrapping her up in his arms.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, the sight of her tears sending him into a quick and fierce panic. “Is the baby alright?”

“Yeah, we're, we're fine,” Darcy nodded. “The stone took me to you, I thought—-I thought you were dead.”

“No, I'm not, I'm right here,” Steve promised her, kissing her forehead. He pulled away and went to his feet, taking Darcy with him, looking her over very carefully. “You blinked away before you could see...”

“See what?”

“ The metal armed man who, who tried to kill Fury. He attacked me on the bridge, Darcy-girl, that's  _ Bucky _ . He's alive. He's....he doesn't remember, it was HYDRA, but Bucky is  _ alive. _ ”

Darcy slowed time to molasses except for herself and Steve and took a deep breath before losing consciousness and falling like a dead weight in Steve's arms.

* * *

* * *

  
  
  


 


	25. The Lost Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: The Lost Soldier
> 
> Summary:  
> The search is on for Bucky Barnes after the fall of SHIELD. Steve and Darcy just want to bring him home.  
> Hydra, of course, has other plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Category: F/M, M/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, Darcy  
> Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James  
> "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Rebecca Barnes  
> Additional Tags: Angst and Feels, Canon Typical Violence, Time Travel, Bucky  
> Barnes Needs a Hug, where/when will those time travelling  
> wintershieldshock kiddos show up next?, darcy's infinity stone has a  
> few other tricks up its sleeve  
> Series: Part 3 of Through the Years  
> Stats: Published: 2016-02-14 Completed: 2016-02-17 Chapters: 5/5 Words:  
> 23140

  
  


  
  
** The Lost Soldier **

** Chapter One: Nothing **

** Oh Lord, Oh Lord, what have I done? **

** I’ve fallen in love with a man on the run **

** Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I’m begging you please **

** Don’t take that sinner from me **

** Oh don’t take that sinner from me **

The Asset knew next to nothing.

_ Wake. _

_ Maintenance. _

_ Programming. _

_ Mission. _

_ Report. _

_ Wipe. _

_ Sleep. _

The Asset was nothing.

He was a blank slate designed to be the world's greatest weapon and Hydra's greatest tool. He did not require feelings, thoughts or emotions.

The handlers noticed though, that the longer the  _ Mission  _ phase of the Asset's parcels of time outside of his cryogenic locker, the less blank he became.

They would make the appropriate notes in the file.

* * *

_ 1954 _

_ Asset malfunctioned during reconnaissance in England. Unacceptable words without permission to speak. These words included: Steve. What happened. Where is she. _

_ Recommendation: Pull Asset from field immediately and repeat Wipe until compliance is attained. _

* * *

_ 1969 _

_ Asset malfunctioned during training session with Red Room graduates. Unacceptable words without permission to speak. The words were Four Eyes. The word was uttered to Graduate Kadyrov after the Asset displayed confusion (unacceptable emotion, programming must be corrected). _

_ Recommendation: Remove Asset from Red Room Training activities. Wipe until compliance is attained. Rigorous testing must be performed after wiping with females, height 1.6 meters, brunette, blue eyes, glasses. Graduate Kadyrov should be used in testing until Asset completes objective. Advise Red Room recruiting to find similar females to continue testing after Kadyrov is expired. Programming must be improved prior to next Wake cycle. _

* * *

_ 1982 _

_ Asset malfunctioned immediately after sniping mission. Immediate handler is deceased after the malfunction. Unacceptable words without permission to speak. These words included: Why (four separate occasions). What have you done to me. Steve. Four-Eyes. _

_ Recommendation: Pull Asset from field immediately. Initiate Wipe phase. Increase programming improvement. A stronger wipe process also must be found. _

* * *

Darcy ran to the bathroom of the hotel room she and Steve were holed up in for the fifth time in the last three hours. Steve grimaced and threw the folder that Darcy had been reading on the desk, wishing he could protect her or convince her not to read it. He rushed back to her to provide some sort of comfort, rubbing her back as she coughed and gagged over the toilet. He sent up a silent thank you to the serum and the universe for sparing Darcy from morning sickness. He hated to hear her choking sobs as her body tried to expel food that wasn't there.

He wished she would just take his word for what was in the file. She was insistent though that she learn everything that Steve had learnt thus far. Sam had left the pair for a room of his own, giving Steve a solemn sad look and Darcy his most reassuring smile.

Natasha had filled Sam in after Darcy had come to in a panicking Steve's arms. And the cat was out of the bag, because as soon as Darcy's eyes were open again and time went to its normal speed, Steve had worriedly asked if she was alright and if the baby was okay and if she needed him to take her to the hospital. The Black Widow had left pretty quickly after that, even her usual implacability was shaken with the idea that Darcy was pregnant, and knowing inherently that the baby was not Steve's.

“Wilson, you need to know, the two of them, Darcy and Steve, they will be relentless and reckless when it comes to getting Barnes back,” Natasha had advised him quietly before she left. “If you feel you cannot keep them under some semblance of control, you let me know, we'll see what we can do.”

“Shouldn't we be worried about Barnes coming back to finish the job of killing Steve?” Sam had wondered.

“No. A failed mission is still a completed mission,” Natasha had told him, knowing this from her own experience. “There are other things to worry about though. I'm going to go work on finding some answers.”

So far, it had been easy. But Sam knew that after Steve had shared the contents of the Winter Soldier file with Darcy, things would more than likely get much more difficult.

He'd heard her crying from across the hall, and later a loud wail of pure, unadulterated pain. Sam had seen what Bucky Barnes had become. He _knew_ that a human being didn't turn into a killing machine without a lot of breaking. And Sam _knew_ that it was near impossible to bring a person back from that much breaking. And that was just from what he knew from normal warfare.

The things that Bucky Barnes had to endure during the last seven decades was not normal warfare.

But he would go with Steve. And Darcy, because she had let Steve know in no uncertain terms that he was not going to traipse around the world without her. Sam had been dubious about that, but Steve had assured him that Darcy had ways of keeping herself safe.

He heard her crying again. And he sighed. He sent up a little prayer that she would know when to keep herself safe. Whatever she knew about Bucky Barnes was no longer true.

* * *

_ 1984 _

_ Attempts to recreate Zola serum from Asset's blood have failed. Reproductive samples have proven to not be viable due to earlier experiments. Dr. Marlikov has the theory that the serum given to the Asset in 1943 is responsible for the ineffectiveness of the wipes. Missions should no longer last more than one week to prevent further healing of the Asset's neural pathways. _

_ Recommendation: Focus on maintenance of the Asset, creating another asset is not a viable option. Wipe Asset once a week. Test continued efficacy of serum based healing by using Asset for information extraction training. _

* * *

“He had the serum since Austria,” Darcy whispered.

“It wasn't the same serum as mine,” Steve nodded, his face grim as he rubbed his hands up and down Darcy's back as he tried to provide her with some kind of comfort as she doggedly made her way through the Winter Soldier's file. “It was Zola's attempt at recreating Erskine's serum. They never got their hands on the original serum, so they made their own. The file...it says he had advanced healing, enhanced strength and...Darcy-girl, you know that Erskine said his serum took everything inside a person and magnified it.”

“Right,” Darcy nodded. “It explains so much about our time together in 1944.”

  
  


“Makes sense that he punched Dum-Dum in the face, and why he was willing to say what he wanted between the three of us. And maybe that's why...that's why your cut healed so quick. We don't know what the serum does in the case of a baby, to the baby or the mother,” Steve sighed. He looked down at the folder and begged her, “Please, Darcy-girl, please stop reading here. Just...just know that it was bad, okay? And we're going to find him and get him back and we'll---we'll make it better.”

“I can't know how to make it right unless I know what it was,” Darcy whispered. She took a small sip of water before melting into Steve's touch a little. Her hand went to her abdomen and she sighed. “This baby is a miracle, Stevie-boy. And now...Bucky will know it. He'll---he'll know it right?”

“He will, I swear to you, we will bring him home,” Steve nodded, before placing a chaste kiss against her temple. He knew that he shouldn't be keeping secrets from her. And seeing little James and baby Audrey at the Smithsonian was a pretty huge secret. But he was aware of paradoxes. He was aware that knowing too much about the future was not a good thing when trying to live in the present.

And little James had asked him not to tell and he had asked with a sincere desperation. Steve knew he couldn't tell her that there was a very real possibility that everything would be set to right, because telling her, doing anything with it could derail it from happening. He tensed beside her as she went back to the folder where she had left off.

They were photos of Bucky, being used as the practice dummy for  _ information extraction training _ . Each slash in his skin, each bruise, each break was cataloged with a photograph and the amount of time it had taken his body to heal. A long angry knife wound to his chest had taken three days. A swollen and bruised eye had taken eighteen hours. A broken right wrist had taken five and a half days. Steve unconsciously noted that Bucky's healing was slightly slower than his own, a result of the lesser serum.

Each picture had Darcy taking a quivering breath, her shoulders shaking with the force of the silent sobs that would not cease,  _ could  _ not cease.

The file stated that the Asset's pain management was a triumph. The only thing that would make him scream was the wipe. All other pain was ignored.

One detailed transcription of a wipe in 1957, after too much time out on a mission, showed that Bucky had remembered so much more than should be possible. He had screamed out in pain. Cried out for Steve. Begged to be allowed to keep the memories.

_ Let me keep her. Please. _

Darcy's body jackknifed in half, dry heaving at the waste basket Steve had placed at her feet.

“ I have to go back!” Darcy demanded when she had gained enough control to speak again. Her throat was raw, the tears thick in her voice as she grabbed the necklace and demanded of it, “Take me back, take me back so I can help him.  _ Please _ .”

“Darcy-girl, no, love, we can't,” Steve shook his head, pulling her out of her chair and right on his own lap, cuddling her trembling body close. “You know it can't work that way. It can't be changed, you know that.”

“All that I know is that he was alone...he went through all of this alone, just like you crashed into the ice alone and woke up alone, and I can't do anything to help either of you,” Darcy cried against his chest. “What good is being able to use this stupid stone if I can't help?”

“The good of it is that it kept you safe,” Steve said resolutely. “If you aren't safe, then it doesn't matter what happens to me or Bucky. You have to know that, sweetheart. I know it would be the only thing Bucky would care about.”

“He's not Bucky anymore,” Darcy whispered. “They took it all from him, pages and pages of pain and---and torture and electrocuting and strangling all the memories out of him. How do we---how can we make it better for him?”

“We will,” Steve promised. “We're going to find him. The file said he had never gone more than a week without the wiping process in the last few decades. He'll start remembering, and we'll be there, Darcy-girl, to help him. I promise. We _will_ make it better.”

“I love you,” Darcy whispered against his chest, taking a deep breath before feeling the exhaustion pulling at her. Steve was petting her hair with one hand, the other rubbing soothing circles on the bare skin of her lower back. Her lips found the pulse at his neck and she kissed there, leaving her lips on his skin, letting the rhythm of his pulse soothe her in concert with his hands. The necklace was glowing in her bag less than a foot away, and they both knew she had slowed time for the two of them.

He picked her up and stood, going to the bed.

“Steve,” she whispered, her eyes boring holes into his as she wordlessly begged for comfort that only he could provide.

“I know, Darcy-girl,” Steve nodded, slowly taking off her clothing. His hands were gentle and loving, sweeping over skin in soft caresses that caused goose pimples to appear in their wake.

Darcy sighed in relief as Steve did exactly what she needed without even having to be asked. She needed an anchor, something to ground her from the horror of realizing what the man they both loved had gone through. She needed comfort and warmth and safety, and Steve was all of those things for her. And he had been so strong, so sure in his promises to her that they would find Bucky and they would make it right, they would bring him through the haze of pain and the horrors he had faced.

Steve kissed at the tear tracks on her cheeks, before leaving her for just a moment, quickly shedding his own clothing before joining her on the bed again, blanketed her body with his. His warmth and bulk set a positive, safe response off in her brain and body. Steve would keep her safe. Steve would do whatever was necessary to bring Bucky back.

Reverent fingers stroked at the apex of her thighs. Steve was tender, but precise in his movements and she was humming in contentment soon enough, her hips rising to meet him.

“ I love you,” Darcy whispered as her legs wrapped around his hips, her hands pushing at his lower back, wordlessly asking for more. He let out a pleasured breath as he sank into her and Darcy felt another layer of comfort taking the harsh edge off of what was in that file. Her hands rubbed at the muscles in his back as he rocked his hips against her. She wanted to tell him how perfect he was for her in that moment. How he was the only person on the face of the planet that could bring her any sense of rightness. But every time she opened her mouth she could only mutter his name and soft little  _ I love you _ 's.

“It's going to be alright,” Steve promised her in a raspy whisper. He kissed her mouth, his lips capturing her pouty bottom lip and sucking gently. He felt her fluttering around his length and he let his hips snap against her a half dozen times as he tried to meet her as she came around him, her legs squeezing until he stopped moving, allowing that blissful convulsing warmth to wash over him and he spilled into her, her name a whisper on his lips.

“We'll bring him home,” Darcy agreed, as he pulled out of her, his hands wrapping around her back, bringing her body to lay atop his as he lay on his back in the bed. She pulled the covers around them and wrapped herself around his body. “He'll be right here, in between us and we'll bring him back and make it right again.”

“Yes, sweetheart,” Steve nodded, his hands stroking at her back again in soothing swipes. “It will be right. I promise. I love you.”

“I know,” Darcy sighed, sleep slowing her blinks and her words. “Love you, too.”

“Sleep now, Darcy-girl,” Steve murmured. “We'll start working on leads tomorrow.”

* * *

Five days after his last wipe, the Asset was no longer nothing.

He remembered. It wasn't much. But he remembered. And in that small remembrance he was no longer nothing.

He walked through a throng of people who seemed to be frozen in time as he moved about freely. It felt odd. It was wrong for the crowded street to be unmoving, but he couldn't bring himself to care, as he was not frozen, he could move around them unseen, unheard and unnoticed. The quiet of the street allowed him to think. To organize what little bits of information were slowly starting to come back to him.

He remembered.

_Steve_ .

_Darcy_ .

* * *

  
  
  


** Chapter Two: Reminder **

** Oh Lord, Oh Lord, what do I do? **

** I’ve fallen for someone who’s nothing like you **

** He’s raised on the edge of the devil’s backbone **

** Oh I just wanna take him home **

* * *

One of the first things that the Asset remembered aside from the names Steve and Darcy and the general idea that those names were important to whoever he was before, was that he was a person. This was a startling revelation to him, as he had previously thought he was nothing more than a weapon. Two days after dropping the man he had saved from the river onto the ground he realized that he didn't have to return to a handler to report, get wiped and be put away at the nearest checkpoint.

He had no standing orders. He had failed his mission, and a failed mission was still a completed mission.

He had no mission.

He was not a weapon.

He was a person.

He could not remember who he was. But he remembered the names _Steve_ and _Darcy_ and they were important to him as a person.

The second thing that he remembered as he walked towards a safe house in Baltimore, Maryland was something that happened right before the last wipe of a few days ago.

He had just finished his second attack on Fury, Nicholas J. The mission was a success. The mission objective had been severely compromised and had only a seven percent chance of surviving his wounds. Any percentage below ten percent was considered a successful mission.

He had evaded the man from the rooftop with the shield.

The shield had sparked something in the recesses of his brain, but the weapon he had been at the time paid no mind to it as it was unimportant to his objectives. He had only wanted to return to his handler.  _ Report _ .  _ Wipe. Sleep. _

If there was more to wipe, it would be more painful. Even as nothing, he knew that.

The handler had been waiting one half mile away in an unmarked vehicle and he simply had to return. Sleep was something he looked forward to. In sleep, there were dreams.

The Asset had made it to the street level, escaping the man with the shield and the angry face when he heard it.

“Pop! Pop! Pop! Wookit! Pop!”

“Aud, no! Let's go to Da instead, he's right upstairs. C'mon Audrey, you're being naughty!”

He stopped and looked down a dark alley, not one block from where the man was looking down and saw two children. Male, age seven. Female, age two. Unaccompanied. No threat level. Do not engage.

Female, age two.  _ Audrey.  _ Her fingertips glowed and the Asset felt a malfunction as the child was fifty yards away one second and the next second she was clinging to his pants and looking up at him with mirthful blue eyes.

“Play?” she asked. “Momma wit old Aunt Becks. Play?”

“Dammit Audrey!” male, age seven, rushed to the girl and grabbed her hand away from the Asset's pants. He looked up at the Asset with a healthy amount of trepidation. “Sorry. She just...sorry.”

“JAMES!” Audrey yelled, stamping her feet and working herself into a tantrum. “Gimme Pop!”

“Aud, stop it!” James scolded.

The Asset flinched as he looked at the boy's face. _James_ . The expression was familiar. Scolding, exasperated, frustrated. The Asset remembered that expression on another face.

“Four eyes.”

Audrey laughed at his words, high and clear and loud and tried to get at the Asset again.

“Up up up!” she demanded.

“Sorry!” James apologized again, yanking Audrey forcefully away, despite the fact that she was reaching for the Asset's pants again. “C'mon Aud, we'll go see Da and Pop's pictures, okay?”

The Asset watched as the boy picked up the little girl as best as he could and there was suddenly an orange glow that was somehow very familiar to him. When he blinked, the children disappeared.

He stood in the alley for the next seventy-eight minutes, until the handler came to him. He looked at the handler in confusion and asked,

“Four eyes?”

“No,” the handler shook his head. “You'll need to be wiped again. It's only been three days, Soldier.”

“With Becks. She's with Becks,” the Asset was breathing heavy as too much information and memory tried to fire along severed and charred pathways in his brain that were not healed enough to handle it.

“Your sister?”

“What?” the Asset was confused. He was nothing. How did nothing have a sister?

But now, as he removed all the stores of cash, weaponry and ammo out of the Baltimore safe house, he knew he was more than nothing. He was a person. And he remembered those children quickly.

They had called him _Pop_ . James and Audrey. Steve and Darcy. The faces were unclear, but James had reminded him of what he thought Darcy should be. And Audrey made him think of Steve and Darcy combined. Of the man on the bridge and the helicarrier and the banks of the river. But Steve and Darcy were a long time ago. Or he thinks they were a long time ago. He can't remember that yet.

He walked away from the safehouse and saw a billboard with the man's shield on it. _Stevie_ . The Smithsonian.

He had no handlers. He had no mission. What he did have were questions.

And the Smithsonian might have answers.

* * *

“Hey Becks,” Darcy answered the phone, a fond smile on her face. “How's Philadelphia?”

“Hi. It's hot,” Becks answered, and Darcy could hear the patented Barnes' smirk over the line. “And I don't mean the temperature.”

“You enjoying your security detail?” Darcy giggled.

“That Agent Coulson is a very handsome young man,” Becks hummed appreciatively.

“Well...I guess?” Darcy shrugged. “Don't let him near your electronics.”

“I'll be sure to pat him down before he leaves,” the smirk was audible again. Her voice lowered and she revealed in a secretive whisper, “So, I had Tommy run your little errand for you.”

Darcy smirked. Sometimes the eighty-five year old woman was still that young teenager, keen to get into adventures with Darcy. Darcy had called Rebecca the day after reading Bucky's file with Steve. Steve and Sam had gone out to check in with local police, eager to drum up some leads on a metal-armed man. Darcy had taken her own plan and put it into action.

Rebecca had been her co-conspirator as soon as she learned the very edited version of what Bucky had been through. She sent her grandson to Steve's apartment, boxing up everything and taking a specific picture and bringing it to the Smithsonian organizer who had hosted Darcy and Steve just over a week ago in real time.

“ Tommy said the lady was  _ thrilled  _ to have another picture of Bucky,” Becks sighed. “Especially looking so happy. But they said they were going to cut Steve out of it, he looked too angry for the image they're going for.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. The photo of she and Bucky dancing in the background of Dum-Dum and Morita arguing, which Natasha had saved from going to the exhibit would be cropped appropriately and would be a part of Bucky's section within a few hours. Natasha of course had taken the picture away from the exhibit to protect Darcy's anonymity, but Darcy herself was so far beyond caring at that point.

If all of her memories had been taken away, and the only thing she knew was that she _knew_ Captain America, the first thing she would do is follow the billboards to the big Captain America museum exhibit. Well, first she would google it, but she seriously doubted that Bucky was capable of googling at that point.

“How's my nephew?” Becks asked softly.

“He's cooking very nicely,” Darcy sighed happily as she rubbed her little belly. “I think I'm at about eleven weeks now, if I'm keeping track of the slowed time, right. Stevie-boy said this morning that the baby is the size of a lime and that in the next week he'll have fingernails.”

“Steve is adorable,” Becks laughed. “You know, Darcy, it's a beautiful thing you have with Steve.”

“I know,” Darcy said softly.

“But what happens when you find Bucky?” the question was soft and non-confrontational.

“That's...I---I don't know,” Darcy admitted. “Steve and I love Bucky. And before the train...well, that's what Bucky wanted.”

“But what if it's not what he wants anymore, Darcy?” Becks wondered softly.

“Then...then he can have whatever he wants. If he wants Steve...he can have just Steve,” Darcy said resolutely. She would happily give Bucky anything he wanted, even if it was just Steve. But one thought still made her feel sick. “If---if he doesn't want _me_ with Steve. I'll---oh god, I don't know what I'll do, Becks. I can't...I can't.”

“ Shhh, calm down, Darcy, it's alright,” Becks insisted. “Don't think on it too hard, you're right. He wanted the both of you before... _ before _ . It's all going to work out just fine.”

* * *

One week after the helicarriers fell from the sky, The  ~~~~ ~~ asset  ~~ man learned that he had a name.

James Buchanan Barnes. _Bucky_ .

Bucky knew he had a past now. Presumably. He didn't remember it very much. He remembered Steve. He recognized the small version of his failed mission. He felt a tug on the corner of his lips as he stared down at the smaller hologram.

That was familiar. The feeling of his head turning down to look him in the eye. That felt right. That felt normal.

He remembered the physical sensation of hugging that much smaller man. He remembered comfort and affection and love. The narration at the exhibit said that Bucky was the closest friend of Captain America.

Was that what friendship felt like? Warmth and companionship and happiness and affection?

And  _ want _ . He knew that feeling. And it was there along with everything else, simmering away under the surface, ever present and never changing.

The exhibit didn't answer that question for him, but it answered many other questions. It explained to him how much time had passed since he became the Asset. It explained to him how Captain America was still the same after all those years. It did not explain to him how Bucky had survived all those years, or how Bucky had a metal arm, or how Bucky became Hydra's greatest weapon.

He approached a glass panel with the face of Bucky Barnes on it and the story of his life up until the fall from the train.

A piece of information passed over a newly healed pathway in his brain and he remembered another small piece. He had been taken by Hydra and Steve had rescued him. But not before the small, awful rat-faced doctor had used him as a guinea pig. He had injected him with so many drugs and mysterious solutions. And one of them he had deemed a mild success.

Bucky remembered that it was painful, and when he had come to afterward, he had felt different. Stronger. Angrier.  _ Different. _

Captain America had been given a different solution and it had changed him from small to large, from weak in strength to nearly unstoppable, but it hadn't changed  _ him _ . He was still kind, still good, still righteous and pure.

Bucky remembered that it hadn't felt like that for him. It hadn't been as bad as the thing...the red skinned man he remembered clear as day all of a sudden. He'd just felt  _ more _ . And he had been desperate to keep it a secret, to not tell anyone what had been done to him. Everything he had been had suddenly felt like more. All the feelings, the hate, the want, the love.

He loved.

He had that before.

He remembered it. Remembered it being wonderful.

Wanting more of it.

_Needing_ more of it and needing it to be for _forever_ .

He turned away from his face and saw another glass panel, this with another picture of the man he used to be, but he could hardly recognize himself. He was smiling in a way that seemed ethereal and happy in a way that he didn't quite believe existed. He had someone in his arms, dipped low in a move Bucky's muscles itched to recreate suddenly.

He knew how to dance. He was sure of it.

His eyes slowly drifted down from the alien, happy face to the source of the happiness. A beautiful brunette with her kissable lips open in laughter, staring up at the picture version of his past self with love and adoration through broken, black rimmed glasses.

_ Four Eyes. _

Bucky's metal arm shot out in a flash, seemingly of its own accord and went through the glass pane. His eyes flew around wildly as he tried to gain some semblance of control. His feet backpedaled and in moments he was on the street again, looking around in desperation.

He had loved that girl. That was _Darcy_ .

He felt a murderous rage building in him as he remembered her name, matched it with the smiling face of love from the picture.

If he had loved her, why was he so angry? Why did he feel like...

Like he should _hurt_ her?

Bucky stalked off into the twilight. He needed more answers.

Hydra would have those answers.

* * *

The closest Hydra base to DC was located outside of Fredericksburg, West Virginia.

Steve and Sam had Maria Hill along for the ride two weeks after the helicarriers were taken out of the sky. Maria, with the full force of Stark Industries Privatized Security behind her, had done surveillance. It was a small facility, with no more than a dozen and a half personnel present at any time. It should have been an easy sweep and then Hill would take custody of any viable prisoners and bring them to Coulson's team for processing.

Steve had a feeling there would be  _ no  _ viable prisoners when he was finished. Hydra had taken so much from him. He felt like it was about time he started to take something back.

He, Sam and Maria had left Darcy in a Stark provided safe house, a cabin that was fifty miles away, where she was working with JARVIS to reroute any police chatter away from the base, giving his small team enough time to get the job done. Steve felt comfortable that she was safe in what she was doing, and he knew she was damned good at it. Stark had provided him with a wireless usb that he could plug into any viable computer systems and all information would filter to JARVIS and Darcy for disseminating before a virus would destroy the original Hydra systems.

It was a team effort. It was on a much smaller scale than SHIELD had been, but it was a clean effort. And since Steve knew each cog and piece in the machine now, he felt a lot more comfortable in what he was doing.

Darcy had offered to ride along and have the whole world frozen except for Steve's team, but he had diplomatically and gently turned her down.  The last thing he wanted was for Hydra to become suspicious about her, or her time stone.  It was better to only use it to protect herself, not go on the offensive.  Besides, he had told her some well-earned violence would do his heart some good at that point.  She'd called him perfectly strange and had tackled him to the bed for that.

“We have a shooter on the inside, Cap,” Hill announced over the comms.

“Friendly?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Coulson said they didn't have anyone in the area.”

“Let's wait it out then to see what we're dealing with,” Steve advised, hanging back and looking to the sky to see that Sam was hovering a hundred feet in the air, ready to move.

They didn't have to wait too long. The last shot rung out and forty-five seconds later, a figure dressed in black, except for the sleeve torn off of the left arm, displaying all that metal stepped out of the base.

“Cap, don't!” Hill warned, too late.

Steve was darting towards Bucky as soon as he saw the first glint off of the metal arm. His shield was on his back and his cowl was pulled off his face in no time. He slowed as he approached the man he had called his best friend, the man he had loved and wanted for such a long time. He put his hands up and kept his face blank and open.

“Do you remember me?” he asked softly.

Bucky looked at Steve with no small amount of confusion.

“Stevie.”

Steve let out a harsh breath of relief. “Buck....are you okay?”

“I don't know,” Bucky made a small shrug of his shoulders. “I don't remember everything. I remember...I remember some things. I remember you. You used to be smaller.”

“Yeah...yeah, I used to be a lot smaller,” Steve nodded eagerly.

“You joined the army,” Bucky said softly, the hint of a smile on his face.

Steve laughed. He couldn't help it. It was a small piece of joy and lightness and he suddenly had the feeling that it could all be _right_ again. That the future he had glimpsed with his visit from little James and Audrey was an inevitability and not just a possibility.

“Will you come with me?” Steve asked softly. “I---there's someone who wants to see you.”

“There's Hydra out there. They have more answers,” Bucky shook his head. Today, for example, he had learned how to destroy one of the machines that had been used to wipe his memory clean. He would keep that knowledge and use it until all of those machines were gone from the face of the Earth.

“ We'll do it together,” Steve promised. “I have a team of people...good people. We'll burn Hydra to the ground together. I promise. Just----just come with me, Buck.  _ Please _ .”

Bucky furrowed his brow in thought. Just having Steve in front of him, talking to him, smiling at him, it was helping. He could feel pieces falling into place quicker. Going with Steve felt like muscle memory.

He was with him til the end of the line.

“Yes. I'll go with you.”

* * *

Natasha never wanted to return to Kaluga. The small city in Russia held a lot of bad memories for her. Namely, the man sitting in front of her, looking very nervous to see that she had returned to where she had once said was hell on earth.

“Natalia,” Handler Konstantin acknowledged her with a healthy amount of trepidation.

“This will be very easy for you if you are cooperative Konstantin,” Natasha said calmly. The red dot of a sniper rifle appeared between the former Red Room handler's eyes,

“Tell me everything that happened to Graduate Kadyrov.”

“Graduate Kadyrov was sentenced to death. A painful, horrible death at the hands of the Winter Soldier. All because she looked like someone that must have been close to the monster at some point. And she was not the last little lamb to be led to the slaughter.”

* * *

** Chapter Three: Trigger **

** Oh Lord, Oh Lord, he’s somewhere between **

** A hangman’s knot, and three mouths to feed **

** There wasn’t a wrong or a right he could choose **

** He did what he had to do **

** Oh he did what he had to do **

* * *

“You can't go any faster?” Natasha demanded of Clint.

“Sure, I can go faster. If you want this bird to fall to pieces in the air, thirty thousand feet up,” Clint sniped back at her.

“We need to get to Darcy, Clint. She's in danger,” Natasha muttered, trying the phones again. She knew that Steve had an op, and that Darcy played an integral part, but _someone_ should be able to pick up the phone.

“ I know she's in danger, Nat. I was on the damned comms, I heard everything,” Clint huffed. He was just as anxious as Natasha, but he wasn't used to seeing his partner so wound up. If anything, the red head should be trying to talk  _ him  _ down. “We'll be there in forty-five minutes. Barnes isn't close to being brought in yet. They're still on their op, we have time.”

_Time_ .

Natasha tried to ease her nerves. Darcy had time on her side. She knew that if Darcy was in danger, the stone would do the protecting for her.  Natasha had grabbed Clint before rushing out of the country, intent on tracking down more answers about the Winter Soldier's conditioning.  Darcy Lewis was pregnant with Bucky Barnes' baby.  And she knew Hydra didn't give one ounce of care about that.  She had her answers now, and could only hope that Darcy had enough time now.

“Just get there faster,” Natasha ordered, going back to her phone and trying for Hill again.

* * *

Bucky and Steve drove the fifty miles from the Hydra base to the Stark cabin. Sam and Maria had stayed behind to do cleanup at the Hydra base before they would head back to DC with any of the intel they could get. The ride to the cabin was silent, but not a painful silence. Bucky was staring intently out at the passing road, memorizing landmarks and direction in case he had to make his own way out.

Steve's hands were clenching the wheel. A million questions on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't filter them properly in order to get one of them out. He supposed it was for the best. Questions would wait until they were with Darcy, and she could hear the answers too, then.

At mile thirty-five, Bucky turned to Steve and asked softly,

  
  


“Were we lovers?”

Steve's eyebrows shot up towards his forehead and he looked to Bucky in astonishment, his hand jerking the wheel so that the pickup swerved ever so slightly. He recovered quickly and looked back out at the road.

“Uhm...we...not yet?” Steve answered. “We both....we both wanted to, but, before we could, you fell from the train.”

Bucky nodded. The information fit into his head neatly. He had felt great affection for this man, could still feel it trying to resurface in his brain. But equal to the affection was the _want_ for the man. Unrequited want.

“If we both wanted to, why didn't we do somethin' about it?” Bucky wondered softly, the hint of an old accent coming off of his tongue.

“Well, there was...there was some confusion,” Steve said delicately. “Because of---”

“The woman,” Bucky nodded.

“You had a girl, you loved her very much,” Steve nodded. “Do you—Do you remember her?”

“A little.”

Bucky's answer was short and harsh. Steve flinched at the hard sound of it.

“Before you fell, Bucky, do you remember what you wanted?” Steve whispered.

“All three of us together,” Bucky nodded. “Won't work now. She's gone and...I don't want her anymore.”

Steve winced and took a careful look towards Bucky. He was looking out the window, his face pained and contemplative. Steve had no way of knowing that underneath the pain, there was some relief. The girl was safe, tucked away somewhere in time. The chances of her showing up again in 2014 were slim to none.

“We don't need to decide about this now,” Steve shook his head. He was sure that Bucky was just confused. If he could get Bucky in front of Darcy, he was sure Bucky would react the same way he had reacted to him. “We can talk about it more when we get to the cabin.”

* * *

Darcy needed to go shopping. She looked down at the t-shirt that had fit very nicely three weeks ago, and winced at the sight of the distorted picture of Steve's shield. Her breasts had always been way more than adequate, but as she rapidly approached her second trimester, they were ridiculous and so sensitive that Steve had sworn off touching them until she asked him to again. But the small baby bump was also stretching out the bottom of the shield as it strained against the cotton fabric just barely.

“We'll see if your Da will take us to the mall nearby,” Darcy rubbed at her belly. “I think it's time for me to get some pregnant lady clothes. Or maybe like, eighteen pairs of overalls. That might work at covering you proper.”

Darcy shut down her extra laptop she had been using to jam and redirect any calls to 911. Sam and Maria were cleaning up, and Steve was on his way back now. She meandered to the well-stocked kitchen, pulling the necklace out of the stretched out pocket of her track pants, which were also getting a little too small for her to wear. She placed the necklace on the kitchen counter and went to the fridge, grabbing one of the nasty protein shakes that Steve drank a few times a day.

The further she got along in her pregnancy, the more ridiculously hungry she got. A phone call with Bruce had brought about the theory that the baby did have a strain of the serum from Bucky, and was increasing Darcy's metabolism as well as affecting her own healing abilities.

She had had a blissful first trimester of pregnancy, and Bruce told her that being free of morning sickness was probably a blessing from the serum as well. The most discomfort she felt was an increased tiredness and of course...the boobs were no fun. She knew that Steve definitely missed his all access pass to Boobville, even if he was far too perfect to ever complain about it. Also the protein shakes were awful, but they were easier to choke down than _constantly_ eating, so she did what she had to do.

She took a large gulp of the chocolate drink and made a wretched, disgusted face as she shivered at the chalkiness of it.

“The things I do for you, kiddo!” Darcy huffed. She rubbed at her belly and smiled. “You're totally worth it though. My crazy supersoldier World War Two baby. Technically, you're a baby boomer. Try not to be an asshole and ruin the economy, okay?”

“Darcy-girl?” Steve questioned from the front door.

“ Stevie-boy!” Darcy grinned, rushing towards the living room with the shake in her hand. “You got back quick! You can't keep leaving all the cleanup to Sammy, he's going to resent you for it eventually. OH! Unless you're giving him and Maria some  _ alone  _ time. Nothing says romance like documenting Hydra scum.”

“Actually, there was a reason to leave them this time,” Steve gave her a tentative smile. He held open his arms and felt that lovely familiar rush of love and affection for her when she gave him an absolutely fierce hug. He felt the small bump against his body and took a deep breath. “He's here, Darcy-girl.”

“What?” Darcy pulled away a step and looked up at Steve in disbelief. “You found him?”

“He was at the base, he took everyone out. I think---I think he's on a mission to wipe them out,” Steve admitted. “He remembers me. Knows my name. Agreed to come with me and help us burn Hydra to the ground.”

“Where is he?” Darcy whispered.

“In the truck still,” Steve revealed. “I asked him to stay there until I got things ready. I wanted you to know first. I don't...Darcy-girl, I don't know if he'll remember you right away. I mean, he remembers you, but I don't know if he remembers what you were to him, yet. But it seems that Bruce was right in his theory. The serum is helping to heal him, it's rebuilding things in his brain, and it's coming back slow. He's not the same...I just wanted you to know. He's _going_ to remember you soon. But he might not remember right now. I think seeing you will help him.”

“Alright,” Darcy whispered. “I'm...I'm ready.”

“Okay,” Steve took a step away from her, ready to go and bring Bucky in when she stopped him with a hand wrapped around his wrist. He looked back to her in curiosity and let out a surprised sound when she launched herself at him, her lips against his, the kiss building in passion when he realized what she was doing.

With Bucky back, Steve was very aware that their shared affections may have to be put on hold until Bucky could remember more. He had no doubt that it was temporary. He loved the woman who was doing her very best to devour his lips. He had waited since 1937, minus a few decades on ice, and he would not let her go.

“I love you,” she whispered when he pulled away.

“I love you, too,” he smiled. “I'm going to go bring him in.”

Darcy watched as he walked back out of the cabin, her right hand gripping her protein shake and her left hand in front of her making a fist, before twitchily stretching her fingers back out quickly, repeating the process over and over again as she waited. Two minutes later, the sound of two different sets of footsteps came across the wooden porch, and Steve was back through the door, stepping through and to the side.

“Bucky,” she whispered.

Bucky stepped over the threshold, looking at Steve in an unsure manner. His eyes scanned the cabin, landing on the young woman standing ten feet away in the middle of the sitting room.

“Four Eyes.”

Bucky blinked at the sound of his own voice, soft and full of adoration. When he opened his eyes, the look of recognition was completely replaced with a blank, hard look. Steve was right next to him, and felt his blood run cold as he recognized the change from a confused, tentative version of Bucky to another creature entirely. Steve had seen that change in reverse, on the helicarrier. Where a murderer had blinked and in his place was a terrified and confused Bucky Barnes.

This time, Bucky was gone and the murderer was back.

Steve put out his hand to grip Bucky's shoulder and he shouted at Darcy, “GO!”

Darcy opened her mouth to speak, to ask why, she had been so happy a second before, Bucky  _ remembered  _ her. And now Steve and Bucky were struggling with each other and Steve was screaming at her to get out of there and she had no idea what was happening. Steve was thrown out of the front window after a short struggle and Darcy made a step forward to help him.

She could feel the pull of the necklace. It wanted to get her out of there but it was too far away.

Bucky turned to face her, his face furious and angry and  _ hateful.  _ And it was aimed at her. It was FOR her. She started to walk backwards towards the kitchen intent on getting her hands on her necklace so she could blink out, but unable to look away from the murderous look in Bucky's eyes.

“Bucky?” she whispered. “Please...it's me, it's Darcy.”

He was across the room in less than a heartbeat and she had a metal hand wrapped around her neck, holding her up nearly two feet in the air. Her drink fell to the floor, splattering violently and Darcy kicked her legs out at Bucky as best as she could. She choked and her hands went to his wrist and forearm, clutching and scrabbling and trying to get free as he choked her efficiently and quickly. She felt a wave of dizzy thickness clouding her brain and realized she didn't have much longer.

Gray eyes looked back at her, no hint of remorse or recognition as he squeezed tighter. Her right hand left Bucky's metal arm and quickly grabbed his right hand, pulling it so that his knuckles gently brushed her baby bump, wordlessly trying to get him to snap out of it, to realize what he was doing, to have some sort of mercy on her.

There was one moment of confusion for Bucky then. She was pregnant. How? When? He made a broken whimpering sound from deep in his throat.

“Buck!” Steve shouted as he rushed back into the cabin, not hesitating in rushing towards Bucky, intent on tackling him to the ground and getting him the hell away from Darcy. She was already purple in the face, her legs hanging limply, her eyes taking prolonged blinks as Bucky efficiently and ruthlessly choked the life out of her.

Before Steve could reach them, Bucky brought Darcy's body to the ground. _Hard_ , knocking what little air she had left in her lungs out of her body and pushing her straight into blissful unconsciousness. His right hand retrieved a wicked knife that had been strapped around his ankle and his hand deftly brought it up, prepared to bring it down into Darcy's heart.

“NO!” Steve shouted. It was a harsh, gutteral sound that matched the inhuman growl of pain and confusion coming from Bucky as he brought the blade down.

* * *

** Chapter Four: Reconditioning **

** Give me the burden, give me the blame **

** I’ll shoulder the load, and I’ll swallow the shame **

** Give me the burden, give me the blame **

** How many, how many Hail Mary's is it gonna take? **

* * *

* * *

Time froze.

The blade that Bucky wielded was less than an inch from Darcy's skin.

Steve blinked, and rushed to Bucky and Darcy, who were  _ both  _ frozen. He looked up in desperation, expecting to see little James, wondering how he was going to explain to the little boy what was happening.

Instead, a young girl, barely a teenager, stood in the corner of the living room, her hand outstretched and emitting an orange glow. She was pretty as a picture, smooth and shiny blonde hair going down to her waist, big blue eyes filled with tears. Her mother's lips were imitated on that youthful, beautiful face and her bottom lip was trembling uncontrollably.

“Audrey?” Steve whispered.

“ Daddy,” she whimpered. “Mom's hurt. Why...why's Pop... _ why _ ?”

“Oh Audrey,” Steve sighed, pushing Bucky off of Darcy and staring down at the time frozen woman, looking her over for injury. Her neck was already sporting vicious, purple bruises. She was frozen in time, so he couldn't check for a pulse or breathing, but he had faith she would be okay. Afterall, the living proof that Darcy would be okay was standing in the corner of the room, trembling with fear. “Mom is okay, Audrey. I promise. Thank you for being here.”

“You told me to come,” she shrugged, helpless in her sudden fear. She took one tentative step out of the corner and looked down at Bucky, her face filled with confusion and panic. “Why was he hurting her? He...he loves Mom. Why would he...Daddy, I don't understand.”

“Audrey, honey,” Steve picked up Darcy, finding it difficult since her body was stiff as a board due to being frozen in time. He placed her on the couch gently and then went back to Bucky, trying to pry the knife from his hands, but unable to do so without breaking fingers.

Steve went to the corner and looked at the girl carefully, cementing everything about her in his memory. She was wearing a pretty blue dress and a white cardigan sweater. Her hair was simple and straight and hanging down her back, and a pair of little sapphire earrings that matched the color of her eyes were in her ears. He'd have to remember it for later. He'd created another paradox and would have to send Audrey back to save Darcy.

He held out his arms for her and took a deep, satisfied breath when she fell into him. She was nearly Darcy's height and she squeezed her little arms around him with surprising strength for such a little lady.

“Super strength?” Steve wondered.

“A little,” Audrey shrugged. “Boys at school always make fun of me when I break stuff on accident.”

“Those boys are not worth your time,” Steve said sternly.

“You say the same thing later,” Audrey nodded. “Daddy, why...why would Pop hurt Mom?”

“Honey, right now, Pop isn't feeling very much like himself,” Steve admitted. “He was with some bad people, and they did awful things to him and made his brain...they put things there that aren't supposed to be there. And right now, I think one of those things is to---”

Steve paused, unwilling to break down in front of his daughter. She was terrified as it is, her tiny frame trembling in his arms. He could feel the tears on the edge of his throat and all he wanted to do was curse Hydra and scream and cry and rage at the injustice of it.

“One of those things makes him want to hurt your Mom, I think,” Steve squeezed her to him tighter as she made a little whimpering noise at the revelation. “But he's going to get better. And he'll never go back to this, so please don't worry when you see him again.”

“He's...he's with mom and James right now,they went to the store. You sent them to the store, ” Audrey panicked. “What if he---”

“He won't,” Steve promised. “He never will again. I promise you, Audrey. You never have to be scared of him. He won't hurt any one else after this. I promise.”

* * *

Steve found Darcy's necklace on the kitchen counter quickly and went back to the couch, placing it around her neck. He was going to make sure that she never took it off again. Having it out of her reach had almost cost her life. Audrey had waited on the couch next to Darcy, her hands tenderly stroking at the bruises on her mother's neck, while Steve lifted Bucky and brought him back to a smaller bedroom on the first floor, putting him on the bed.

“Audrey? Honey? Can you do me a favor?” Steve asked. “Can you unfreeze him just for a split second so I can get the knife out of his hand?”

“Oh, okay,” Audrey nodded. She gave her mother a kiss on the cheek before walking back to the room her fathers were in. She stayed in the doorway and took a deep breath, trying her best not to look at the man who she knew wasn't her biological father, but who she considered as one of her fathers anyway. “Ready? On Three?”

“One, two,” Steve counted off for her, his hand on Bucky's, readying to pull the knife away. The split second that Audrey unfroze him, Bucky's hand came down and Steve knew he had been a fraction of a second away from ending Darcy's life. He pulled the knife away and nodded.

“You want to go watch your mom some more, don't---don't bring her out of it yet,” Steve warned. “I want to be right there when she wakes up from it.”

“Alright,” Audrey nodded, lingering by the door as she watched her Dad pat her Pop down for weapons. Half a minute passed and Steve had an impressive pile of knives and two small handguns in a pile on the bed. Audrey kept watching as Steve took the pile of weapons and headed for the doorway, looking at it warily, wondering if there was a way to reinforce the door.

“JARVIS?” Steve questioned. “What can we do about keeping the door closed?”

“If I may, Captain Rogers, please step away from the entry way and I will bring down the bulletproof barrier.”

“Woah,” Audrey's eyes widened. “Why is Uncle Vision a voice in the walls?”

“What?” Steve furrowed his brow. “That's JARVIS.”

“Oh...like FRIDAY?” Audrey questioned.

“I think it'd be good for us to stop talking about this stuff,” Steve smiled at her. “I think I know enough future secrets for one lifetime.”

“Mom always said that we come back to you because you're so good,” Audrey smiled. “That you can keep a secret because you're the best person in the world. And that Pop is a big trout mouth who can't keep his trout mouth shut.”

“He's a big gossip sometimes,” Steve nodded, remembering how much the Bucky before the war would love to chat with the other hens in the apartment complex about who was messing around with who. He may have just been trying to deflect speculation about he, Steve and Darcy at the time, though. “C'mon. Let's go check on your mom.”

Darcy was still frozen, her eyes shut in fear, her mouth turned down in a terrified frown. Steve couldn't stand to see her like that, but Audrey couldn't look away.

“Daddy?” she questioned.

“Yeah, honey?” Steve smiled sadly at her.

“Are you sure Pop won't hurt Mom again?” Audrey whispered, her voice shaky.

“I'm sure,” Steve promised.

“Cause...the baby,” Audrey shrugged. “He could hurt the baby.”

“James is fine, you know that. He doesn't hurt her,” Steve shook his head.

“No...the _new_ baby,” Audrey whispered. “Mom calls it the surprise baby.”

“But...your mom is,” Steve paused, feeling his grin ignite on his face. “Forty-three?”

“Yeah, but she looks the same,” Audrey shrugged. “It's the stone. It's keeping her the same. But not me and James because we have to grow up first.”

“Audrey,” Steve sighed, a rueful smile on his face. He wanted to scold her for telling him _too_ much, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. “I promise you, that Pop will never hurt your Mom again. We fix his brain up the right way.”

“Okay,” Audrey nodded. “I believe you.”

“Alright. I think that you shouldn't be in your mom's line of sight when you unfreeze her,” Steve advised. “So why don't you go in the hallway and keep an eye on Pop, and when I have your Mom use the necklace on him, I'll come say goodbye to you, okay?”

“Alright,” Audrey nodded. “Love you, Daddy.”

“Oh honey. I love you, too,” Steve smiled at her. He watched her walk towards the hallway before he felt Darcy twitch and take a huge, painful gasp of air. “Hey Darcy-girl. You alright?”

“ _ Bucky _ ,” she gasped.

“He's locked in a room down the hall....can you, would you freeze him for now?” Steve fingered the necklace he had put around her neck.

“Okay...done,” she whispered, her throat raw and painful. She held out her arms and Steve pulled her to him, cuddling her gently, trying to hide the shaking of his hands.

“Don't talk, sweetheart,” Steve advised. “It'll hurt less in about an hour with the faster healing.”

“Why did he...why?” Darcy disregarded Steve's advise and tried to talk anyway. He pulled her up in his arms and cradled her to his chest. “What'd I do?”

“No, Darcy-girl. You didn't do anything wrong,” Steve sighed, trying to give her strength with gentle touches.

“You didn't, Darcy,” Natasha walked through the door, followed by Clint. “He's been extensively programmed for this. They...they used women that looked like you. You were a potential weakness, so they taught him to destroy his weaknesses.”

“How do we fix it?” Steve wondered, asking the question for Darcy when she could not.

“Is it worth fixing at this point, Cap? Can't we just keep her away from him?” Clint demanded, his eyes focusing in on the ugly purple bruises on Darcy's neck.

“ How do we  _ fix  _ it?” Steve demanded harshly, giving Clint a glare. He didn't bother to think of Clint's feelings at that moment. The only feelings that mattered to him now were the woman in his arms and his daughter in the hallway, presumably listening in.

“My best guess? Do the opposite of what put it there,” Natasha sighed. “It means subjecting Darcy to him repeatedly until he can break the conditioning. And if we have to use violence to help break the conditioning, that's what we're going to do.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded, wincing at the thought of subjecting violence on the man who had already been through so much.

“I'm going to go make sure he's secure,” Steve said softly, dropping a tender kiss to Darcy's forehead before letting her go. He walked back towards the hallway and gave Audrey a curious look. “How did Natasha get here, Audrey?”

“We don't freeze Aunt NatNat,” Audrey replied easily. “She doesn't like it. And she always gave us treats when we wouldn't.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Natasha said softly as she walked down the hallway. She smiled at the girl and said, “You are a lovely blend of your parents, little one.”

“Okay, Audrey, you better go now, before your Mom sees you,” Steve advised.

“Oh yeah, I don't want that to happen. She's always needling James about it,” Audrey smirked, the expression uncannily like Darcy. She reached out to hug Steve, smiling against his chest when he dropped a kiss to the top of her blonde hair. She pulled away and went to hug Nat, missing the surprised look on the red head's face. “Thanks for reminding Daddy this morning, Aunt NatNat. See you soon.”

She pulled away and the lovely orange glow started in her fingertips and soon spread to the rest of her skin, growing in intensity and brightness until they blinked and she was gone. Steve sighed and looked at Natasha with a rueful expression.

“ The name Audrey means  _ timeless strength _ ,” Natasha gave him a small, genuine smile.

“Fitting,” Steve smiled. His little girl had just saved the day, realized that the man she called _Pop_ was dangerous at one point, and she had still managed to keep her wits about her. He sighed heavily and said, “We sent her back here, if she doesn't come back, Darcy would be dead. I'm---this is...”

“Don't worry. I'm used to this paradox business by now,” Natasha rolled her eyes. “C'mon, let's figure out how we're going to restrain your man.”

* * *

Darcy had to wait in the living room when she brought Bucky out of the freeze. Clint was stationed in the hallway between Bucky's room and Darcy, an arrow notched and ready to go. Steve, Natasha and a a newly arrived Sam were in the room with Bucky. Natasha was armed to the teeth, but Steve and Sam had no weapons on them.

“Now, Darce,” Clint got the signal from Natasha and pulled the string to his bow tight, muscles ready to send it flying should the man who had tried to kill everyone but him in the cabin come barreling out.

Darcy closed her eyes and put her head in her hands before willing the time stone to unfreeze Bucky.

The first sound that echoed throughout the large cabin was the end of Bucky's scream that he had started when he brought the knife down on her. It was harsh and guttural and full of pain and conflicted torment.

Steve watched in the room as Bucky shouted out, his hand going down as if he was burying the knife that had been taken away from him. Bucky's whole body went limp then, his eyes closed and head thrown back as sobs worked through him.

“Asset,” Natasha said brusquely. “Your prior programming is defective.”

“I'm not...I'm not. Not an Asset,” Bucky panted. He opened his eyes and sat up on the bed, looking directly at Steve with haunted eyes. His whisper was low and soft and so torn as he asked, “Is she okay?”

“ She's fine,” Steve nodded. “Bucky... _ Bucky _ , why?”

“I can't stop it,” Bucky shook his head. “It's not a mission, it's not an order. It's...I see her face and I can't stop it.”

“You will,” Steve insisted softly. “You have to, Buck.”

“ Do you know what they made me do?!” Bucky yelled at Steve. “Do you know how many girls that looked like her that I--- _ god _ ...”

Steve's jaw clenched at the pain exuding from the man on the bed. He didn't want to put Bucky or Darcy through this, but there was no other way. The only other option was keeping Darcy out of Bucky's sight for the rest of their lives, and that was not an acceptable option for Steve. They would forgive him for the pain later. Bucky's programming had to be broken.

“There were fifteen girls,” Natasha said in a forcefully detached tone. “They did not stop bringing the girls until you learned to kill them on sight. The first five girls...they were not killed at first. So they were brought back, for continued training. By the tenth girl, you killed them as soon as you set your eyes on them, usually by strangulation. You were always remorseful afterward, the handlers thought that meant the experiments had been a success.”

“Stop,” Bucky whispered, shaking his head. “I---I didn't want to.”

“We know that,” Sam interjected. “That wasn't you. And you wanting to hurt Darcy now, that's not you either. We're going to help you.”

“ There's no help for me,” Bucky shook his head. “Just...kill me or let me go, but I'm not...I won't look at her again. I  _ can't _ .”

“Those aren't options, Buck,” Steve shook his head. “You _love_ Darcy. They used that and twisted it. And we're going to _untwist_ it.”

“Told you to take care of her,” Bucky whispered. He looked up at Steve with a desperate look. “You make her happy for me, cause I can't anymore. I don't want to hurt her. I'm not what she knows anymore.”

“Neither is she. Neither am I,” Steve gave him a small, understanding smile. “Time changed us all, Bucky.”

“She's carrying,” Bucky's voice was barely heard. His eyes focused down on his hands, his gaze following a small shifting metal plate on his left wrist. “There's a baby.”

Steve took a breath and gave a brief look to Natasha and Sam before stepping towards the bed, kneeling in front of Bucky, looking up at him with a gentle smile.

“She's nearly three months along,” Steve nodded.

“So...it's yours?” Bucky took his first relieved breath. He'd remembered the letter he had written to Steve before the War. He had wanted Steve to take care of her then. And after what happened with Zola, he had wanted for all three of them to be together, to go home and build a family. He felt some measure of happiness to know that Steve and Darcy had done that, had managed to build something that would last.

“No,” Steve shook his head. “The baby is yours, Bucky.”

“ No,” he whispered. His chest heaved with a panicked breath and he looked at Steve with horror-filled eyes. “ _ No _ . Please, no.”

“It's okay to be scared,” Sam put in helpfully from the doorway, seeing that Steve had been stunned into silent tears by Bucky's desperate denials. “This is why we need to help you, Barnes. That baby is going to know its father.”

“ I can't,” Bucky shook his head. He looked to Steve imploringly, “ _ Don't you know what I've done _ ?”

Steve was having trouble finding his words. He knew, logically, that someday, Bucky would want to be around his son, would acknowledge him. But he had no idea how to get there, he had no idea of where to even start. Darcy would know how to soothe and calm Bucky back in 1944. But she couldn't even get near to him now.

“We named him James,” Steve whispered. “Even before we knew she was really pregnant. She named him James.”

Bucky furrowed his brow at the declaration. _James_ . A little boy with unruly brown curls, bright blue eyes and a dimpled chin.

“Audrey?” he whispered.

“She'll come along later,” Steve promised. He gave him a tentative smile. “You met them?”

“The soldier did...the night with Fury in your apartment,” Bucky nodded. “But James...James came before?”

“The library after Coney Island,” Steve supplied.

“No...there was another time,” Bucky scrunched his face up as he tried to remember. “He was littler. Crying. I was on a plane above the Arctic after a mission.”

Natasha cursed in Russian. She seriously was beginning to question the control that Steve, Darcy and Bucky had over the future children.

“What happened?” Steve wondered.

“Called me Pop, he wanted me to hold him,” Bucky nodded. “Damnedest thing. The handlers were frozen solid on the plane. We weren't moving. It was just me and the kid. They wiped it from me as soon as we landed.”

“Do you see? They know you, Buck. They know that you love their mom,” Steve said gently. “You get better. You work hard and you break the conditioning. I promise.”

“I don't want to hurt her,” Bucky whispered. “Stevie, if I hurt her again, you put me down, alright? I don't care how, just...I can't hurt her. I---I love her.”

“I know, Bucky, I know,” Steve nodded, gripping Bucky's hands in his.

“I love you, too,” Bucky said in a barely heard whisper.

“I know that, too,” Steve nodded, going to his feet and placing a small kiss against Bucky's forehead. “Darcy and I love you, Bucky. We're going to get through this.”

* * *

Bucky asked to be locked in the room for the evening. He also asked for surveillance and a changing guard outside of the door through the night. Sam, Clint and Natasha worked out a schedule before Clint gave Steve a gentle look.

“She's been on a knife's edge the whole time, Cap. She needs some TLC,” he advised.

Steve was too happy to comply. After the whirlwind of emotions of the day, he could use some TLC too. Sam had run out for food, and he promised to leave something at their door later. Steve said nothing as he swept into the living room and scooped her up off the couch, cuddling her close as he made his way upstairs to the room she had claimed as theirs three days ago.

The minute her head hit his shoulder, her tears fell and didn't stop even after he had made it to their bed and held her to him.

“How much of it did you hear?” Steve wondered.

“JARVIS was giving me the closed caption service on my phone, I read every word,” Darcy admitted.

“Do you understand, Darcy-girl, that it's not cause he doesn't love you, right?” Steve kissed her lips tenderly when she nodded minutely. Gentle, reverent fingers stroked along the fading purple bruises on her neck. “If anything, Natasha said it was because he loves you so much. They thought you were alive out there somewhere, and that someday you might pop up and get him to break the conditioning.”

“Why didn't they do the same with you?” Darcy whispered.

“They thought I was dead,” Steve reminded her. His right hand ran through her hair gently, fingers combing through curls as his left hand drifted to her belly, rubbing the small bump fondly. “How's our little James?'

“He's good, cooking up very nicely,” Darcy murmured, one hand wrapping around Steve's back while the other joined his left hand on her belly. “What if it doesn't work?”

“It's going to work, Darcy-girl, I promise you,” Steve said resolutely. “Have I ever broken a promise?”

“No,” Darcy smiled at him. She would never understand what she had done to deserve him. He was so good, so hopeful and so kind. She trusted his words, she believed because he had faith.

“Well then, I'm not going to start now,” Steve gave her a small, hopeful smile. He kissed her lips gently and said, “Sleep Darcy-girl, I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner.”

* * *

They started small.

The next day, locked away in the room that Bucky refused to leave, Steve pulled out a new picture of Darcy, taken during Steve and Darcy's slowed down time together in the apartment. She was smiling lovingly at Steve behind the camera, her hand reaching out for him from the couch.

As soon as he recognized her, Bucky put his fist through a table.

That first day they made no progress. Every time Steve would show him the picture, the light in Bucky's eyes that made him _Bucky_ would disappear, and only a weapon, a tool, an _asset_ remained. Sam had been monitoring the footage all day and went over some suggestions and ideas with Steve immediately afterwards. The second and third day had been passed much the same, though, every time Steve would try to reinforce to him that the picture was of Darcy and that he _loved_ Darcy, Bucky would react violently and the picture was ripped to pieces.

“Can we stop?” Bucky whispered on the fourth day, his knees on the floor, his hands pulling at his hair. “Please, Stevie...I can't.”

“You can,” Steve promised him.

“Maybe it's not meant to be fixed. Maybe the kids know me because...because I'm here, but I don't see Darcy again,” Bucky reasoned.

“That's unacceptable,” Steve said softly.

“She's got you now, ain't she? She doesn't need me. I told you to take care of her, so take care of her!” Bucky demanded.

“ It's not enough!” Steve insisted, his voice still soft, even though his words were forceful and strong. His hand was on Bucky's right shoulder, squeezing and kneading with as much encouragement and reinforcement as he could. “It wasn't enough back in 1944 and it isn't enough now. We love you, Buck. I know this is hard, I know it is, but be strong. Think about how bad you wanted for the three of us to be happy before. We can  _ have  _ it. Just be strong.”

Bucky swallowed a small whimpering sound. He took two full minutes to try and pull himself together. He wanted what Steve was saying. He had wanted it so badly before the fall from the train. But he was a monster now. He was remembering more and more every damned moment that went by. Both the good and the bad. He remembered a night when Steve, a much smaller Steve, had struggled to breathe. He remembered holding that small man's back to his chest, breathing in and out with him while the woman climbed into the bed, her chest flush against the small man's.

It was one of the happiest memories he had recovered, but it was tainted, because every time he thought of the woman's face, he could feel his control slipping. His muscles would clench, a veil would fall in front of his field of vision and he knew, _he knew_ if she had been in the same room as him, when the veils parted, there would be a dead woman in front of him.

He remembered every single time he had done the unspeakable in the past. The horror of realizing what had happened, the feeling that the woman who resembled the other girls was so important. They had wiped away the remorse and the pain every time, but now it was back. The atrocities and the violence were all mixed up with the good memories.

Steve would have been able to do it. He'd be able to fight it. He was good. He was the best man Bucky had ever known.

“Bucky, I love you,” Steve promised. “I know you can do this.”

Bucky took a deep breath before giving the slightest of nods. Steve gave him a proud smile before he grabbed the picture and kept it turned from Bucky.

“ Bucky, I'm going to show you a picture of a woman. She is very important to you and me,” Steve said softly. “When you see it, you're going to feel like you should hurt her. I want you to know, that you don't have to. She loves you so much, Bucky. And you don't want to hurt her. You  _ don't  _ hurt her. She's the mother of your son, Bucky. You love her. You don't want to hurt her, you fight it, alright?”

Steve slowly turned the picture so that Bucky could see it, and he saw the full body flinch. Steve gripped Bucky's hand and shook his head.

“No one wants you to hurt her anymore, Buck. You don't have to do that. The only thing we expect from you, is for you to love us, and love your son. That's all I want,” Steve whispered, watching with trepidation as Bucky did his damnedest to fight the urge to snatch the picture from Steve's hands and tear it to pieces. He felt like it was progress. Bucky had never managed to last this long before. “This is Darcy, Bucky. She's your girl.”

“Ours,” Bucky's voice was a whimper.

“That's right. She's our favorite girl, our best girl,” Steve nodded, fighting the grin eager to spread across his face. “You don't want to hurt her, Bucky.”

“I don't want to,” Bucky nodded, his entire body trembling.

“ This is our girl. This is  _ your  _ Four Eyes---”

The sound of the nickname he had given Darcy all those years ago was too much and Bucky's flesh hand reared back before socking Steve in the face. Bucky let out a sound of pain, but Steve quickly recovered, shaking his head and giving Bucky a smile.

“It's alright, Buck, it's alright,” Steve promised. He held up the picture. “You didn't tear up the picture.”

Bucky nodded and Steve wrapped an arm around him, pulling him in close. Bucky turned his head ever so slightly and his lips brushed against Steve's in the smallest of touches. Steve gave an involuntary sigh of contentment and he smiled at Bucky when the man pulled away.

“So that still feels the same,” Bucky nodded, his eyes a mixture of amazement and want, a look that was fiercely mirrored in Steve's eyes.

“Yeah, it definitely does.”

* * *

Steve kept bringing in pictures for the next week. He would tell Bucky stories about what he and Darcy had gotten up to in Bucky's time away from them, and was euphoric to pull small smiles from the man. He'd told him of dance lessons and Beck's 85th birthday party and walking in a time-frozen world to go and buy a half dozen pregnancy tests.

“I know what that's like,” Bucky said softly. “Walking around when everyone else is frozen. Happened three times to me.”

“Really?” Steve asked in amazement.

“Once, with James in the plane,” Bucky nodded. “Once, when I was heading towards a safe house in Baltimore five days after my last wipe. And then the night before I came back with you.”

“Darcy does it, with the stone, she had us frozen for a long time after she came back,” Steve revealed. “And sometimes I don't notice, especially when we're...you know, otherwise occupied.”

“The dame freezes time when you're mid-thrust?” Bucky let out a bark of laughter. The sound evaporated and he seemed shocked to have had such a sound come out of his mouth. He shook off the shock forcefully and nudged Steve's shoulder. “That must be some good thrusting, punk.”

“I do alright, jerk,” Steve smirked.

“ Yeah? Maybe you'll show me some time,” Bucky  _ flirted.  _ Before he could even feel a bit of remorse about it, Steve had his hand on the back of Bucky's head, drawing him in for a long, drawn out kiss.

Steve found Bucky's lips just as delicious as Darcy's, that full bottom lip particularly was a delight to nibble and soothe with his tongue. Bucky moved his head slightly and Steve took it in stride, his mouth moving to Bucky's jaw, before going further, painting kisses down his neck.

“Hey---she's---she won't be jealous?” Bucky wondered nervously. He knew he felt no jealousy when it came to Steve touching Darcy and vice versa, but the lady might have some objections to her fellas making time with one another.

Steve chuckled against Bucky's skin before pulling away and giving him a smirk. “Probably just upset that she didn't get front row seats. Our girl...she isn't shy about what she likes. And the thought of you and me together, she said  _ it gets her motor running _ .”

“Convenient,” Bucky sighed, his head pillowing against Steve's shoulder as he stared down at the picture still in Steve's hands.

“She felt the baby move this morning,” Steve told him softly. Darcy was about fifteen weeks along now. “I couldn't feel anything but she said he fluttered a little after she ate a banana.”

Bucky nodded, looking down at the picture Steve had brought today. Darcy with a brilliant grin on her face and a banana in hand as she sat on top of the kitchen island. His right index finger stroked along the picture, tender touches along picture Darcy's jaw.

“I think you're ready to see her,” Steve said softly. “Just through video, not in the same room.”

“Alright,” Bucky took a deep, terrified breath. He gave Steve a soft smile and asked, “What did I ever do to deserve you, Stevie?”

“It's not about deserving anything,” Steve promised him. “I love you, Bucky.”

Bucky's hand shot out, wrapping around the back of Steve's head, and pulling him close. Gentle lips met Steve's in a now familiar gesture. He pulled away after a few extended moments and smiled,

“Your lips taste like bananas.”

“That's what happens when Darcy eats three bananas and then insists on kissing me goodbye a few dozen times,” Steve shrugged.

“Now you're just bragging,” Bucky huffed in slight annoyance. “I remember how that girl kisses.”

“Like a champion,” Steve chuckled. “You'll get there, Buck. Now, let's see how you deal with looking at her on video. She can't hear you yet. But we can hear her. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Bucky nodded, watching as Steve took out a Starkpad and pulled up a live video feed.

Darcy was sitting on the couch, knitting away happily. Becks had taught her the basics during her visit to Philadelphia weeks ago, and Darcy had the makings of a pretty decent little blue blanket going.

“Nobody wants you to hurt her, Bucky,” Steve reminded him as he tensed up. “Hydra lied to you. You know who this woman is, Bucky.”

“That's our Darcy,” Bucky nodded. “That's my Four Eyes.”

“Yeah, it is,” Steve felt the happy tears pooling in his eyes.

“BARTON! DON'T EAT MY PEANUT BUTTER M&M'S YOU DONKEY BALLED MOTHER FUCKER!” Darcy hollered angrily to someone out of view of the camera.

Steve stifled a chuckle and Bucky actually grinned in amusement.

“She always had the foulest mouth.”

* * *

Bucky and Steve spent another full week watching Darcy on the surveillance feed. They would sit cuddled up on the bed, much like it was 1938, talking about the girl who had been in their lives for a short three weeks as Steve sketched her face. Instead of sketches though, they would watch her making food, knitting, or playing ruthless games of gin rummy with Wilson.

“Becks is coming up tomorrow, Buck,” Steve revealed. “She's really excited to see you.”

“Yeah, I'm excited to see her too,” Bucky nodded. “It's gonna be strange, you and Darcy look the same as you did in 1945, but Becks is...she's---”

  
  


“ She's a great grandmother,” Steve nodded. He watched on the screen as Darcy shamelessly rubbed at her breasts with a look of annoyance on her face. Bucky huffed in amusement and Steve sighed, “It's the pregnancy hormones, they make her chest bigger and.... _ really  _ sensitive.”

“I'll have to remember that when I get to spend a little quality time with you and her,” Bucky murmured. “Is it true what they say about a dame that's carrying as far along as her? The boys at the docks always got to talking about their wives expecting babies being crazy for whoopee.”

Steve laughed and managed a shrug. That answer wasn't good enough for Bucky, so he began poking at Steve's midsection over and over again. Steve tried to wriggle away but Bucky persisted and poking soon turned to full fledged tickling. It said something about the newly rebuilt trust that Steve did not fear Bucky taking their horseplay poorly.

“Yeah, yeah, it's true,” Steve chuckled eventually, holding up his hands in surrender. “I'm actually pretty keen to get you better. She's kind of wearing me out.”

“You're a damned supersoldier!' Bucky reminded him.

“You know our girl,” Steve shrugged. “You remember what she was like when she was trying to get you in bed back in the day?”

“Huh....I do,” Bucky nodded. “She was a minx.”

“Well now, she's a minx and a half.”

* * *

Rebecca Barnes-Spencer had seen a lot of things in her eighty-five years of life. But the one thing she never expected to see again was her brother. Strong and young and healthy.

“Bucky,” Becks gasped at the sight of him, his hair neatly cleaned and combed as he stood in the bedroom he had been occupying for weeks at that point. Steve stood next to Becks, her arm wrapped in his.

“Heya Becks,” Bucky said softly. “It's been a while.”

“ Oh my god, it's BEEN A WHILE?” Becks laughed incredulously. “That's the best you can come up with?  _ It's been a while _ . Do you want to talk about how the sky is blue, too? Idiot.”

“Good to see you're still the same,” Bucky managed a chuckle.

“I'm just a little older,” Becks shrugged. “So what's this about not wanting to be around my Darcy?”

“It's complicated,” Steve said softly.

“If ma were still here, she'd smack you upside your head James Buchanan Barnes,” Becks gave him a sympathetic smile. She wrinkled her nose suddenly in discomfort and brought a hand up to her chest.

“Becks, you alright?” Steve wondered.

“No...I feel sort of...sort of funny,” Becks struggled to breathe. “I think...I think I'm having a heart attack.”

* * *

** Chapter Five: Healing **

** Don’t care if he’s guilty, don’t care if he’s not **

** He’s good and he’s bad and he’s all that I’ve got **

** Oh Lord, Oh Lord, I’m begging you please **

** Don’t take that sinner from me **

** Oh don’t take that sinner from me **

* * *

“DARCY!” Steve shouted as he eased Bucky's elderly little sister to the ground. “Darcy, freeze Becks!”

Darcy ran into the room, recognizing the sound of desperation in Steve's voice. She paid a suddenly panicked Bucky no heed as she fell to her knees in front of Bucky's sister, her necklace around her neck glowing orange and getting brighter and brighter with every passing millisecond.

When they all managed to open their eyes again, a very different Becks lay on the ground, blinking her eyes open.

“ What in the hell?” she demanded. Her eyes widened in shock at the sound of her voice. The  _ youthful  _ sound of her voice. “Well, this is certainly something.”

Rebecca Barnes-Spencer sat up, easier than she had in quite a few years.

“Is everything okay?” Sam demanded as he rushed into the room. He looked around, trying to make sense of the scene. Bucky was in the same room as Darcy, and he wasn't trying to kill her. He was staring down at her in wonder, as she knelt next to a young woman in her early thirties, who was definitely confused at whatever had just happened. Sam smiled down at the new arrival. She was certainly an attractive lady. “Hey.”

“Wilson, you're an idiot,” Steve rolled his eyes. “This is Becks. You just met her five minutes ago. Apparently...Darcy can use the stone to de-age a person.”

“That is a hell of a thing,” Sam shrugged. He bent over and held out an arm to both Darcy and Becks. He grinned at Becks in his best pretty manner, “And eighty-five or not, she is a pretty lady.”

“Wilson,” Bucky gruffly intoned.

“ You do realize you're in the same room as your girl and not wanting to, you know,  _ kill her _ ?” Sam smirked at Bucky.

Bucky looked between Steve and Darcy with wide-eyed amazement. His gaze settled on Darcy finally and he offered her a shy smile.

“Hi.”

“Hi? You used to be a charmer,” Becks rolled her eyes. She was looking at her youthful hands in amazement, not quite believing what Darcy had managed to do.

“Bucky?” Darcy whispered.

“Hi Four Eyes,” Bucky nodded.

Steve choked back a sob of happiness as Darcy launched herself at Bucky, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, her head buried in his chest.

“I love you, Four Eyes,” Bucky whispered against the top of her head. “I've missed you so much.”

* * *

Bucky now had free reign all around the cabin, and he spent that time following Steve around like a loyal duckling. And considering that Steve liked to moon after Darcy all day long, Bucky did that too and didn't seem to mind one bit. But when it came time for bed time, Bucky would wave Darcy and Steve off before going towards his own room.

“Does he not like girl parts anymore?” Darcy pouted as she crawled into Steve's lap in bed, big blue eyes aimed at him full of self doubt and confusion. “Cause I've seen the surveillance of you two cuddling and canoodling, I know he still likes YOUR parts.”

“I think he's still just really scared that he could hurt you, Darcy-girl,” Steve diplomatically revealed as she stripped him out of his clothes.

“We should tell him to get over that,” Darcy nodded wisely. “I was promised super soldier sexy times.”

“I'm doing my best here, Darcy-girl,” Steve rolled his eyes as Darcy bounced around on the bed until she was kneeling next to his legs, placing open mouthed kisses on his abs, slowly and methodically moving further down. He groaned as she gave his hardened length a long firm lick. “He can probably still hear us out there.”

“Hmmm, JARVIS? Send the feed to Bucky's Starkpad,” Darcy grinned. “Give him some incentive to not be so scared.”

* * *

Steve was not surprised that Bucky was waiting before dawn on the porch for him the next morning when he went to take his run. He also wasn't surprised that he got a fist to the face.

“She did all the work!” Bucky scolded. “She's nearly five months pregnant and you let her slave over you like you were some lazy good for nothing lump!”

“She likes it like that sometimes,” Steve defended himself.

“ _You_ like it like that sometimes,” Bucky countered knowingly.

“So what if I do, if you want it to be different, you're more than welcome to join us, you know that, Buck,” Steve advised him.

All the tension in Bucky's body left him and he managed a shrug.

“Don't think I deserve to feel that good,” Bucky whispered. “What if I lost control and wound up hurting either of you?”

“Let me prove you wrong,” Steve suggested. He gripped Bucky's hand and led him back into the silent cabin. Darcy and Sam were still asleep and would be that way for a few hours at least. He guided Bucky back to the small room that Bucky had isolated himself in for so long. “We only want to love you, Buck. We only want to give you happiness and to make you feel good. You trust that?”

“Yeah,” Bucky breathed as Steve's hands ran up and down his torso with a firm, reassuring touch. “It's me I don't trust, Stevie.”

“I'll trust you enough for the both of us, okay?” Steve smiled. His hands went to the waistband of Bucky's pants and pushed down as he quickly went to his knees, and before Bucky could protest or move away, Steve had his mouth wrapped around him, sucking and pulling at rapidly hardening flesh.

“Jesus, where'd you learn to do that?” Bucky gasped.

“Remember when I told you about those sweet dames on the USO tour?” Steve smiled up at him. He remembered how angry the stories had made Bucky back then and it made sense to him now that he was feeling a serum-enhanced jealousy at the time. He was kind of glad he had never told him about Tommy. “There was a fella thrown in there too.”

“Shit, Stevie,” Bucky hissed as Steve took him once more. Steve purposefully grabbed Bucky's left hand and placed it on the back of his head, giving Bucky all the control over the act as he licked and sucked and stroked until Bucky's legs were shaking with pleasure.

“Let go, Buck,” Steve murmured against his skin.

Bucky's metal fingers scraped against Steve's scalp, gently guiding and directing Steve's head and it didn't take very long at all for Bucky to feel himself tightening, ready to explode. Steve sensed it as well and swallowed around him, groaning when Bucky spilled his release down his throat.

“See?” Steve whispered. “Nothing to it. You'll be just fine.”

“Yeah...yeah, there's one thing I want to do first though.”

* * *

“You can't be serious!” Darcy guffawed unattractively, her mouth half full of banana. She glared full force at Bucky, looking like an angry hellcat.

“I want to make sure I'm okay,” Bucky shrugged. The look from her felt familiar. Apparently he had made her incredulous and angry plenty of times in the past. “This seems like the easiest way to do it.”

“Fine, then I'm going along for the ride,” Darcy hopped off the kitchen counter and gave Steve's spluttering response a withering look. Her banana free hand rested lightly on the ever expanding baby bump and she gave Bucky an arched eyebrow that she had _definitely_ learned from Natasha.

“It's just a short jump, two days, tops,” Bucky explained. “Wilson said the surveillance showed less than a dozen Hydra agents at the facility. We go in, clean house and come back to you.”

“Or I go along the whole time and you don't have to come back, because I'll be right fucking there,” Darcy suggested.

“Darcy-girl,” Steve sighed.

The necklace glowed orange and when a heartbeat had passed, Steve and Bucky realized that not only were their pants down around their ankles, but Darcy was long gone, cackling as she ran up the stairs to the relative safety of her room.

“I'm really glad she didn't have control of all that back in 1944,” Bucky sighed. “She'd have taken Hitler out all on her own if she had half the chance.”

* * *

It took all of Steve's powers of persuasion and three hours of cuddling between Bucky and Steve on the couch to convince Darcy to allow Bucky to go out into the field and test out his limitations. It also helped that Sam was bringing Becks up to visit, and that Helen would be arriving with an ultrasound machine by the time Steve and Bucky were scheduled to come back.

“How did your kids take the fountain of youth story?” Darcy wondered of Becks as they both watched Sam working on making his (in his own words) world famous freshly squeezed lemonade.

“The great grands are thrilled that I can run and play with them,” Becks shrugged. “Everyone else is a little confused, but after hearing that dearly departed Uncle Bucky is back from the dead and looks exactly the same as the pictures, and of course, meeting you and realizing you were exactly the same from all the old pictures, and each of them getting security detail to protect them from an old Nazi organization...well, they're adjusting nicely. Most of them are thrilled that they get more time with me.”

“And those that aren't?” Darcy pursed her lips in precursory anger.

“They were thinking of getting an inheritance earlier,” Becks laughed. “And there are a few that aren't happy I'm dating a little younger these days.”

Darcy cackled as Sam looked up from his work, throwing Becks a saucy little wink.

“I spent my whole life devoted to my husband and my children. Then my grandchildren. And then my great-grandchildren,” Becks smiled softly. “I think this time around, I'm going to devote my life to fun. And me.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea, Becks.”

“Darcy, you instructed me to tell you when Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes were in place,” JARVIS announced.

“Oh, thanks! Hold on one second,” Darcy held up a finger, concentrating hard as she froze time for everyone but she, Steve, Bucky and Natasha, who had accompanied her boys on the short mission. “Keep me from going on a mission, that'll show you smart asses. C'mon little James, let's go bake some cookies while we wait for Da and Pop to get done with the avenging.”

* * *

Helen was setting up the ultrasound machine while Sam got the video feed to match up with Bruce, who would give his input from Stark Towers when Bucky and Steve stormed into the cabin, followed by a smirking Natasha.

“You froze everyone in time,” Bucky accused.

“Of course I did, you were a lot smarter before you were brainwashed,” Darcy sassed back, earning a choked back bark of laughter from Sam, a fist bump from Becks and a full out grin from Natasha.

“Darcy-girl,” Steve scolded gently.

“How am I supposed to test out whether I can keep control, if you basically made the whole operation a peace keeping, hand holding exercise?” Bucky asked of her, even as her necklace glowed orange and time stopped for everyone but the three of them.

“Oh, I'm sorry Barnes, but I won't be shedding any tears on you _not_ being able to test out your violence skills,” Darcy scoffed, walking up to stand toe to toe with him, her hands on her hips as she glared up at him with righteous indignation and every ounce of anger she could will. “Stevie-boy already knows not to argue with me about what is best for me and what isn't, maybe you should learn a thing or two from him.”

“Oh well, your _Stevie-boy_ is just perfect, isn't he?” Bucky spat back at her.

“Guys,” Steve tried to interject patiently.

“Yeah, that's right, he IS perfect!” Darcy yelled at Bucky. “He's the only one of us with any sense, and he's the only one willing to _touch_ me, so yeah, that's perfection as far as I'm concerned. Whereas you're just _stupid_.”

“You're stupid!” Bucky countered, the childish petulance and anger on his face transforming him into a much younger Bucky Barnes.

“Well you're a God damned MORON!” Darcy shouted. “I CANNOT BELIEVE I'M HAVING A FUCKING MORON'S BABY! I'M GOING TO HAVE TO INVEST IN A LIFE TIME SUPPLY OF HELMETS AND PROTECTIVE PADDING! YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!”

Steve tensed as Bucky's hands shot out and gripped Darcy underneath her arms, lifting her up so that she was level with his face. He went to stop Bucky from doing whatever he was about to do, and then scold Darcy very gently for derailing any progress they had managed to make. His hand went to grip at Bucky's flesh shoulder and he actually felt his own balance slip as Bucky pulled Darcy to him, his mouth devouring hers hungrily.

Steve caught his footing and found his chest pushed up against Bucky's back as Darcy did her best to wrap her legs around both Bucky  _ and  _ Steve. She did manage to get a grip on Steve's shoulder, and her fingers crept under his shirt and danced along his skin. Bucky pulled away for air first and Darcy wasted no time in pulling Steve even closer, her lips finding his over Bucky's shoulder.

“Bedroom,” Bucky demanded, making Darcy pull away from Steve. Bucky wasted no time in turning his head and letting his lips land against Steve's, the kiss surprisingly gentle in comparison to the devouring Darcy had just done to both of the super soldiers.

“If you chicken out on me, Barnes, I will figure out a way to make you fucking pay,” Darcy swore.

“If you weren't carrying my baby, I'd throw you over my knee and spank your little bottom for that foul mouth,” Bucky whispered throatily. Steve made a stifled whining noise and Bucky gave up his hold on Darcy, allowing her to slide to the ground.

She winked at him before grabbing Steve's hand and letting the necklace glow.

When Bucky felt the now familiar feeling of time going back to normal for him, a feeling like getting on equal footing after having tripped, Steve and Darcy were missing, but he could hear Darcy giggling and Steve's pleasured moans from upstairs.

“C'mon slow poke, you're missing the fun!” Darcy called out.

Bucky made it to the doorway of the room Darcy and Steve had shared in the cabin, he leaned against the door frame lazily, watching with eagerness as Steve had his head buried between Darcy's thighs, applying himself properly if the flushed state of Darcy's cheeks and chest were any indication.

“Getting naked might help,” Darcy helpfully suggested. “I know your memory is like swiss cheese, but you can remember how to get naked by yourself, right?”

“ _ Sweetheart _ ,” Steve murmured against her skin.

“ S'alright, Stevie,” Bucky promised, pulling his shirt up and over his head before beginning to work on the buckles and zips of his complicated kevlar pants. Everyone had been walking on eggshells around him for weeks now. And as much as he needed the gentle hand from Steve since coming in from the cold, having this fiesty little peach of theirs mocking and teasing him felt  _ right _ . “I remember being able to get her to shut up when  _ I  _ used to taste her.”

“Hmph, your memory is still swiss cheese, then,” Darcy laughed before squealing with delight as Steve redoubled his efforts. Bucky took her preoccupation to his advantage, shucking the rest of his clothing and sitting on the bed next to her. His right hand going for her baby bump and rubbing at it with reverence. Darcy gasped, “Don't worry, he won't feel a thing, mostly he'll just get a dose of happy. Especially if the two of you manage to get me humming proper.”

“Good to know,” Bucky nodded before bending so that his lips were against hers, and he avidly tried to kiss the living daylights out of her. His right hand drifted up from her belly, going for a gentle squeeze of the breasts that were certainly even larger than he had remembered them being. He swallowed her squeak of protest and with a surprisingly intuitive touch, he managed to skirt that line between too much stimulation and just enough stimulation until Darcy was purring between Steve and Bucky's dual efforts.

Bucky pulled away from kissing her as she got close, his hands moving from her breasts to stroke at her jaw, wanting to see that sweet pleasure on her face to see if it still matched up with his memory of it. Beautifully pouty lips parted as pleasured moans echoed from her throat, the flush on her chest deepened and she arched as Steve pushed her body to orgasm. The sound of Steve's name on her lips was  _ gorgeous  _ to Bucky, and he felt an inexplicable pride that the two people he loved most were able to give each other so much.

“So damned pretty,” Bucky sighed, taking his eyes off of Darcy for one second to look down at Steve, whose hands were gripping Darcy's thighs, his eyelashes dusting his cheeks as a look of blissful contentment settled on his face as he gently kissed and licked at her flesh as she settled down from her high. Bucky's metal hand rested on his golden locks and he stroked at Steve's scalp lovingly. “So damned good, Stevie.”

“He is good,” Darcy cooed. “He's so good to both of us, we should reward him.”

“What do you have in mind, Four Eyes?” Bucky kissed her lips briefly, savoring in the little luxury of being able to touch her without another person's will influencing his thoughts.

“The best part of there being, you know, three of us, is that someone can always be in the middle,” Darcy waggled her eyebrows. She kissed Bucky again and smiled into it. “I think our Stevie-boy really deserves some special treatment.”

Steve made an appreciative humming sound and Bucky could only laugh. He gave Darcy one more kiss before moving off the bed.

“I'll need lubricant,” he grinned at Steve.

“How do you know that?” Darcy's eyes widened.

“The Winter Soldier was taught how to seduce anyone if necessary,” Bucky shrugged. His right hand made a line down Steve's naked back. “Never thought I'd use that knowledge for something this good though.”

“Don't worry, I took care of it while you were frozen downstairs,” Darcy winked at him saucily.

Sure enough, on the other side of her on the bed was a bottle of lube and a tapered phallus. Bucky looked down and his eyebrows went up in surprise, Steve was smirking at him with a blush on his face.

“Don't think I did that as a favor to you, I figured out pretty quick on my own the things our Stevie-boy likes,” Darcy licked her lips in fond remembrance of the day she had figured out just how much Steve liked her fingers inside of him. His orgasm had been fierce and powerful and devastating that day and she was definitely hoping to improve upon that with Bucky's help. “I'll figure out your fun supersoldier boy buttons later, Bucky.”

“Four Eyes, you are really too much,” Bucky huffed out a chuckle as his lips went down to paint kisses down Steve's spine.

“Told you,” Steve smiled lazily. He shimmied off the bed and turned to kiss Bucky, chuckling into the kiss when Darcy made impatient little squeaking sounds as she pushed at his bare ass to get him to angle properly so she could see the way their lips playfully nipped at each other.

When they separated Darcy frowned in an exaggerated manner and demanded, “More! I waited seventy-years for this. I demand more.”

“You're gonna get more, Darcy-girl,” Steve promised, joining her on the bed again, turning her body so that she was curled up as the little spoon. His left arm wrapped under her, resting on her baby bump while his right hand took his length and rubbed it against her wet lips as she bent and maneuvered her body so that he had better access.

Bucky grabbed the bottle of lube from the bed and rubbed at his own erection as he watched the familiar, beautiful dance of Steve and Darcy. Steve's right hand had moved to the front of Darcy's sweet little sex, fingers lazily stroking at her as he worked his length inside of her. Two different blissful expressions were on their faces and Bucky did his best to memorize it, not because he feared it would be taken away from him, but just because he wanted to, which he realized was an awfully lovely luxury to have.

He climbed onto the bed and his added weight to the mattress had Darcy letting out a breathy moan.

“Be good to him, Sarge,” she thickly whispered. “He's been so nice these last few years.”

“He has,” Bucky agreed, his lube slick fingers on his flesh hand going to Steve's opening and entering him easily. Darcy had definitely gotten him ready.

Steve let out a low groan of pure pleasure as he felt the fingers be replaced with the firm head of Bucky's erection. He felt him gently working inside, and his own strokes within the warm wet heaven inside of Darcy stilled as Bucky suddenly set the pace.

A few tentative, cautious strokes had Darcy whining her displeasure.

“ He's a damned supersoldier, not a china doll,” she whimpered as she shimmied her hips back on Steve, anxious for friction. She grinned as Steve kissed and sucked at her neck and moved his own hips between her and Bucky. “ _ Yes _ ....my good Stevie-boy.”

Steve tried to focus, but his thoughts were nebulous and pleasure tinged as he felt something he never had thought he would ever feel before. Loving, strong hands on his hips as Bucky started to stroke within him, quiet power and determination behind him, and the beautiful softness and warmth of Darcy in front of him. He was flying, strung out on bliss and close to tears as he felt Bucky's right hand move and go over his body so that his fingers were entwined with Steve's on Darcy's bump.

Nearly silent tears did fall for Steve then. But they were full of joy and happiness. Bucky heard them and kissed at his neck until Steve managed to twist his head and meet his lips with his own, showing him that the tears weren't borne of sadness. Steve increased the pressure with which he was rubbing at Darcy's flesh, causing her to let out a long moan followed by a whispered chanting of his name.

“I love you,” Steve murmured against Bucky's lips before turning his head to Darcy again, placing his lips against her ear. “I love you too, Darcy-girl.”

“Mmmhmm,” Darcy hummed as she rapidly approached her end again. “Please...please...”

“I gotcha, Four Eyes,” Bucky promised, moving his hand from her bump to gently cup her breast, his thumb gently stroking her nipple until she fell apart, squeezing so tightly around Steve that he couldn't move. Bucky managed a half dozen more strokes within Steve before he clamped around his length as he too found his orgasm, filling Darcy with his release.

“C'mon, Buck,” Steve rasped out, squeezing at Bucky's length rhythmically. “Let go.”

Bucky nodded into Steve's neck and let out a low groan as he felt himself go over the edge and he  _ swore  _ that Darcy bent time for his moment to last a little longer. When he came back, Darcy had managed to detangle herself from Steve and magically appear behind Bucky, cuddling up to his back as the big spoon. Steve had turned to smile at him, his arms wrapped around the both of them.

“She likes being the big spoon. Don't fight her on it,” Steve murmured helpfully.

Bucky sighed as he felt Darcy's soft breasts against his back, her baby bump resting lightly on his lower back and her arms squeezing against him as tight as she could. Steve's arms were like steel bands around the both of them, giving all the safety and love and strength he could need.

“Never gonna fight her on anything again,” Bucky promised.

“That's boring, don't do that,” Darcy mumbled sleepily. “Where will I get my fun if you stop fighting me on stuff? Stevie-boy won't fight me on anything, s'why I love him so much. But I love you cause you're fun to fight with.”

“Go to sleep, Darcy-girl,” Steve advised. “When we wake up and shower, we have a bunch of frozen people downstairs who are waiting to show us our baby.”

* * *

“The baby is very... _active_ right now,” Helen tilted her head at the screen with an amused smile.

“Really? I wonder why,” Natasha rolled her eyes from the other side of the room. She really did hate being frozen in time. And she could tell after the fact every time.

And the state that the three time-crossed lovers were in was a good indication of what they had been doing during the frozen bit of time. Darcy had a dreamy, sleepy smile on her face and her hair was not even close to being company ready. Bucky had a lazy smirk on his lips and threw Natasha an obnoxious wink. Steve was busy blushing bright red from the tips of his ears right down past the collar of his t-shirt.

“He's just happy,” Darcy shrugged, sticking her tongue out at Natasha from across the room.

“Did you say he?” Bruce asked from across the video connection. He pulled off his glasses, cleaned them, then replaced them on his face before squinting at the video feed on his end.

“Just wishful thinking,” Steve said quickly, sharing a small smile with Bucky. Darcy still didn't know that her mischievous little museum visitor had been her own son.

“Would you like to know?” Helen wondered.

“Yes please,” Darcy nodded eagerly.

“You were definitely right in your wishful thinking,” Helen grinned. “Congratulations, he is looking exceptionally well. Really, showing up at the highest percentiles for size.”

“Supersoldier baby,” Darcy giggled. She held out a finger to the screen and pet against the beautiful little profile of the no longer peanut shaped baby. “My little James.”

* * *

Steve took a deep breath as he stood outside of the cabin that had become their little haven over the past few weeks. Darcy was seriously trying to get Stark to sign over the deed, and Steve wasn't supposed to tell, but Pepper had already started the paper work to give the cabin to Darcy as a baby shower gift.

He leaned against the railing and smiled out at the sunset. He could imagine spending the majority of his time here, with Darcy and Bucky and little James. He could see a small boy chasing after his little, precious Audrey on the rolling little hills surrounding the place.

Actually....he could  _ actually  _ see a large toddler, nude as the day he was born running along the hill, heading straight for the trees.

“JOEY GET BACK HERE!” an exasperated voice rang out.

Steve tried to sigh, but he could only laugh as Audrey, approximately fifteen years of age chased after the naked toddler, who was quite tall for a two year old, blond fuzz on the top of his head, large fists pounding on his chest.

“IMMA BEAR!” Joey yelled. “RAWR!”

“Audrey, get him to be quiet!” James hissed as he ran after the two of them. “Mom is upstairs with Pop...oh, hey Da.”

“Da! Imma bear!” Joey waved and grinned at his dad, blue eyes crinkling up with infectious laughter. “RAWR!”

“Alright, Joey, you're a bear,” Steve laughed, watching as the baby boy waved and ran back to the trees he was obviously familiar with as he climbed it with impressive strength and dexterity.

“Superstrength stuff,” Audrey shrugged. “Sorry, Daddy.”

“It's fine...just...try to keep him away from your Mom?” Steve suggested helpfully.

“We're doing our best,” James promised. “He's way worse than the two of us ever were.”

“You called your mom a swell dame and kissed her in a museum, James,” Steve reminded the young man, who looked to be a full grown adult, towering at over six-feet tall over the still Darcy-sized Audrey. James was broad and muscular and looked very much like Bucky's son. “And let's not talk about you showing up on a Hydra plane to see your Pop.”

“ It was above where your plane was in the arctic,” James huffed in annoyance, looking  _ very  _ much like Bucky in that moment.

“RAWR!” Joey bellowed from the top of a tree.

“GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!” Audrey screeched at him. “I won't let Magnus fly you around if you don't get down here right now!”

“Who is Magnus?” Steve asked, seeing the annoyed look on James' face.

“ Thor and Aunt Jane's son. And Audrey's  _ boyfriend _ ,” he cringed.

“He's not my boyfriend!” Audrey petulantly disputed. She looked to her father with flaming red cheeks and wagged her finger at him in a very close impersonation of Darcy. “And don't you dare go thinking of what you're thinking, Daddy. You and Pop can't keep trying to scare him all the time.”

“We'll see about that,” Steve arched an unimpressed eyebrow at his daughter. He sighed and walked down to the line of trees and quickly climbed the one that little Joey was currently perched on. He reached out and grabbed the little naked man and cuddled him close before gently jumping down.

“Weeee!” Joey called out happily, clinging to Steve's neck with a ridiculous amount of strength. “Lobe you Daddy!”

Steve gave the boy a kiss before handing him off to James. He then kissed Audrey before moving to James and ignoring the young man's squirm to get away from the solid pucker against his mouth.

“I'll see you guys soon,” Steve smiled, waving them off in bright orange glow.

“Hey, what was all that ruckus? I just got Four Eyes to sleep, and it took every ounce of my serum enhanced stamina to get the job done,” Bucky sauntered out of the cabin. “You having a party with a bear or something?”

“Yeah, or something. C'mon. Let's head back inside before the bear comes back.”

* * *

When Darcy was eight months pregnant, they moved back to the Tower to be closer to Helen and Bruce and all the comforts of modern medicine. It was late August, so Darcy had managed to slow time by nearly a month and a half.

It was Natasha that was in charge of the baby shower.

Steve tried not to be surprised when she had planned an excess of fifty baby shower games, along with a rotating menu of four different styles of food. Zombie preparedness mode and all that. But when Natasha was faced with a tearfully thankful Darcy, wrapping her up tight, Steve had been very surprised to see that Natasha also got teary eyed in response.

“Thank you for everything,” Darcy whispered earnestly to her. “We'd be lost without you, you know.”

“Oh, I know,” Natasha tried to dryly assert, but the raspy sound of her voice betrayed her and only had Darcy squeeze her harder. “Alright, we're measuring your belly now. The person who gets closest to the right measurement gets that gigantic baby bottle filled with Stark's best booze.”

* * *

When Darcy went into labor, Steve had been on his way back to the room with a large pitcher full of ice chips when he saw a blond head of hair peaking around the doorway into Darcy's room. He sighed and put his hand on his son's shoulder and asked,

“Joey, what are you doing here, kiddo?”

The boy, who had to be about twelve at that point shrugged and said, “I asked about the birds and the bees and you sent me back here to see what might happen if I was careless with a dame I cared about. Poor Mom.”

“Yeah, she didn't want any drugs,” Steve admitted wearily. It had been twelve hours of no drugs at that point, and Darcy was proving to be tough as nails, even as her men wilted and trembled at the sight of her pain. “She loves you guys so much, she was willing to put herself through all this pain just to have you.”

“She said she used the epidural for me, that's why I'm her crazy kid,” Joey shrugged.

Steve laughed, remembering the toddler running nude through the summer night a few weeks ago claiming he was a bear.

“Well, she might not be wrong,” Steve laughed. “Did you have any questions?”

“Uhm...you told me pretty much everything before you sent me here,” Joey shrugged. “Just...is it---is it worth all that hurt?”

Steve smiled and pulled his son to him, kissing the top of his head and giving him an extra strong hug.

“You guys are worth everything and more, I promise.”

“STEVE!” Darcy wailed out in pain from the room as Bucky tried and failed to soothe her completely as she was wrecked with a contraction.

“Alright, go on, go back home. And really, when you're ready to take that step with your special someone, someday, _condoms_ ,” Steve advised. “See you soon, Joey.”

* * *

Steve loved watching little James sleep. But he really loved watching little James sleep on top of Bucky's chest as the man slept next to Darcy on the bed. Steve had already sketched the scene countless times in James' first three months of life. But here he was, twenty minutes until James would wake up for his three-am feeding, sketching the pretty scene again.

The familiar orange glow behind him didn't even cause him to flinch. He calmly turned around, wondering which of his kids had managed to find their way back to him this time. It happened so much, that he seriously questioned who was letting the kids run wild with their powers.

Joey had shown up nine days ago in the locker room while Bucky was still in the shower, five years old, naked as the day he was born claiming that he was a lion this time around as he used some serum-enhanced agility to scale lockers and walls.

A four year old Audrey had blipped to him three weeks ago, asking when he was going to be done with his mission cause it had been three whole days already and the monsters under her bed _knew_ that he wasn't there.

A nine-year-old James had shown up just yesterday asking what _fairies_ were and why were mean boys calling his Pop and Da that and why did Mom get upset when James got suspended for fighting with those mean boys, especially because a four-year-old Audrey had jumped into the fray, pounding on anyone who got too close to James.

Steve realized that the kids were showing up whenever the future version of himself had either purposefully sent them back (not very often), or when he was out on missions longer than twenty-four hours. Steve refused to complain about it, he'd rather they go to past versions of himself than transport themselves into dangerous mission scenarios.

And he loved his kids. He loved strong, sarcastic, foulmouthed little James. He loved sweet, witty and droll Audrey. And he loved silly, hyperactive, goofy Joey. He looked forward to their visits and stopped worrying about hiding them from both Bucky and Darcy now that baby James was here. The joy and wonder they felt for that baby would never lessen from having known him at twenty-years of age.

That night though, a very strong little hand smacked against his bicep.

“I'm really mad at you!” Audrey stomped her feet as she hissed her declaration. She was in a fancy party dress, and was probably eighteen years old. She wore a delicate corsage on her wrist, the flowers were glimmering and other worldly.

“Prom?” Steve wondered.

“ YOU AND POP HAD AUNT NATNAT HELP YOU TO SPY ON ME!” Audrey whisper-yelled. “And then you tackled Magnus to the ground when he  _ hugged  _ me, Daddy. His hands were barely on my shoulders!”

“Sorry, honey,” Steve offered as little James began to stir.

Audrey watched as Steve took James off of Bucky's chest and walked from the room with him. He brought the baby to the never used nursery (the baby had a bassinet by his parents' bed still, but often, he would fall asleep on the comfortable pec of Bucky or Steve). Steve automatically began changing his wet diaper, his body on autopilot at that point. Audrey futzed around in her tiny purse for a fancy looking piece of plexiglass that turned out to be a Starkphone and snapped several pictures of baby James in the nude.

“ Alright, James, you tell Daddy and Pop about my secret date with Magnus, then let's see what your precious Cassie Lang does with  _ this _ ,” Audrey smirked evilly. She fought against a smile as Steve finished diapering the baby and cuddled him close. “I'm still really mad at you.”

“Honey, I'm sure you have every right to be,” Steve nodded. “But you're my baby girl, even the son of a Norse God isn't going to be good enough for you in my book. I can promise you that me and your Pop are going to continue to be idiots until your mother smacks some sense into us or until you force us to walk you down an aisle.”

“I'm EIGHTEEN,” Audrey gasped. “I'm not walking down an aisle until I have my doctorate in biochemistry! Uncle Tony made me promise.”

“Oh good, I'm happy to hear that,” Steve reached for her and cuddled her in a quick hug. “Did Thor's boy tell you that you looked very pretty tonight, Audrey?”

“Yeah,” Audrey smiled, a blush coloring her cheeks. “He's a really nice guy, Daddy. I mean...he's _Thor's_ son. He's like...a genuine prince.”

“ Still not good enough,” Steve shrugged. “But when you get back, remind me and your Pop, that once upon a time in Brooklyn, an amazing time traveling girl decided that two idiots who weren't good enough for her, were still worth her time. And remind us that at least there's only  _ one  _ of Thor's sons.”

“Well, technically there are two, but I'm not a fan of Einstein,” Audrey shrugged. “He's like a human cannonball with no impulse control.  Seriously, he let's Joey boss him around.  Also, he's eight.”

“Jane Foster named her kid Einstein?” Steve chuckled. “I'm gonna put money on that someday.”

* * *

There was a day when Darcy recognized exactly who little James was.

“You little stinker!” she opened her mouth in surprise.

“Awww, fouw eyes, is okay,” three year old James giggled at her. He loved mimicking his Pop's speech and mannerisms.

  
  


Darcy knew for a fact that it would only get better with time.

And that's how she figured out that her child could control and travel through time without the help of the infinity stone and had used the stone to go back and hit on her in a museum.  She knew that Steve and Bucky had talked about it, along with a mysterious  _ Audrey,  _ so long ago when Bucky first came home, but she had hoped that the future kids would know not to visit her.  Because of wibbly wobbly timey wimey reasons.  Thor had hypothesized that wearing the stone and using it so much throughout her pregnancy had caused the powers to imbue upon the child.

Uncle Clint, of course figured out quickly that the boy could affect time. He volunteered often for babysitting duty and after one failed attempt at _Back to the Future II_ style sporting book shenanigans, he mostly just encouraged the boy to slow time appropriately so that various pizza places would have to give Clint the pies for free after a thirty-five minute wait time.

Natasha also began to aggressively condition the toddler to not freeze her in time, her pockets, purses and utility belt on the catsuit were constantly filled with candy, and James would receive it if he managed not to freeze her in time when he froze everyone else.

“How do you manage it?” Tony demanded, after the fiftieth time the toddler had frozen him and managed to get into his airbrushes, adding scribbles and doodles to the knees of all of his Iron Man suits.

“A magician never reveals her secrets.”

* * *

When James was three and a half, Darcy initiated a very quiet conversation with a very blunt,

“I want to get knocked up again. How do we feel about that?”

“I think James deserves a playmate,” Bucky shrugged, casting a quick, knowing look Steve's way.

“I'd like a little girl very much,” Steve whispered.

"Audrey, huh?" she gave Steve and Bucky a knowing look.  They both realized very quickly that she had read the transcript of that first, difficult session back in 2014.  She was a lot better at handling those time traveling secrets than they were.

“Four Eyes you know that what they did to me...James is a miracle, but...it can't happen again. Not unless you get a disguise and blip back to 1938 and rock my world,” Bucky said softly.

“ My kids are your kids. Just like James is our son,” Steve said resolutely. “We're a  _ family _ , Buck. Doesn't matter what the DNA says.”

“Okay....so I will go off the pill tomorrow,” Darcy said resolutely. “Which means in about a month, we should start seriously trying.”

“Darcy-girl, I hate to tell you, but I've been seriously trying once or twice every day now for the last couple of years,” Steve rolled his eyes. Being with Darcy and Bucky was an adventure and a half. The only thing more insatiable than one of them was when the both of them were together.

“ I”m just saying, that Bucky managed to knock me up on  _ one  _ try without a condom,” Darcy challenged. “Let's see what you can do.”

Audrey was conceived two weeks after Darcy was off of her birth control.

Steve wept in private after she told them. He had known she was on the way of course, he'd known for years at that point. But knowing and being able to talk about her with Darcy openly was a very different thing altogether.

“Daddy?”

“Audrey,” Steve smiled, turning away from his drafting board in the cabin where he was sketching what would be Audrey's nursery. He wiped away the remnants of his happy tears and he looked at her, only to find his tears starting up again. His little girl was all grown up, in her mid-twenties, and still pretty as a picture.

And she was dressed in a very beautiful white wedding gown.

  
  


“Don't cry Daddy, you were just crying when you sent me back here,” Audrey whispered, her own voice thick with tears.

“Is it at least Thor's kid?” Steve managed a smirk through his tears.

“ _ Magnus _ , Daddy. And yes, it is,” Audrey shrugged. “He's pretty good at following orders. And he's not gonna mind that I'm going to look this age for the next couple of hundred years...you know... _ Norse God _ .”

“Why did I send you back here?” Steve wondered. “Not that I'm ungrateful. You look beautiful, honey. Truly, amazingly beautiful.”

“You said today was one of the best days of your life,” Audrey shrugged.

“Yeah. It is. Today, I woke up in a warm bed, happy and safe and loved with your Pop and your mom,” Steve nodded. “And then, your mom took a test. And while your Pop was feeding James his mashed up bananas and cereal, your mom came back and told me...”

Steve's throat clenched up and he took a moment to find his voice again.

“She said you were on your way,” Steve said softly. “I've known about you for so long, I've seen you grow up into an amazing, smart, beautiful young woman, and now...now I know you're on your way. It's definitely one of the best days of my life. And walking you down that aisle today, that's going on the list too, Audrey. I promise.”

“I love you, Daddy,” Audrey grinned at him. “Thank you for always being here for me, you know...no matter when.”

“You know where to find me, whenever for whatever you need,” Steve nodded. He pulled her to him and squeezed tight, kissing her forehead. “I love you, Audrey.”

Steve watched tearfully as she blinked out of his sight and he began wiping at his tears again as he walked into the living room of the cabin as Darcy walked down the steps and Bucky was on the couch, his son sitting in his lap, staring up at him in chubby cheeked joy.

“Hey Stevie-boy, you alright?” Darcy gave him a concerned look as they met at the bottom of the stairs. She sighed in contentment when he lifted her up, cuddling her gently to his body. “Oh, it's cuddle time?”

“I just...I'm so happy,” Steve whispered. “When you first yelled out for me back in 1937...I had no idea what you would bring to me and Bucky. Didn't think I'd ever get to have you and Bucky and so much happiness it probably isn't fair for the rest of the world. And here I am, my best girl, my best guy...a crazy time traveling toddler. And a beautiful new baby on the way.”

“You deserve it, punk,” Bucky said resolutely. “You deserve it all and more.”

“Punk,” James repeated. “Punk Punk Punk.”

“That's right, that's right, I'm your punk,” Steve smirked at the boy. As soon as Darcy had figured out that little James shows up in 2014, she had told her supersoldiers the cheeky details. He pointed to Darcy and said, “Who is this?”

“A hot mama!” James answered back sassily.

“That's my boy!” Bucky laughed, throwing the child into the air, much to his delight.

Steve saw an orange glow from the top of the staircase and was unsurprised to see a nude three year old Joey beginning to climb the wood paneling. He was followed by a teenaged Audrey and a twenty-something James as they tried to reclaim the rambunctious boy, waving their silent apologies before blinking back out.

Steve shook his head and sat down on the couch with Bucky, pulling Darcy to sit in his lap. She put her head against his shoulder and gave him a wide, toothy grin. Taking his hand and putting it on her flat belly.

“I love you old bastards.”

“Hey! Watch your mouth around the baby!” Bucky scolded her, his hands covering James' small ears.

“HEY Yourself! You just taught him to call me a hot mama!” Darcy sniped back at him heatedly, despite the gentle embrace and calming touch of Steve's hands.

“It's funny AND it's true, Four Eyes,” Bucky explained patiently.

“Yeah, FOUW EYES!” James parroted.

“STOP TEACHING HIM STUPID THINGS, YOU MEATHEAD!” Darcy demanded angrily. She stopped in her angry dramatics to place a loving and gentle kiss on a smiling Steve's mouth before pulling away and going straight back to playfully teasing back and forth with Bucky.

Eventually, even little James had his fill of snarky play-fighting and he hopped off of Bucky's lap and ran towards the toy closet. Steve was getting repeatedly kissed by Darcy in between heated words with Bucky, but he could feel Bucky coiling up next to him and knew that if Darcy kept pushing, she was going to get thrown over his shoulder and hauled back to their bedroom.

“You're just mad cause you know I like it more when Stevie-boy does that thing with his tongue that I like so much,” Darcy taunted Bucky before going back for another kiss of a perfectly willing Steve's lips. He was used to being either of their pawns at that point.

“That's it,” Bucky growled, getting off the couch and reaching for her. She was up over the shoulder in no time, cackling with laughter as she relentlessly pinched his ass. “Taking our girl upstairs to remind her who is boss.”

“She is, Buck, don't be stupid,” Steve said calmly. He stood and swatted Darcy's bottom before saying, “I'm going to grab little James and we'll go down to the lake and throw rocks.”

When Steve went to the toy closet, James was pulling apart a little toy clock, piece by plastic piece.

“Tick Tock, Da!” James announced happily. His hands began to turn orange and Steve's eyes widened reaching out for the little man to stop him from zooming through time. He had only blipped out once before, after waking up from a nightmare, ending up on that plane with Bucky some time in the 1960's.

He'd come back five seconds after the glow had receded, so Steve supposed there was some kind of small mercy there. Still, it was a reflex he couldn't stop, wanting to keep his little boy right there, just in case.

For the first time, Steve was brought along for the ride.

Darcy was right. It felt warm and safe.

He and little James landed on a street corner in Brooklyn, and it took less than five seconds for Steve to realize it was 1937.

A smaller version of himself was standing across the street, with Bucky's left elbow resting on Steve's right shoulder. And cuddled up against Steve's left side was Darcy, dressed up properly in that spectacular blue dress he had picked out for her on her second day.

Darcy was chattering away happily at Steve, only to get interrupted every few words by a snappy phrase from Bucky. She'd turn her smile from Steve and scowl at Bucky and snap right back at him before going back to chattering back at Steve.

The smaller version of himself looked  _ euphoric _ . Then again, so did Darcy and Bucky. Steve felt himself getting choked up at the sight of them. Those three idiots had no idea what was in store for them.

“HOT MAMA!” James called out loudly.

Steve laughed and picked up James before hiding around the corner.

“C'mon, little man, let's go back home and I'll get you that candy you like so much,” Steve bribed the toddler easily.

“Buttewscotch?”James made sure he was getting what he was promised.

“Absolutely,” Steve grinned. He looked around the corner again and saw that Darcy had once again convinced him to sell her all of his newspapers and the blissfully unaware trio were walking off in the direction of the movie theatre. Darcy cuddled against small Steve, and Bucky with his hand gripped on Steve's shoulder. Definitely three blind idiots. They could have had everything right from the start if they'd wanted.

Steve felt that warm comfort come back as James blinked them back through time to the cabin and he gave a happy smile to the fading sight of 1937.

He cuddled the little man close to him, giving the boy a kiss on his cheek.

Things hadn't turned out so bad the way they had. He definitely wouldn't trade it.

* * *

The End

* * *

 


	26. If You Step Out that Door, You're an Avenger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: If You Step Out That Door, You're an Avenger
> 
> Summary:  
> Clint had a pretty great track record with bringing in people from the cold. But the power may have started going to his head after making Wanda an Avenger without permission.  
> Steve is pretty sick of the archer randomly telling people, places and things that they are now Avengers. But nothing annoys him more than Clint making Darcy Lewis an Avenger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Teen And Up Audiences  
> Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Category: F/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, Sam  
> Wilson (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Tony Stark, Nick Fury, Maria  
> Hill, Jane Foster, Thor (Marvel)  
> Additional Tags: fluffy cracky one shot that got out of hand, Clint is the Avenger Maker.  
> He makes Avengers, Steve is sick of Clint letting people into the  
> Avengers, based on a hilarious tumblr post, clint shouting Oprah style  
> "you're an avenger! You're an Avenger EVERYONE IS AN  
> AVENGER!", darcy is the most incorrigible incorrigible to ever  
> incorrigible and Steve loves it, so many flashbacks all the time  
> flashbacks, darcy and Bucky are avenging partners in crime  
> Stats: Published: 2016-01-27 Completed: 2016-02-22 Chapters: 5/5 Words:  
> 22617

 

** If You Step Out That Door, You're an Avenger **

* * *

Natasha liked to joke about how Clint liked to pick up strays.

The Black Widow had been the first, but certainly not the last person brought in from the cold by Clint.

There had been the dog, of course, who was a superhero in his own right according to Darcy. And young Kate Bishop was brought into the fold quickly after. He'd recruited countless top SHIELD agents, and they had proven loyal and true, not one of them succumbing to the HYDRA infestation. Even after the fall of SHIELD, Clint had a way of picking up the strays and dropping them in Maria Hill's office in the Avengers Tower.

Wanda had been the next in Clint's one man recruitment program, and Steve had given a hearty approval when the dust had settled.

Then Steve noticed that perhaps his approval and praise over Clint's actions in naming Wanda an Avenger preemptively had given the archer an overreaching sense of entitlement. Or perhaps Steve had just ignited the troll that lived within Clint that needed constant approval. Steve knew it was the troll thing. A troll could recognize their own kind, after all.

But after hearing Clint _seriously_ give the ' _If You Step Out That Door, You're an Avenger_ ” speech to a janitor, pizza delivery man, his infant son and a pigeon, Steve was near his breaking point.

But this was the last straw, really.

“Thanks for the fancy ass vanilla, Clint. And thank Laura for picking it up at the farmer's market for me,” Darcy grinned at her friend. “I'm gonna go make you those cookies now. I'll be back in like...forty minutes.”

“You bring back those cookies in less than an hour and you'll be legit saving my life,” Sam sighed from the couch he had landed on face first after his third training session with Rhodey that day. “A man wasn't meant to spend ten hours a day running defensive routes in the sky.”

“I'd hate to leave you down,” Darcy rolled her eyes at Sam's dramatics. She honestly didn't know how Natasha put up with the man.

“Darce. You're a hero, truly. You go and bake the ever lovin' shit out of those cookies,” Clint gripped her shoulders, staring down at her with an earnest honest look. “But know this, if you step out that door, you're an Avenger.”

”CLINT!” Steve barked out from the door. “Darcy is _not_ an Avenger.”

“The kid's got promise, Cap, give her a chance!” Clint argued.

Darcy leveled Steve with a small smirk and an arched eyebrow that Natasha had trained her to do whenever Steve needed to be brought down a couple levels. She shrugged off Clint's hands and walked towards the door, walking by Steve, turning and giving his uniform clad butt an appreciative glance before taking an exaggerated step outside of the door. She turned on her heel and shot tiny finger guns at Steve with accompanying _pew pew_ noises.

“Look at that, Cap. I'm an Avenger now,” Darcy grinned impishly, blowing him a kiss before skipping away.

Steve huffed out an annoyed breath before turning to glare at a grinning Clint.

“She's your responsibility now. Day or night, if she winds up in trouble, you're on call to bail her out,” Steve advised. He knew that troublesome, playful little Darcy Lewis was going to finally cure Clint of his Avengers recruiting.

And if the sour look on Clint's face was truthful. He knew that too. “ _ Shit _ , Cap. That's not fun.”

* * *

“BEEP BEEP AVENGER COMING THROUGH!”

Steve rolled his eyes as Darcy zoomed through the new Avenger's facility hallways on rollerskates. She gave him a slap on his ass before escaping towards Helen Cho's lab with a handful of paperwork.

“Outta the way Captain Tightbutt, I've got world saving documents to deliver!” Darcy cackled as she flew by.

The klaxons went off and Darcy skidded to a halt before pushing off a nearby desk to roll backwards to Steve to hear FRIDAY's alert. Steve crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave Darcy his best authoritative glare. She simply winked at him and listened in regardless.

“Possible alien weapon usage forty miles North of New York City, Captain. Mr. Stark and Rhodey are en route. The quinjet will depart from the facility in ten minutes,” FRIDAY helpfully relayed.

“I'm going to magnanimously sit this one out, at least until I get my cat suit in order,” Darcy grinned at Steve. She smacked him on his ass again and said, “Try to come back in one piece, Steve-o. I'll make you those brownies you like if you do.”

“ Really,  _ stay here _ , Darcy,” Steve ordered her sternly.

“ooohhh, Captain voice. Me likey,” Darcy waggled her eyebrows and went for another slap. Steve gave her a reproachful look and she grinned as her hand went for a firm squeeze instead of a slap. She then used her grip on him as leverage to push off and roll away again, calling out, “I'll be on the comms if you need my Avenging assistance.”

“Fucking Barton,” Steve huffed.

* * *

“Easy on the trigger, Darce. It's sensitive.”

  
  


“That's what she said,” Darcy snorted.

  
  


Clint rolled his eyes as Darcy messed with the crossbow he had set her up with for target practice at the range. When Steve had called him into the base, Clint had hoped it would be for a quick mission. Instead of pleasing violence, he had been given twelve hours of Darcy babysitting duty. Apparently she had gotten her hands on some repulsors (Tony was surprisingly in support of Darcy's Avenging) and Sam had caught her hovering around the track ten feet off the ground, scaring some of the baby agents with Wanda, both girls having the time of their lives. The Avengers had to assemble, and Steve didn't hesitate on calling Barton in so that Darcy couldn't chase after the action.

“That doesn't even make any sense, Darce,” Clint sighed.

“So's your face,” Darcy shrugged.

“You're stupid,” Clint huffed.

  
  


“So's your face,” Darcy repeated.

“Alright, stop playing, take your aim, let's see what you got, kid,” Clint turned her to face the targets.

“Why do I want to hit the targets?” Darcy wondered. “What's my motivation here?”

“Uhm...you're avenging a small child, those targets stole the kid's lollipop,” Clint offered her, not too mature that he didn't appreciate Darcy's fun games.

“Those bastards,” Darcy squinted and took aim.

“BARTON!”

“STEVE-O!” Darcy squealed, turning to the sound of Steve's bark. Her finger may have not been as easy on the trigger as Clint had wanted though, because the bolt flew from the crossbow directly into the fleshiest part of Captain America's right thigh. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers, “Wuh oh.”

“Are you _fucking_ kidding me?” Steve demanded, wincing in pain as he pulled the small wooden bolt out of his leg, holding his palm over his thigh to stop the bleeding while his body began to heal the wound. “Why on Earth would you give her a weapon?!?”

* * *

Steve shuffled into his quarters at the end of an awful day. The call to assemble had been due to slime. Sentient slime. He had had to change out of the kevlar suit into civilian clothes on the quinjet and that was why Darcy had managed to wound him when he went to check on her after landing. Clint had forced him to medical and then Steve had been tortured with three hours of paperwork for the assemble call and then an additional hour of paperwork for the Darcy incident.

Darcy had pre-filled the paperwork and had it on his desk by the time he was released from medical. It had been Form 2.a42b.1  _ Avenger on Avenger Violence Report. _

All he wanted to do was sit in his ridiculously large tub and soak for an hour before passing out face first in his bed. When he stepped into his bathroom it was to the sight of candlelight and a bubble filled tub with one Darcy Marie Lewis soaking in it, a big, gap toothed grin on her face.

“Finally!” Darcy downed a glass of champagne and placed the glass on the tub ledge. “I was afraid you would be doing paperwork all night, and I was starting to get pruney.”

She held up a bubble covered leg and pointed her non-pruney toes at him.

“I'm sorry I shot you, Steve-o. I would have offered to kiss it and make it better,” Darcy licked at her lips as Steve began to strip out of his clothes, letting them go in messy piles on the floor. “But you said no kissing around my fellow Avengers, so I sadly refrained.”

“Sweetheart, you're _not_ an Avenger,” Steve huffed, shucking his boxers before climbing into the tub, sitting down between Darcy's parted legs, not even caring that the heated bubbly water splashed onto the tile floor. He groaned as Darcy's little hands began stroking and kneading at his shoulders.

“But Clint said---”

“Clint's an idiot.”

“And you made Wanda an---”

“ Wanda has  _ literal  _ magic powers,” Steve cut her off again.

“Can I at least keep the cat suit?” Darcy wondered.

Steve groaned again, feeling plush and pouty lips kissing against his neck.

“Yes, you can keep the cat suit.”

* * *

“So, why don't I have to babysit Darce, anymore?” Clint wondered as he and Cap worked to secure a parameter around the recently landed quinjet. They were in the heat of the Nevada desert, working on taking down a Hydra base with the full Avengers team.

“She and I came to an agreement,” Steve said amiably enough.

“An agreement with each others tongues?” Clint guessed. He smirked at Steve's annoyed look and said, “She and Laura have girl talk. I eavesdrop. Congrats on making it six months without Natasha finding out.”

  
  


“I know, don't be stupid,” Natasha muttered as she walked off the quinjet, adjusting her weaponry. She gave Steve triumphant smirk. “Told you she was the girl for you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve rolled his eyes. “Let's do this.”

The fighting started pretty quickly and was fierce and violent. This HYDRA base was heavily occupied, the organization had been consolidating their human resources into a few large bases since a mysterious sniper had been taken out the smaller bases one by one. Steve hoped that Bucky would be done with his worldwide vengeance tour soon, Darcy had been stressing how important it was for her to meet him and make a good impression. Best friends were apparently the lynchpin to a successful relationship and Steve had already met and was close to all of her best friends, even though Natasha and Laura were the only ones who knew they were dating.

Steve was pretty sure that if Bucky didn't come in soon, Darcy was going to take it upon herself to go out and find him on her own.

“Wuh oh...guns and stuff.”

Steve groaned in frustration as he caught the shield off a rebound of a severely incapacitated HYDRA agent before staring back at the quinjet, where a cat-suit and rollerskating wearing Darcy was rolling down the ramp.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, marching back towards the quinjet, taking one lone HYDRA agent and tossing him bodily a half a football field away from Darcy.

“I was taking a nap in the supply closet,” Darcy shrugged. “It's cozy there, and I like the emergency blankets.”

“You could have taken the emergency blanket back to our place and napped there!” Steve barked at her, fully exasperated as he used the shield to cover the incoming fire.

“ _ OUR  _ place?” Tony asked through the comms. “CAP! Are you defiling my daughter without my permission?”

“She's not your daughter, Stark,” Steve grumbled, turning to her and putting a hand on her waist as he looked her over for signs of distress or injury. She only looked sheepish, but otherwise, unflappable as always.

“I adopted her on her twenty-fifth birthday, she signed the papers and everything!” Tony disputed. “She's my sole heir, you rotten ice pop!”

“Get back on the jet, Darcy, I'll send Clint to cover you,” Steve sighed, leaning down to kiss her quickly.

His one brief moment of preoccupation with her lips had an enterprising HYDRA agent rushing towards them, dangerous blue glowing gun of death and destruction fully charged and at the ready to aim for one Captain J America and his plus one to the mission.

“CAP! Your ten o'clock!” Sam shouted through the comms so loud that even Darcy heard it.

Before he could even lift the shield to toss it, a shot rang out and a bullet went through the head of the charging enemy, the body crumpling to the ground.

“Woah,” Darcy's eyes widened, looking away from the disturbing bloodshed. She let out an excited gasp, causing Steve to look down at her in worry that she had been inadvertently hurt. She turned in Steve's grasp to the direction of where the shot had come from and waved in excitement at the unseen sniper who had managed to camouflage himself into the desert landscape. “Hey Bucky! I'm Darcy! I'm totally banging your best friend's brains out and you know, dating the ever loving shit out of him in semi-secret. We should be buds!”

“On the quinjet, sweetheart,” Steve ordered her firmly, rolling his eyes when she smacked his ass before pushing off of him and going back on the jet. When she was safely out of sight he took a deep relieved breath before looking to the direction he knew Bucky was in and snapping off a thankful salute.

“Sorry Cap,” Clint sighed as he took up a defensive position by the quinjet's ramp.

“You're damn right you're sorry, Barton,” Steve grumbled at him. “I'm telling your wife!”

* * *

Darcy's small taste of the action hadn't really scared her off from Avenging. If anything, she picked up on her one woman crusade to become the third woman on the squad. When Steve would try to get her to see reason she would immediately come back with a litany of arguments.

_ But Steve-o, honey, sweetie, baby, HYDRA already saw you smooch me. I'm gonna be a target, might as well be a badass target. _

_ C'mon, Studly, Thor gave me a new taser, it's like the little sister of Mew-Mew. I knocked Vision on his ass at training yesterday. And Nat-Nat is getting me a custom made holster! I'm technically just as powerful as Clint now _ .

_Bucky Barnes has got my six, I'll be fine out in the field_ . _Don't be jealous, you adorable little stud muffin. I won't leave you for him. I'll just ask him to join in when he wants._

Thankfully they had a three month lull in calls to assemble, so Darcy's Avenger status didn't matter as much and unfortunately, Steve found her stubborn tenacity adorable, so there was little he wanted to do to stop her from attending team training.

And he really did like the catsuit on her. And the roller skates made it easier for him to snag her by the waist and kiss her as she zoomed around the track.

“FRIDAY, Can you tell me where Darcy is?” Steve wondered as he finished his paperwork early. He'd like to take his girl out for dinner and a movie if she wasn't too busy with the remodel of Helen Cho's lab space.

“I'm sorry, Captain Rogers. Darcy is not on site at this time,” FRIDAY announced. “She left the site this morning at 0800 hours, unaccompanied and has not been in contact since.”

Steve couldn't help but feel the gnawing in his gut. He had his phone out and dialed Barton's number immediately.

“Aww, Darcy, no,” Clint sighed. “What'd she do now?”

“You tell me, she's off-site,” Steve demanded.

“She's not with me,” Clint disputed. “LAURA! Have you heard from Darce lately?”

Steve waited impatiently as Laura shouted her response back.

“She hasn't,” Clint relayed. “I'll be there in an hour.”

“Make it quicker,” Steve gruffly ordered him. “FRIDAY, I need a call to assemble.”

The Avengers got to the assembly room and looked at Steve for the mission.

“Darcy's been missing for nine hours and hasn't checked in,” Steve revealed.

Natasha immediately whipped out her phone and began hitting buttons.

“I'm showing no signal on her trackers, they probably ditched her phone and ran her through an EMP field to fry the circuits,” Natasha pursed her lips in annoyance. “Jane is trying to get a lock on her mini-Mjolnir, we'll have the last coordinates in less than fifteen minutes.”

“Suit up and be ready to go,” Steve advised the team. His cellphone rang and he looked down at the phone to see Darcy's cutest kissing face looking back at him as the contact picture. He sighed in relief and answered the phone on speaker. “Sweetheart, where are you?”

“Oh hi! I thought you'd be busy and I'd go to voicemail,” Darcy chirped happily. “So....I went to town this morning to pick up some supplies, aka the specially made condoms, and these gross smelling dudes snatched me.”

“Are you alright?” Natasha demanded, truly worried.

“Oh sure, sure. If I would have known you had me on speaker phone with presumably all of my fellow Avengers in the room, Steve-o, I might not have talked about the specially made condoms. But oh well, guess what guys? The serum enhanced everything. Happy Birthday to me,” Darcy chattered happily.

“Darcy,” Steve interrupted her. “Where are you?”

“Oh I have no idea, neither does Bucky,” Darcy admitted. “But when I got here, they put me in a room and I tased a bunch of them and then Bucky took care of the rest. He said he'd stay with me till you got here, but then he was going to be a big scaredy cat and run away cause he's not ready to deal with your face yet and he still has his own avenging to do. But he totally called me a firecracker and said he approved of me as Stevie's dame. He said I was the second prettiest Avenger next to Natalia and the one with the wings, too. So SCORE!”

“I have her coordinates, fifty miles west,” Natasha looked at her phone. “We'll be there soon, Darcy. Tell James to stick around if you can.”

“I'll try, but he's a skittish kitten. He gives good cuddles though,” Darcy revealed. “Okay, he says it's time to zap more bad guys. I'll see you guys soon!”

* * *

When Steve jumped off the quinjet, rushing towards the small base that Darcy had been taken to, he swore he saw a hint of silver glinting off in the distance, rushing away. When he got into the warehouse like building, Darcy was sitting on top of a desk, hand on her mini-Mjolnir, her face bored and sleepy. She brightened when she saw him and held out her hands to him eagerly.

He sighed in relief before going to her and picking her up off the desk, cuddling her close.

“The suit is scratchy and not fun to cuddle against,” Darcy complained, burrowing her face into his neck anyway. “Bucky said see you soon.”

“I'll be sure to thank him when I do see him again,” Steve smiled softly. He looked to the corner of the room, where a dozen HYDRA agents were incapacitated and tied together expertly.

“I did the complicated knots,” Darcy revealed proudly. “Bucky said he would rather kill them, but I thought Natasha would like to question them some.”

“Nice job, Avenger,” Steve smiled at her, giving her a soft, lingering kiss. “But you're suspended from field work until further notice.”

“ Yeah, Bucky said I couldn't do field work until he came back in and could go out with me on missions,” Darcy nodded. She pursed her lips thoughtfully trying to remember what other message Bucky had wanted her to pass on. “OH, and he also said  _ It's about time the punk has to worry about someone jumping into danger headfirst. What goes around comes around _ . Then he laughed. He was super cute when he laughed.”

“Well...he's not wrong,” Steve sighed before rolling his eyes. The rest of the team had arrived and were taking care of Darcy and Bucky's captives. He carried her away to the quinjet, eager to get a look at her for injuries.

“So...we should really talk code names. I think I'll feel like a more official part of the team if I had a code name,” Darcy chattered away as Steve carried her away from her successful, accidental mission. “I like Thor and Janie's suggestion of _mini-Thor_ , but it might be hard to say in high action circumstances. I also like that Bucky called me a little firecracker, but it doesn't have anything to do with my special powers.”

“You don't have special powers, sweetheart,” Steve reminded her helpfully, walking onto the quinjet and placing her on the cot, going for the supply closet and grabbing one of her favorite emergency blankets and wrapping it around her.

“I can get you incoherent in less than five minutes, that's a fucking impressive special power!” Darcy disputed playfully. “Taser girl seems so....generic. Little lightning would be fun for the alliteration, but again, seems bulky for a code name.”

“How about this one?” Steve wondered, getting down on one knee in front of her on the cot. He went to his utility belt and pulled out a little ring box and opened it to reveal a lovely little silver ring with a delicate pearl on top of it. “Mrs. Captain America?”

“DAMMIT,” Darcy huffed.

Steve's eyes widened in surprise. He had been expecting a much more positive reaction. He and Darcy had been pretty serious for nine months now, after nearly a year of flirting-heavy friendship. Darcy sighed heavily before holding out her left hand and wiggling her empty ring finger at him. Steve shrugged his confusion off and gently pushed the ring on her finger before accepting her enthusiastic kiss. She pulled away and still wrinkled her nose in annoyance.

“Sweetheart...you don't seem happy, are you sure you want to say yes?” Steve wondered, getting up off of his knees and sitting on the cot with her, smiling gently when she hopped into his lap and cuddled against him again.

“ Oh, no, I'm  _ thrilled _ ,” Darcy promised him. “I'm super happy to make an honest man out of you. But---”

“But?” Steve coaxed out of her, kissing her neck.

“I just lost my first bet with Bucky,” Darcy admitted with a heavy sigh. “He said you'd propose in the next week and I said you'd wait till he came back or at least Christmas.”

“M'sorry, sweetheart,” Steve grinned down at her as she toyed with the ring on her finger. “Except, not really.”

“You two do realize that the comms are live, don't you?” Natasha wondered as she and Clint re-boarded the quinjet. She grinned at Darcy and and took a look at the ring Darcy waggled in front of her proudly. “Very nice.”

“I'm off the hook now, right?” Clint wondered. “I mean...she can be Barnes' problem now, right?”

“Fuck off, Barton,” Steve grumbled.

“Shit,” Clint sighed, taking out his phone and snapping a picture of the newly engaged couple to send to his wife regardless.

“CAPSICLE! YOU DIDN'T ASK PERMISSION!” Tony squawked over the comms. “You've wounded me!!!”

“She's not your daughter, Stark!” Steve grumbled back.

“Oh, hey, but you totally asked Thor's permission before he went to Asgard two weeks ago, didn't you?” Darcy perked up.

“Uhm...” Steve replied.

“Shit Steve-o, no, you gotta take it back for now,” Darcy pulled off the ring and held it out to him. “One, Thor will murder you, then bring you back to life with Mew-Mew then kill you again. Two, I'm an unofficial Princess of Asgard. You have to go on a quest before you can have my hand in honorable marriage. Three, Thor will legit murder you.”

“Are you---are you serious?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“As a heart attack,” Darcy nodded, kissing him fiercely to lessen the blow of their delayed engagement. “It's okay baby, you should be done with the quest by Christmas, and then I can say yes, and I can win my bet with Bucky. It's a win win win.”

“So, Mrs. America,” Clint wondered as he got the quinjet ready for takeoff. “You about done being an Avenger now?”

“Oh no, I'm just getting started,” Darcy promised. “I think Bucky and I are going to be able to do really great work together in the field. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an undercover mission where we get to pose as a married couple.”

Steve rolled his eyes and glared at Clint.

“I know, I know,” Clint sighed heavily. “My Avenger making days are done. I retire. We're good here.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Two: If You Sign This Paper, You're Darcy Marie Lewis Stark-Potts **

* * *

** December 2013 **

Pepper Potts had a love/hate relationship with children.

She would spend hours cooing over and admiring pictures of her friends' and coworkers' children. She had even been known to spend an hour or two chatting to or playing with a small tot or two. And she definitely loved _shopping_ for babies and children. She personally procured all baby shower gifts for all employees of Stark Industries.

But Pepper was not built to change diapers, attempt to feed, corral, bathe, or in any way provide constant care to a small human. It was bad enough she had to do all of those things to Tony Stark on a daily basis.

She and Tony agreed that babies weren't in their future. Tony's vasectomy at the age of 18 had especially agreed that there weren't any babies in their future.

And that suited Pepper just fine. She loved her life exactly as it was. Extremis or not, 2013 was already a great year for Pepper Potts.

She had just returned from a whirlwind nine day trip from Malibu, then Japan, stopping off in Paris before finally arriving back in New York, gliding through the tower towards Tony's workshop, intent on wrangling him into a quiet dinner upstairs instead of the five star restaurant he had texted her about a few hours ago.

“Pledge your loyalty to me, tiny bots! Darcy Marie Lewis is your new ruler! BEEP IF YOU AGREE!”

Pepper cocked her head to the side in amused disbelief at the scene before her. A short young woman, no older than 23 or 24, dressed in what could only be described as a footie pajama version of Captain America's uniform that dwarfed her small five foot three inch high frame. The girl's dark brown hair was wrapped up in Princess Leia style buns and small hands were fisted at her hips as she stared down at an assortment of Tony's little robots, including Dum-E and U.

The cacophony of beeps and and boops echoed throughout the workshop and Darcy clapped her hands together in delight. She bent over and opened an eco-friendly bag with a cartoonized version of the Black Widow on it and began pulling out knitted items and presenting it to each of the seven bots who had just pledged their loyalty to her.

“JARVIS? You with me?” Darcy looked to the ceiling expectantly after all of the robots were wearing scarves or little knit hats.

“Beep beep boop boop,” JARVIS replied dryly.

“ _ Excellent _ ,” Darcy cackled. She reached into her bag again and pulled out what looked like a bumper sticker. She went to the corner of the workshop that housed one of JARVIS server banks and slapped the sticker on.  _ Loyal follower of Darcy Marie Lewis _ .

Pepper knew that Doctor Jane Foster had moved into the tower shortly after the events of London, and with her, she had brought an assistant who had rapidly taken over supervising not only Jane Foster, but also Tony and Bruce as well. Pepper had never met the girl and had little thought of the her in the past few weeks, but had been impressed that Tony had gotten on something resembling a schedule.

“Wuh oh,” Darcy's eyes widened as she finally saw that Pepper was in the workshop with her. “I was not creating a robot army loyal to me and me alone. I swear.”

  
  


Pepper's mouth tilted upwards in a small smirk and Darcy sighed.

“I built a fail safe into their programming so that if anything ever happened to me, they would then pledge their loyalty to Pepper Potts, because when all else fails...Pepper Potts,” Darcy shrugged, saying Pepper's name as if it were an answer to all of life's problems. “Right JARVIS?”

“Indeed, Ms. Potts. Should our supreme Darcy ever fall, we would report to you.”

“Wuh oh squared,” Darcy's eyes widened. She shrugged and gave a hearty wave. “Hi boss! Pleased to meet you. I'm Darcy. Don't listen to Tony, I did not dye his goatee purple.”

“I never listen to Tony, Darcy,” Pepper assured her. She gave Darcy's attire a fond smile and said, “Stark Industries makes those pajamas in all of the Avengers' styles.”

“ Yes, but Captain America keeps the monsters away when I'm sleeping, and I also like wearing it around Tony because it makes his face twitch,” Darcy shrugged. “Clint said that Nat-Nat is working on unclenching Cap up enough to be in my company, and I eagerly look forward to the day where I can infuriate your beloved by my entirely warranted worship of that star spangled ass. Cause...really,  _ The Booty _ .”

Pepper laughed and shook her head. “Would you like to join Tony and I for dinner tonight, Darcy?”

“Uhm...I would really like to, but I already promised Thor that I would take him to an arcade and explain skeeball to him,” Darcy admitted sadly. “OH! We'll bring back an ice cream cake! Fudgey the Whale to welcome you home.”

“That sounds wonderful, Darcy. Thank you,” Pepper nodded, laughing as Darcy systematically accepted gracious bow-like gestures from all of the bots. “We'll see you later.”

* * *

“Why are my bots dressed for weather outside that is not so delightful?” Tony wondered as he brought bags of takeout towards the penthouse kitchen. His goatee was a fading shade of lavender and he had refused to talk about how it had ended up in such a state.

“Is she or is she not your biological daughter?” Pepper asked before she took a long pull of water off of her bottle.

“Oh, Darcy? Yeah, I thought she was too,” Tony nodded. “Rhodey did too for that matter. We both ran separate tests. Then Fury told me he had her tested years ago after Tall Blond and Godly landed in New Mexico.”

“And?” Pepper prodded.

“No, not mine. It was a real kick in the pants finding out. The hope was high cause she's got no family, her mother kicked it when she was like, two or something,” Tony shrugged. “Lived her whole life in an orphanage with some nuns, believe it or not.”

“No one ever adopted her?” Pepper furrowed her brow, helping Tony empty the takeout containers before grabbing them each a fork to dig in.

“Thor declared her his sister, she's an unofficial Asgardian princess now,” Tony shrugged. “Apparently she had some behavioral issues that put some foster families off of her.”

“She seems adorably sweet, if not a little...incorrigible,” Pepper frowned around a mouthful of curry.

“She got kicked out of her school at the age of eight for trying to start an uprising over the availability of chocolate milk in water fountains,” Tony grinned with pride as Pepper snorted with laughter. “She's a good kid. She's fun to have around and good at her job. I like the way she keeps Barton on his toes with all kinds of glitter related pranks. And Fury doesn't come around so much anymore since she's got some sort of life grudge against him. Methinks that Agent Pirate is secretly terrified of her.”

“Honk Honk! Fudgey the Whale is here to steal the show from your dinner!” Darcy announced gaily as she, Thor and Jane stomped through the penthouse, a few extra bags of takeout in hand along with a large pink box that presumably held a large ice cream cake. “JARVIS, can you let Barton and Banner and Rhodey know we have delicious ice cream shaped into a whale shaped cake! Also, I want to play pictionary, let's get that going. OH! Pictionary and Headbands hybrid! Mark that in my Darcy's future board game industry takeover folder.”

* * *

** February 2014 **

“YOU ARE NOT TAKING THAT THING AS YOUR DATE, YOUNG LADY!”

“HOW DARE YOU QUESTION OUR LOVE? YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER TONY!”

“YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL I TALK TO PEPPER!”

“JARVIS?” Pepper looked up at the ceiling as she walked into Tony's workshop, where Tony and Darcy were currently screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. The specially formulated klaxons that were used in the lab and the workshop when two or more individuals needed to stop what they were doing before hurt feelings developed chimed throughout the workshop. Darcy had developed the alarm after one too many Jane and Bruce arguments that had resulted in an accidental hulk out.

Hulk outs that Jane had  _ still  _ refused to back down from. And for some reason, Big Green was terrified of the tiny astrophysicist.

Darcy and Tony stopped screaming at each other, Darcy's hands full of a double sided, life sized cardboard cutout of Captain America, one arm around cardboard shoulders and one hand gently patting a cardboard ass reverently.

“Pepper? I can bring Cardboard America as my date to the Stark Industries Valentine's day party, right?” Darcy asked sweetly.

“Of course you can, it'll be a great conversation starter,” Pepper nodded.

Tony spluttered angrily as Darcy propped the cardboard cutout against Tony before rushing at Pepper with an eager hug and a butt slap. She then took her Cardboard America around his narrow waist and hauled him off happily muttering about going tuxedo bow shopping.

“Natasha says that Steve is staying in DC for the next three months,” Pepper said evenly to Tony. “Let her have her cardboard boyfriend until she gets a chance to meet him.”

“Yeah, and when she does meet him, he'll do his awkward dance of repressed emotion and hopefully she'll run for the hills,” Tony sighed. “Or maybe she'll talk about his butt enough that he runs away.”

“Sure, Tony, that'll happen,” Pepper humored him.

“He's too boring for her, they'll never work,” Tony huffed.

“Natasha thinks that they would match pretty well, actually. Something about Steve having a wickedly dry sense of humor,” Pepper reminded him. “And Natasha is very rarely wrong.”

“We'll see about that, let's set her up with the richest and most eligible men we know, someone has got to be a better match than the Capsicle.”

* * *

** June 2014 **

“Did you or did you not set Johnny Storm adrift at sea on an inflatable pink pool floatie with only a bottle of red gatorade and a fishing pole?”

Darcy looked up to Maria Hill, whose arms were crossed in front of her in annoyance as she stared down at Darcy on the couch in the common room, her lap covered in yarn as she knitted countless uneven scarves in the softest and brightest colored yarn she could find.

“Uhm...I don't...remember?” Darcy squinted as she feigned trying to remember.

Maria sighed, after the fall of SHIELD, she had happily settled in New York City with Stark Industries, until she had met Darcy Lewis, the reason for seventy-five percent of her paperwork. If Tony would stop trying to set Darcy up with anybody but Captain America, who was due back in New York in a matter of weeks according to texts that Sam had sent her, Maria felt that the incident related paperwork would ease up a little.

“I'm not mad at you, Darcy,” Maria reassured her. “I would be interested in knowing how you did it though.”

“Well, Tony thought that my appreciation for Cap was just about the looks, which duh, he's hot, but I'm not entirely superficial,” Darcy shrugged. “So he set me up on a date with Johnny so I would stop carrying Cardboard America around with me. And I didn't like the way he was walking around being slutty with Steve Rogers' face on him so ---long story short, a magician never reveals her secrets.”

Maria snorted. Cardboard America had been Darcy's longest running boyfriend at that point, she had been carrying him around for months.

“You'd think he would have learned after you sold that lab monkey he tried to set you up with to the yakuza,” Maria sighed. That had been a bitch of international paperwork to get through.

“His cologne was stinky,” Darcy wrinkled her nose in stinky remembrance. “And he refused to believe I have a robot army.”

“And the lawyer you duct-taped to the windows at the Good Morning America set?” Maria continued to fight back a smile.

  
  


“He said pizza wasn't actually a vegetable,” Darcy scoffed.

“Darcy, I need your help,” Maria admitted easily. “We need to get Tony to stop setting you up on blind dates, so that I can stop spending all my time filling out paperwork regarding all of these _Lewis_ Incidents. Will you help me?”

Darcy looked up from her knitting, seeing that Maria was serious and truly needed her help.

“I will help you, Maria,” Darcy promised. “But I can't promise I won't make you have even more paperwork when all is said and done.”

* * *

** July 2014 **

  
  


“I turn twenty-five in three weeks,” Darcy announced at the monthly Fudgey the Whale party in the Stark/Avengers Towers common room. The ice cream cake was on the table, and everyone that was tolerant of copious amounts of lactose were equipped with spoons and were rapidly destroying

“What would you like for your birthday, little one?” Natasha wondered.

Darcy grinned in a feral way and gave a quick jerk of her head to behind her place on the couch, where, like a cardboard angel, Captain America's likeness was standing vigil, despite all of Tony's glaring at it.

“I'm going to throw a bash,” Darcy decided. “You and all you hold dear are invited. Here. Three weeks from now.”

“Prepare to be arrested,” Jane snorted.

“I swear to Frigga, Jane, I got you arrested twice, you act like I get you arrested every few days!” Darcy huffed indignantly.

“You got me arrested four times in two years!” Jane disputed.

“You got yourself arrested those two other times,” Darcy insisted. “Plausible deniability, Janie. Live it love it learn it!”

“Seriously Darcy, what do you want for your birthday?” Rhodey asked. “Pepper in on a tour of Stark Industries' overseas facilities and can literally get you anything.”

“ Hmmm...” Darcy pursed her lips in thought. “If I'm not allowed Cap Butt, I always wanted a pair of roller skates. Also a body for JARVIS. But other than that, I can't think of anything. Life is nice right now. It's  _ good _ . I have my own little family of superheroes. What more could I ask for? You know aside from parents and stuff. Maria said I needed a firmer hand to keep me from risking national security. She said parents probably would have helped.”

* * *

Pepper arrived back in the States two weeks later and headed straight to Tony's workshop she was greeted with the sight of Tony happily tinkering away and bopping his head in time to the show tunes as Darcy ruthlessly directed her loyal bots in the practice of a musical number.

“U!” Darcy shouted out amiably. “You're coming in too early on the chorus. Please make sure you program yourself to fix it. Let's take it from the top!”

Pepper stood next to Tony, who gave her a quick kiss before they both went back to watch Darcy dancing around the spinning bots as she sang a jazzy song about getting a kick out of someone. Pepper laughed at the makeshift kick line before she pulled a file folder from her briefcase and handed it to Tony.

“Oh good, you got it all drawn up?” Tony wondered.

“Of course,” Pepper nodded. “Are you sure she's going to sign it?”

“I have a good feeling about it,” Tony shrugged.

Dum-E dipped Darcy for the finale and Tony and Pepper clapped for her as she and her loyal bots took their bows.

“Is that going to be a part of your birthday party?” Pepper wondered hopefully.

“Oh, no, we have a whole different number for the birthday party,” Darcy grinned. “More sparkly and stuff. You gotta haul out the big guns to impress Captain America.”

“You're going to sing Star Spangled Man with a Plan, aren't you?” Pepper gave her a lopsided smirk.

“ Tony wouldn't lend me the money to buy the rights. Instead I'm going with the the spoof version.  _ Star Spangled Can full of Spam. _ ”

* * *

** August 2014 **

Darcy had pulled together a party that had honestly put all Tony Stark's previous parties to shame. It had started on Thursday at noon and was still going pretty hard on Friday at seven when Natasha Romanoff walked in with an eager, wide eyed Sam Wilson and a wary, tired Steve Rogers. While the festivities had started small, it quickly grew. A Harry Potter movie marathon with all of Darcy's favorite foods, morphing into a sleepover and starting again the next day with a breakfast buffet along with a small army of masseuses, manicurists and hairdressers. Thor and Tony refused to leave during that part of the party, forcing Clint and Rhodey to stay and eventually admit that they really did enjoy it.

More and more people began filtering into the party all day Friday, and by the time Sam and Steve had arrived in the evening, a fog machine was on, JARVIS had started Darcy's programmed lighting sequence and the dance floor was full of happy, dancing people and a handful of bots.

“You owe me a dance, Romanoff,” Sam smiled at her. “You said if I could keep Captain America alive for two months, I'd get a dance, come on girl, no going back on it now.”

“Be sociable, Rogers,” Natasha advised the stiff and unyielding man before she allowed Sam to drag her onto the dance floor. “Go find the guest of honor and wish her a happy birthday! Date her a little, even.”

Be sociable. Like it was that easy to walk into Stark's place for a party where he knew less than a dozen people. Like it was easy to just forget the fact that his best friend had been tortured and brainwashed for decades and was currently leading him on a merry chase around the world. Like the Stark party wasn't filled to the brim with vapid, cloying, obnoxious people that would make him want to throw himself off of the building in a heartbeat.

Speaking of Stark, he was currently on the other side of the room, Pepper Potts by his side as the two of them handed a lovely wrapped gift to a small brunette, who eagerly tore into the package with an enthusiasm that reminded him of Bucky, funnily enough. Bucky always loved to get a present and had no patience for bows and wrapping.

The brunette across the room, who Steve guessed was the birthday girl, one Darcy Lewis, and who Steve quickly realized was quite a looker, all pretty soft curves in a blue gauzy party dress with a fluffy, swingy skirt, was bouncing up and down on the balls of her bare feet in excitement as she tore tissue paper out of the box and tossed it behind her haphazardly.

Darcy had once given him something sight unseen, delivered to him via Natasha.  It had been an incredibly sweet gesture.  He sighed when he realized he didn't have a gift for her, and realized he'd have to go out and get something in the next few days before he and Sam took off again in search of Bucky.

The contents of the box weren't very impressive, just a few sheets of paper and a fancy pen. The small brunette looked up between Pepper and Tony and Steve didn't have to read lips to understand that she had asked _REALLY?!?_ in complete shock. She quickly scribbled something at the bottom of the last paper and set it all aside before launching herself at Tony and Pepper.

Steve smiled softly at the sight of the diminutive brunette wrapping an arm around Pepper and an arm around Tony as she began jumping up and down in excitement. Tony was grinning ear to ear and Pepper actually had tears in her eyes.

Steve felt like he was spying on a private moment and looked away, ten feet to the right of the corner the trio was in, there was a table set up with a lot of speakers and sound equipment, a DJ's table, and standing behind it was one life-sized cardboard cut out version of Captain America, a bright red bow tie around his neck and a party hat on his head.

That was just obnoxious of Stark. Someone had to have told him that he'd be back at the tower that weekend. 

Even more annoying was that even from across the room, Steve could see a bright red lipstick mark on the cardboard facsimile of his face. He didn't know why that was the last straw, but he quickly made his way across the room and stormed up on the makeshift DJ table, one hand gripping his cardboard shoulder and one fist going into his cardboard face, knocking the head clear off.

“NO!!!!!!!!!!”

Steve's eyes widened as a small blue bur pushed past him and fell to her knees, her hand reaching for the decapitated head of Cardboard America, the other going for the body Steve had thrown to the ground.

“Stay with me, darling, don't go into the light!” the small brunette dramatically cried out. “I'll avenge you I swear!!!”

“STEVE! What did you do?” Pepper gave him a glare as she knelt next to Darcy and tried to soothe the girl over the loss of her cardboard significant other. “Oh Darce, it'll be okay, we'll get you a new one.”

“ No, it won't be the same,” Darcy sighed sadly. She bent her head and a pair of bright red lips went to the same mark that had incensed Steve moments earlier, matching up perfectly as she kissed his cardboard face. Steve managed to stifle a small squawk of surprise. The kiss mark had looked like it was done so often that it was practically... _ permanent _ . “Goodbye sweet cardboard prince.”

“Really?” Steve demanded, drawing Darcy's attention up to him. He gave her an incredulous look and repeated. “Really?”

“Murderer,” Darcy nodded at him coolly. “I'm going to make you pay.”

“I'm---I---it was cardboard!” Steve defended himself. He looked to a gleefully grinning Tony. “Is this some sort of joke of yours Tony?”

“No, this is my newly adopted daughter, Darcy Marie Lewis Stark-Potts,” Tony gave a Vanna White gesture towards Darcy as Pepper pulled her to her feet. “And now I never have to worry about you touching her. Happy Birthday, Dearest Sole Heir of mine. I'll buy you a new cardboard boyfriend. Or oh...are you SURE you didn't like Johnny Storm just a little? He's got a cardboard standup that has removable clothing.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Three: If You Know Darcy Lewis, You're in For a Good Time **

** June 2012 **

Nicholas J. Fury didn't notice it until the second time he had walked through the small showroom/astrophysicist lab on the day after Thor disappeared from the Earth. Erik Selvig had agreed to move to SHIELD's underground facility in the desert and offer his services with analyzing the cube. Doctor Jane Foster and Miss Darcy Marie Lewis were less than agreeable.

They were downright combative.

And the second time he walked through the showroom, he heard it. Soft music playing from a laptop speaker, growing in intensity.

The intern sat behind the screen, a sly smile growing on her face. She began humming along to the instrumental music, humming turning into _doo doo dah dah's_ and _bum bum bah bum's_ .

Fury was a busy man. He didn't have a lot of time to go to the movies. But even he recognized the music.

“ _Pirates of the Caribbean,_ really Miss Lewis?” Fury gave her a stern look.

“It's a very good soundtrack,” Darcy grinned flat out of him. “Very epic. Very pirate-y.”

“Clever,” Fury huffed before walking away again.

Throughout the day, the music followed him. He didn't know where she was hiding her speakers, he didn't know how she was following him. He only knew that for the next three hours, the song was following him. It would cut out when another agent approached, but would come back as soon as Fury was alone.

“I don't have time for this damned shit,” Fury huffed. “Let the girls go, keep a two person detail on them in case we need them.”

Hours later on the helicarrier, when the music was still playing on repeat, he allowed Maria to give him a pat down and found the microscopic wireless speaker.

He pointed a finger at Coulson and said, “Get a paternity test done on that kid. If she isn't related to Tony Stark, it'll be a god damned miracle.”

* * *

** July 2012 **

“You need down time, Barton,” Natasha insisted.

“So do you,” Clint argued.

“I'll get my down time eventually, you should enjoy this time at home with your kids,” Natasha insisted. “Let them and Laura ground you. When you're all better, you and I can go back out there.”

“Laura won't be thrilled at the idea of you going out alone, either,” Clint shook his head.

“I'll run some missions with Rogers,” Natasha shrugged. “He's an awful lot of fun to tease and he may be shit with a gun, but the shield and the super muscles have their uses.”

A squeaking sound of excitement came out of the quinjet's supply closet and Natasha tensed. They had just traveled two hours via quinjet to Clint's farm, and neither of the SHIELD agents had noticed another human being on board. The Black Widow drew her gun and had it trained on the door to the closet as Clint slowly opened it.

“Jesus, kid, what are you doing?” Clint demanded, pushing Natasha's gun towards the floor.

  
  


“Wuh oh,” Darcy's eyes widened at the sight of the gun and the very lethal hand it was attached to. She gave the Black Widow a tentative wave and said, “Howdy, I'm harmless, I promise.”

“Darcy Lewis, Foster's intern,” Clint explained to Natasha.

“She's actually been promoted to assistant with the Stark funding that was procured for further research,” Natasha revealed, always eager to one up Clint on the intel she had gathered. Darcy and Jane had come back from Norway and to SHIELD headquarters only to see that Thor had already left.  Maria Hill was currently working on getting them NDA's up again so they could go back to Culver.  “What are you doing in here, Darcy?”

“Napping?” Darcy shrugged. She held up an emergency blanket and said, “They're surprisingly very cozy.”

“I'll take her back, head on out,” Natasha nodded to Clint.

“Aw, come on, the kids will want to see you,” Clint shook his head. He looked down at Darcy with a pleasant enough smile. He already knew the answer to the question before he asked it, “Can you keep a secret?”

It turned out that Darcy could keep a secret. And she had quickly become Laura and Natasha's newest favorite thing, as well as a highly energetic babysitter for the two young children on the farm. Two weeks of downtime had been a godsend, Clint was able to recharge and recuperate with his family and Natasha was able to gain some kind of balance after the Battle of New York had essentially turned her simple world of espionage upside down.

There was something about watching two innocent kids learning how to tie complicated knots as Darcy encouraged them to secure her to a tree and  _ rage against the machine,  _ or Darcy and Laura innocently rapping along to the filthiest rap songs they could while assembling dinner, or Clint in a cuddle pile with his kids that really just set Natasha's world right again. They were on their last full day at the farm before Natasha would be forced to take Darcy back to Jane at Culver as they prepared to find their next big adventure. Laura, Natasha and Darcy were all sitting on a hay bale, laughing and mocking Clint's complete mechanical inability as he tried to fix an old tractor.

“So...when you said Rogers...did you uhm, did you mean, Steve Rogers?” Darcy wondered suddenly. “Like, Captain Steve America Rogers?”

“Yes, I did,” Natasha nodded.

“Will you do me a favor when you see him?” Darcy wondered. She hopped off of the hay bale and reached into her bright canvas bag, pulling out a long and uneven blue scarf. “Can you give this to him and you know, thank him and stuff?”

Natasha laughed and took the scarf and shrugged. “Thank him for what exactly, little one?”

“Uhm, my grandfather was one of those guys at that camp with his pal Bucky Barnes,” Darcy shrugged. “I totally wouldn't exist if he wasn't you know, a big damned hero and stuff.”

“Darce, it's July, do you really think he needs the scarf?” Laura giggled as she pet the uneven, but very soft ends to the scarf.

“Well, I don't think he'd want the hat,” Darcy shrugged. She had just ' _mastered'_ scarves, her hats were more like uneven circles that you draped on your head. “Also, will you please tell me what his butt feels like? I'm going to need a lot of descriptive adjectives and also a few metaphors.”

The older women cackled and Clint looked up in curiosity.

“I'll do my very best.”

* * *

** December 2013 **

“HI! YOU LOOK FRIENDLY, I'M DARCY AND MY FRIEND JANE WILL BE RIGHT OUT SHE'S ARGUING WITH SOMEONE IN CUSTOMS ABOUT HER DOOHICKY CAN YOU PLEASE HOLD THIS THANK YOU!”

Happy grabbed the bags Darcy handed to him with a smile.

“Our ride should be here soon, and I think we're going to need a quick getaway, so I'm going to save him this space,” Darcy nodded, digging in the purse she had handed the man and taking out a large, chubby piece of sidewalk chalk. She began drawing a big box on the pavement by the curb at the airport and wrote

** RESERD **

“Damn, not enough room. Oh well, they say most people process letters quick and read what they want to read anyway,” Darcy shrugged. Jane stormed out of the doors to the airport, a panicked look on her face. “Wuh oh.”

“WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE! I MAY HAVE JUST ASSAULTED A CUSTOMS OFFICER!” Jane shouted. She looked down at the personal parking space that Darcy had drawn on the pavement. “Darcy, you spelled it wrong!”

“I RAN OUT OF ROOM!” Darcy shouted back at her. She pointed back to the door and screeched “COPS!”

Happy watched helplessly as both women were arrested. Jane for assault and Darcy for disturbance of the peace and defacing public property and resisting arrest (she went boneless and crumpled to the pavement yelling out  _ My strings have been cut! _ ). He managed a call to the only person he thought could help, the very person who had sent him to pick up the arrested ladies from the airport.

“What've they done now?” Natasha wondered in a bored tone.

“Gotten arrested?” Happy shrugged.

“I'll be right there.”

* * *

** August 2014 **

“My heart is broken.”

“He was cardboard, little one,” Natasha reminded Darcy helpfully.

“He was the only man to have ever loved me, cardboard or not,” Darcy sighed as she cuddled across the couch, and subsequently both Sam Wilson and Natasha. Her legs were in Sam's lap and her head in Natasha's as she morosely mourned for the loss of her Cardboard America boyfriend.

“ You do know that the killer of your one true love was  _ actually  _ Captain America, right?” Sam wondered

“It makes the heartbreak more complex,” Darcy nodded sagely. “It's like a tragic multiple dimension romance where the evil Captain America kills the _good_ Captain America and leaves the woman widowed and tragically fighting her attraction to the evil guy that share's her amazeballs sweet Cardboard Prince's face.”

“He pouted about it for the rest of the weekend, if it's any consolation,” Sam offered.

“No, he's a murderer,” Darcy shook her head, still unable to hide the pleased smile on her lips. “A murdering murderer who brutally beheaded my beloved.”

“Again, he was cardboard,” Sam laughed. “How do you do the dirty with cardboard?”

  
  


“The paper cuts were totally worth it,” Darcy sighed.

“Miss Lewis.”

  
  


Sam and Natasha turned to smile at a newly arrived Steve Rogers, who had a box wrapped up in shiny red paper and a big, complicated looking white bow.

“Captain Murderer,” Darcy nodded curtly before grabbing a pillow and placing it over her face.

“I---I wanted to apologize for...ruining your poster of me,” Steve struggled with the right way to apologize for the absolutely absurd. “I thought Tony was playing a prank and overreacted. Anyway, I owe you for the loss of your...cardboard, and also, I wanted to give you a belated birthday present.”

Darcy continued to hold the pillow over her face with one hand but held out her other hand palm up. Sam and Natasha shared a smirk as Steve gently placed the medium sized gift box in her hands. When she didn't do anything else he nodded and gave his other two friends a wave before walking away, missing the way Darcy peeked around the pillow on her face to watch his rear end on his way out. He did linger in the hall however, so he could watch as she bounced on the couch to her knees and began to viciously tear into the wrapping and bows with infectious enthusiasm.

“So adorable,” Natasha muttered fondly as Darcy squealed in excitement.

“Captain Ameri-pillow!” Darcy giggled as she cuddled it close. It was a rectangular pillow, as wide as Darcy's torso, making it the perfect size for her to wrap her arms around. Airbrushed on to the plain white pillow was an overly adorable, cartoonish version of Captain America, complete with a little cartoonish shield. “I'm gonna cuddle you so hard! I'm going to save so much money on bandaids now!”

“Seriously, the _real thing_ JUST gave it to you, you could cuddle him and maybe I'd get an extra day or two of downtime,” Sam rolled his eyes at the girl he had met two days ago, but already considered close enough to tease mercilessly. He gave an unimpressed Natasha a wink, “Maybe I could work on getting a cuddle or two of my own, then.”

  
  


“Oh no, I wouldn't keep him here, he has to go find Bucky,” Darcy waved off Sam's words. She cuddled the pillow to her ample chest before holding up a finger as she remembered something. “Oh, you have to do me a favor!”

“I can't take you seriously while you have cartoon pillow Steve's face in your boobs,” Sam rolled his eyes, getting a smack upside the back of his head from Natasha.

Darcy scurried off the couch, pillow still against her chest as she went to the closet she used for storage in the common room. She tossed out several boxes and a few bags full of party supplies before finding what she wanted, a little silver gift bag with red stars on it. She handed it to Sam with a flourish. He peeked around the copious amounts of tissue paper and saw a bunch of red yarn knitted into what he assumed was a very long, uneven scarf.

“You should just leave that somewhere where he can get it,” Darcy nodded, cuddling her pillow close.

“Steve has a blue one like that,” Sam smiled slowly. He had thought it pretty odd that Steve always carried a blue scarf around in his duffle, even during the summer heat.

“I know right, TWINSIES!” Darcy grinned. She squeezed her pillow again and said, “Me and Captain Ameri-pillow are going to get better acquainted. OH! I need to go buy a baby sling so I can have him cuddled against my boobs all day. See you guys at fudgey the whale night!”

* * *

** October 2014 **

“You need to do me a favor.”

  
  


Sam and Steve looked down at the phone they had on speaker, shocked into silence at the unusual request from the Black Widow.

“Uhm...sure?” Sam managed to answer.

“Darcy and Jane need to be extracted. They are currently about fifteen minutes away from your camp.”

Sam nodded in understanding. Natasha only called in favors where Darcy or Clint were concerned.

“Darcy is in Ireland?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Jane needed to check out an anomaly and they flew over yesterday,” Natasha revealed. “They've found some trouble.”

“HYDRA?” Sam asked when Steve couldn't say anything in response, just clench his jaw in absent worry and concern.

“Not quite,” Natasha sighed. “I'll send the coordinates. You're going to need something to break through concrete and you're going to need to be silent about it.”

An hour later, Sam and Steve were standing in front of the concrete wall of a small local police station, where Darcy and Jane currently were incarcerated.

For public drunkenness.

In _Ireland_ .

“NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE I'VE SEEN!”

And they were still pretty intoxicated by the sounds of their off key singing.

Steve sighed and allowed Sam to boost him up to be level with the iron bars on the window that the girls were currently being held behind. He knew that he and Sam were _really_ breaking the law right now, but he couldn't let Darcy and Jane sit in the cell all night and then possibly face even more repercussions for things they probably _did_ do wrong. He'd heard the stories straight from Darcy's lips, she managed to get into a lot of warranted trouble, especially when Jane was involved.

Still, he couldn't see  ~~~~ ~~ Darcy  ~~ them be punished, even if  ~~~~ ~~ Darcy  ~~ they did deserve it.

The little building was old, and it reminded him of the police station Bucky and Dum-Dum had been held in in 1944 after being arrested for public nudity on the streets of London. Steve gripped the bars in his hands and pulled, yanking the metal right out of the old stone. He'd gotten four bars off before Jane noticed and stopped singing, patting Darcy's arm insistently.

“ STEVE-O!” Darcy squealed in delight, getting off of the little cot she and Jane had been cuddled in. “I swear, we weren't being naughty, it was just a few too many libations and a guy who grabbed Janie's butt and then my glorious sideboob, and he  _ totally  _ deserved to get socked right in the face so that's what I did. Then I hit him with my purse. In the crotch.”

“C'mon ladies, let's get you out of here,” Steve sighed, reaching down for Jane first, pulling her out of the window and putting her down on the ground next to Sam. He then went back for Darcy and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her from the window, then proceeded to wrap her legs around his torso and squeeze as tight as she could. He managed to stumble out of the boost Sam had provided, and gave them all a smile as Darcy clung to him like a howler monkey. “Let's get out of here.”

* * *

** May 2015 **

When the dust settled after Ultron, and Darcy made her way into the rapidly built new Avengers Facility in upstate New York, she grinned at the wide expanse of smooth hallways and immediately went to her suitcase she had been hauling around since the Tower had been evacuated on the night of Ultron's attack. She pulled out her roller skates and replaced her sneakers with them before carefully going to her feet and pushing off down the hall.

Jane and Thor had gotten her the skates on her twenty-fifth birthday, but Avengers Tower wasn't exactly roller skate friendly and while she had enjoyed having Thor pull her around Central Park whenever they got the opportunity, she would be happy to make better use of the gift in the new facility.

“Darcy!” Steve called out from the end of the hall, a fond, relieved smile on his face. She rolled right into him, smacking into his immovable body, the wheels on her feet making her tall enough for her mouth to hit the very lowest point of his neck. He wrapped her up in a tight hug and gave a relieved sigh, “I'm glad Sam got you out of the Tower in time.”

“Yeah, it was good he needed sad guy ice cream about his stuff with Nat-Nat that night,” Darcy nodded. “It was fun to go and sell his place in DC and then have fun Darcy Sam adventures which only resulted in one arrest while you know, you almost got yourself killed a bunch of times with killer robots. If Brucie and the Dadinator had told me what they were doing, I could have made Ultron pledge his fealty to me.”

“Sorry,” Steve finally let go of his hold on Darcy and looked down at her with a sheepish expression. “All's well that ends well?”

“ Hmmm, we're going to have to discuss the definition of the word  _ well _ , later Steve-o,” Darcy wrinkled her nose at him. “So, Sammy said that Tony gave JARVIS a body, finally.”

  
  


“Well, yes, but he's a little different,” Steve admitted. “Would you like to go meet him?”

“Lead on, Steve-o!” Darcy nodded, gripping the back of Steve's shirt and allowing him to pull her along on her roller skates.

He led her to a half-constructed common room, where Vision and Wanda were staring down at a pepperoni pizza in curiosity. Darcy finally let go of Steve and rolled past him to stare down at Vision in curiosity.

“Where does your loyalty lie?” she demanded without any preamble.

Vision looked up at Darcy with the same curious expression he had been using on the pizza. He focused on the roller skates on her feet first, realizing why there was a difference in her height that he had previously noted in her file. He looked back up to her gently smiling face and nodded at her in remembrance before the closest thing he could get to a smile came across his face.

“Beep beep boop boop,” Vision answered.

“Excellent!” Darcy rushed forward and gave him a hug. “Things are going to be so much more fun now that you have a body.”

“Great,” Steve sighed from the door.

Darcy grabbed a slice of pizza and took a huge bite before smiling at Wanda with her mouth full.

“I like your jacket,” Darcy complimented the morose girl through her mouth full of pizza. She tilted her head to the side and said, “Hey, I got the same jacket for Nat-Nat.”

“She's borrowing it,” Vision replied. He nodded to Wanda and said, “This is Wanda, Clint has made her an Avenger.”

  
  


“   _** WHAT?!?!?! ** _  ”  Darcy stamped her foot, forgetting that she had roller skates on. She was heading down fast and she comically windmilled her arms before Steve was by her side and righted her again with a hand around her shoulders. “Thanks Steve-o. And WHAT THE HELL? No offense Wanda, I bet you're awesome, but Clint can make people Avengers? I WANT IN.”

“Absolutely not,” Steve said gruffly, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

“Don't hide my rainbow under a barrel, Steve-o!” Darcy grinned up at him before turning back to her pizza. She looked to Vision and Wanda, who were following her lead and taking bites of their own slices. She gave Wanda a careful look before asking, “So...Wanda...where do your loyalties lie?”

Wanda gave a questioning look to Vision before very carefully chewing and swallowing her pizza and looking back up at Darcy, who still had Steve's arm around her shoulders.

“Beep beep boop boop?” Wanda said very quietly.

“SO CORRECT!” Darcy jumped on her feet again, Steve having to keep her from falling by holding her close. “We are going to have so much fun.”

“Son of a bitch,” Steve cursed under his breath. He was in charge of the facility now, and Darcy would live at the facility now. He was happy about that, he'd known Darcy almost a year now, and despite a bumpy start, they were close friends.  In no small part to breaking her out of an Irish prison and spending quite a bit of money on Captain America merchandise for her (her favorite was the small Captain America Potato Head).   He had always found her fun antics endlessly amusing. He'd also found her pretty face endlessly gorgeous. And he had always found her tendency of slapping, pinching, leering at and groping his ass endlessly fun.

But their current situation meant that Darcy's fun antics were going to become his full-time headache.  With no constant Pepper Potts influence to barely ground the girl, and two super-powered Avengers (so far) swearing their fealty to her, Steve was going to have to get creative in his ways to keep her in check before she rushed headfirst into trouble.

Somewhere in the world, Bucky Barnes was laughing at him.

* * *

** November 2015 **

It had at least taken Darcy six months to cause any _major_ trouble. Steve got the call from the nearest town's police station to his personal cellphone.

  
  


Rule Number One in being friends with Darcy Lewis, if you get a call from an unknown number, you always answer.

“Hey Steve-o!” Darcy chirped in his ear. “How do you feel about a little song and dance monkey show to get a couple of your favorite girls out of the slammer?”

“What'd you do this time, sweetheart?” Steve asked sleepily, checking the clock next to his bed. It was 2:25 in the morning.

She'd have to forgive him for the slip in the term of endearment. They'd been dancing around each other for six solid months, their flirting increased, and Darcy had been more physically affectionate with him than her Captain Ameri-pillow when they had their private movie nights. Natasha had surveyed the whole dance the two of them had been doing with a smirk and had advised Steve that she had told him back in 2014 that Darcy was the girl for him.

“Well, Jane, Helen, Wanda and I went to go shopping for Thanksgiving dinner,” Darcy explained helpfully, not one ounce of remorse in her tone. “And you know they always keep all the good turkeys in the back, so we may have gone back there.”

“And?” Steve prompted.

“ And we may have found their forklifts and then  _ may  _ have engaged in relay race with each other in their dairy section,” Darcy sighed. “I  _ may  _ have won, if it matters.”

“It doesn't,” Steve assured her. “I'll be there in half an hour. Will I need a check for bail money?”

“No, just get your star spangliest suit on and bring the shield, I think you can wow them into releasing us. And that way I won't let Wanda witchy woman our way out of this. Good Ole Captain America charm will be enough,” Darcy advised. “Especially if we all pretend to be part of your harem.”

“I'm _not_ pretending to have a harem, Darcy,” Steve assured her. “See you soon, don't try anything stupid.”

“I'm 10000% awesome and smart all the time, Steve-o. I'm short, there isn't any room left in me for stupid,” Darcy insisted. “Okay, see you soon, love you, bye!”

Steve stared at his cell phone for a full minute after Darcy hung up, his brain stuck on the whole _love you_ of it all. Finally he shook himself out of his stupor and went to put on his brightest, most red white and blue uniform, grabbed the shield and headed out in the biggest SUV he could find in the facility's garage. Big enough to fit himself and four possibly overly hyperactive brilliant women who had just spent the last few hours in a jail cell.

The ride to the nearest town took thirty-five minutes, and Steve had a lot of time to think all the way there.

He liked Darcy Lewis. A lot. A heckuva lot. One might even make the observation that he was  ~~~~ ~~ ninety-two percent  ~~ halfway in love with the incorrigible, insane, curvy ball of fun.

She'd come into his life at a dark point and she had poured as much incorrigible, hyperactive sunshine that she could down his throat whether he wanted it or not. Her existence and relationship with him was a reminder that he didn't have to be fighting and serious and dour all the time. That he could have fun, even if that fun was just watching her be  _ her.  _ Natasha had been right, of course, Darcy was perfect for him. Not that he'd be letting Natasha know that any time soon.

First he had to get her to agree to date him.

Well, actually, first he had to get her out of jail.

It had been surprisingly easy, he'd walked into the police station smiling sheepishly, feeding them a line about sending the girls out to find fixings for Thanksgiving for the hungry soldiers back at camp. He then shared a laugh with the officers over the antics of the ringleader. Apparently Darcy had tried to organize a prison riot consisting of her three companions and the one lone senior citizen in the drunk tank.

“Just don't let her out unaccompanied anymore, Captain,” the supervising police officer warned. “Gotta keep that much mischief on a tight leash.”

“Don't I know it,” Steve smiled. The four ladies were led out of the police station one by one, and Steve couldn't believe it, but as each woman walked out of the door he was standing at they gave him a lingering hug and a healthy squeeze of his ass before making their way to the SUV out in front of the police station. Darcy was last and by her grin, he knew that she was trying to give the _harem_ theory credit.

“Steve-o! I missed you!” Darcy grinned as she threw herself in his arms and cuddled against him. She gave a little pleased squeak when he wrapped her up in an embrace and picked her up off of her feet so that his lips were against her ear.

“There are conditions to your release, ringleader of crime,” Steve whispered softly.

“I will not be held down by the man,” Darcy warned him in a tickling whisper against his cheek.

“I'm supposed to keep you on a tight leash,” Steve revealed.

“Kinky,” Darcy giggled.

“I think the only way I'm going to keep you out of trouble and prison is to date you,” Steve advised her.

“Smooth,” Darcy rolled her eyes as she pulled away and leveled a dubious eyebrow his way. “Cardboard America and Captain Ameri-pillow have way more game than that.”

“Darcy,” Steve smiled at her, before letting his lips brush against hers very gently, “Can I call you mine?”

“Waaaaaaaaaaay better,” Darcy grinned before smashing her lips against his. She pulled away with a thoughtful look. “So much better without the paper cuts. But we should probably keep this under wraps for now, Tony'll definitely have a cow that you're dating his daughter. And let's not talk about what Thor wants to put my prospective suitors through.”

“ So long as you're mine, sweetheart, I don't care what kind of games we have to play,” Steve grinned, placing her down on the ground so they could walk to the car and not get caught immediately by the rest of the  _ harem _ . He grinned down at her and wondered, “So, am I forgiven for murdering your cardboard boyfriend?”

“Oh, no, not at all. Cardboard America will be avenged someday, but don't dwell on it,” Darcy reached around and grabbed a small handful of his uniform clad ass. “You can't do anything to stop the revenge I put in motion years ago, Steve-o. Just take the punishment when it inevitably rains down on your head.”

“ _ Great _ .”

* * *

* * *

** If You Mess with Darcy Marie Lewis Stark-Potts, You Mess with Bucky Bear **

* * *

“Steve-o.”

…

“Steeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebe.”

…

…...

“ Cap. Cap. Cap! Cap!  _ Cap!  _ Caaaaaaaaaaaaappy capperson Cap!”

….

…....

“Pay attention to me. You know what happens when people ignore me.”

…..

…........

…...............

“Is this because of my avenging of Cardboard America? It's been eighteen hours since that happened, get over it already, Steve-o.”

Steve looked up from his paper work and gave his almost fiancée a withering look of exasperation.

“Would it help if I said I was sorry?” she wondered, her nose scrunching up in distaste at the idea of saying sorry.

“Are you?” Steve rolled his eyes.

“Not particularly. My cardboard prince has finally been avenged. I feel at peace,” Darcy shrugged. “Now we can move on and you can ask Thor for the quest and we can get married.”

Steve snorted and shook his head, going back to his unnecessary paperwork.

“But...I _love_ you,” Darcy gave him her best pout and big sad, loving eyes combo. It was usually super-effective. She didn't even have to lie or act at all, she _was_ sad that Steve seemed to want to dismiss the idea of marrying her now.

“ He was cardboard and it was  _ years ago, _ ”  Steve said shortly. “I really didn't deserve what you did. I'm very angry with you right now, Darcy. And no, you can't just pinch my butt and make this better.”

“So singing the national anthem is not going to work either?” Darcy asked, her mouth valiantly trying not to smile and failing miserably.

“Darcy, I love you,” Steve sighed. He pointed to the door, “Get the hell out of my office.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Darcy huffed a dramatic sigh. She pointed an accusatory finger at him. “I have avenged my first true love, and I wouldn't change it. Just know you're sending me away out of anger with no kiss and no butt fondle and you're going to _totally_ be sorry about it later.”

Steve huffed out a breath as he watched her skate away. With what she had managed to do to him, on national television, no less, he doubted he would be sorry about anything for a long, long time. As a matter of fact, he was half-tempted to go and buy a couple dozen cardboard cutouts of himself and then punch their heads off in front of her.

It really was that bad.

“Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY interrupted his vivid thoughts about decapitating his cardboard head from his cardboard body.

“Yes, FRIDAY?” Steve sighed.

“You asked me to inform you if Darcy made an unscheduled trip off base. She left the base five minutes ago and is not carrying a cell phone, tracker or any of her weapons,” FRIDAY announced.

Steve huffed a sigh. He knew it was just her trying to get him to forgive her quicker by putting herself into danger. It would usually have worked very easily on him.

“Keep a scan on local police bandwidths and let me know when she gets arrested.”

* * *

Darcy had sped away from Steve's office and gone straight to her crafting closet she shared with Wanda and Clint. Thirty seconds later she was speed skating towards the track, holding up a sign.

_Steve-o is mean-o! Can Bucky come out to play_ ?

By the time she had switched out her roller skates for sneakers, a silver glint caught her eye on the edge of the forest. She grinned and took off at a sprint, leaving her roller skates behind. He was leaning against a tree fifteen feet into the woods, and she knew without a doubt that he was outside of view of any and all surveillance cameras.

“What'd the punk do now?” Bucky gave her a small smile, his voice sounded rough with disuse. Darcy seriously wondered if he had even used his voice since the last time he chatted with her after the last time she was kidnapped five weeks ago.

“He wouldn't accept my apology,” Darcy shrugged.

“For the baseball game?” Bucky wondered. Then snorted with real, genuine laughter. “Doll, how'd you manage something like that, anyway?”

“ The National Anthem has a very specific rhythm,” Darcy shrugged. “If you duplicate the rhythm repeatedly during... _ specific moments _ . Well, let's just say it's not hard to train the human body into having very  _ specific  _ responses.”

“ Doll, before they finished singing  _ Oh say can you see _ , Captain America was fully erect,” Bucky laughed. “The chatter through the bad guy grapevine is that he's very patriotic and  _ really  _ loves his country, and that they might start playing that song before the beginning of every battle.”

“He killed my Cardboard America on my 25th birthday!” Darcy huffed. “He totally deserved to be conditioned in to getting an erection whenever the national anthem plays.”

  
  


“Sure,” Bucky nodded.

“But now he's mad at me, and refuses to forgive me,” Darcy sighed.

“That sounds like him,” Bucky gave her a sympathetic shrug.

“And he's totally going to dump me now,” Darcy pouted miserably, going full _Eeyore_ in no time flat. While Darcy was usually a ball of irrepressible sass and fun, there were definitely times when she flipped like a coin and became obstinately mopey. The idea that she'd finally driven Steve away with her shenanigans definitely put her into mopey territory.

Bucky didn't like it one bit.

“ Now, you know that's just not true, little firecracker,” Bucky shook his head. He dusted off his most charming smile and bent at the knee so his face was almost level with hers, giving her the full force of the smile that had decimated countless dames and fellas in Brooklyn back in 1941. She blushed, her eyes widened and her hand automatically began fanning her face. He chuckled.  _ Still got it _ . “And if he does, I'll come back and make him pay.”

“Can we go on an adventure?” Darcy wondered hopefully. “You know...to take my mind off of things?”

“Sure, doll, I've been watching you. You seem to have a good hand with scientists,” Bucky smiled at her. “There's a few scientists I'd like to be handled.”

“Darcy and Bucky's Avenging Tour 2016 begins!” Darcy jumped up and down in excitement. She linked her arm through Bucky's left before gesturing to her custom made catsuit, “I've got my Avenging costume, but should I go and get my skates?”

“Nah, I think you'll be just fine without them.”

* * *

Steve made it back to his quarters later that night, fully expecting to see Darcy on their couch, a smirk on her face, a bag of candy in hand and a tall tale of her day's adventure on her lips. But Darcy was not on the couch. He checked the bathroom, expecting to see her in a sea of bubbles in the bathtub, or perched on the sink counter as she plucked and tweezed her already perfect eyebrows. But Darcy was not in the bathroom. Finally, he went to their bedroom, expecting to see her there in her apology shirt, which was actually a white t-shirt of his that was nearly threadbare, softer than anything, and was big enough for three of Darcy. He loved her in her apology shirt almost as much as he loved taking the apology shirt off of her.

But Darcy was not in the bed, and the apology shirt was still in the second to the top drawer in his dresser.

“FRIDAY, did Darcy ever return to the facility?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“No, Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY informed him. “Darcy has been away from the facility for the last fifteen hours.”

“And---the local police haven't arrested her?” Steve asked incredulously.

“I have found no evidence of Miss Lewis' arrest.”

“Would you please activate protocol Bucky for Darcy?” Steve asked quietly. FRIDAY would add Darcy's facial schematics to the worldwide program that searched for Bucky. If she showed up on any public cameras, FRIDAY would let him know.

“Protocol Bucky is now activated for Darcy Marie Lewis Stark-Potts. Should I inform the boss that his daughter is missing?”

“No, uhm, I'm sure she'll be back in the morning,” Steve shook his head. He looked to his phone and saw that there were no messages from Darcy, instead, there were messages from everyone else on the planet, needling him about his embarrassing situation at the nationally televised baseball game . He huffed a sigh. Yeah, she'd be back when she'd figured he had blown off enough steam to not be so mad.

His concern ebbed away and only annoyed anger remained as he tossed his phone on the bedside table and grabbed Darcy's pillow, burying his face in it before trying (and failing) to go to sleep.

* * *

“Hello nerds.”

Darcy grinned as two presumably evil scientists looked up from their work to see her, and the extra-large and scary former Winter Soldier standing directly behind her, a gun in each of his hands pointed directly at their heads.

“My friend here says you have information he needs about his shiny fun cybernetic arm,” Darcy leaned on a lab bench, her hand going to play with a beaker, even thought it made both of the evil scientists gasp in horror. “So, are you going to give me what I need, or are you going to make us work for it?”

“He doesn't kill scientists anymore,” one of the idiot evil scientists said confidently. “You will get nothing from us. Hail---”

Darcy's finger pushed the beaker away from where it had been collected a distilled liquid. The scientists gasped as she pushed the beaker all the way to the edge of the lab bench.

“Wuhoh...my hand slipped. I've got such butterfingers,” Darcy shrugged helplessly.

“You'll kill us all!” idiot evil scientist number two shrieked.

“Oh, I don't know about all of us,” Darcy grinned. “See, me and this handsome fella over here are dressed head to toe in kevlar. And he's pretty fond of me, so I'm pretty sure he'd cover me if things went all explodey. Wouldn't you, Sarge?”

“Absolutely,” Bucky nodded.

“So, my associate may not kill scientists anymore, but I accidentally kill people all the time,” Darcy put up her hands in a _what can you do_ gesture that had the beaker hanging precariously off the edge of the lab bench. “So...again, I ask you, information...cybernetic arm...also, FUCK Hydra. I want _all_ of your information and I want it downloaded to a flash drive. Sound good?”

* * *

“Your boy is cleaning up house again.”

“What?” Steve furrowed his brow as he stood at the track, watching as the new Avengers began to assemble for morning drills. He looked to Sam curiously and said, “Did you say something?”

“You okay, Cap?” Sam wondered. “Look, if it's about the National Anthem thing, you shouldn't worry about it. The late night comedians found something else to joke about already, so it's not as bad as you think.”

“It's fine,” Steve huffed out. “What about Bucky?”

“A Hydra outpost was reported in to Maria late last night. A couple of scientists were brought in, minimally roughed up,” Sam repeated. “Looks like Bucky is at it again. He'd been kind of quiet these last couple of weeks.”

“Well, minimally roughed up sounds good,” Steve nodded.

“Cap, really, are you okay?” Sam asked. “You seem super out of it.”

“I'm fine,” Steve shook his head, squinting into the distance. He walked away from Sam, heading towards the opposite end of the track where two very familiar objects sat abandoned. Darcy's roller skates were just sitting in the grass next to the track, looking like they had been taken off very hastily and thrown down on the ground. He picked them up and looked around, doing a complete three hundred and sixty degrees before looking back down at the skates.

She loved those skates. She wore them everywhere. She wouldn't just leave them behind.

“Natasha,” Steve called out, turning to her with a truly frightened look on his face. He held up the roller skates with trembling hands. “Darcy has been missing for almost twenty-four hours. I thought she was just---trying to get attention, but FRIDAY said she left without her phone, or her taser or anything and...help me, please?”

Natasha gave a heavy sigh, and stared down the lost, sad puppy look that was currently on Steve's face. She pulled out her phone and accessed the multiple trackers she had on Darcy, her eyes widening a small fraction as she shook her head.

  
  


“Every single tracker is disabled. I'm not getting a read on her. It's like she disappeared off the face the the planet.”

* * *

“Thanks Heimdall, you're the best!”

Bucky nodded at the man who had transported them off of the face of the Earth and right on to Asgard. Beautiful and amazing Asgard. From the small view Bucky had gotten of the planet so far, it looked like it had popped off the pages of his favorite novels from 1940. Everything was cast in a beautiful golden glow, and Bucky swore he felt a little more at peace than he had been before the trip via rainbow bridge.

“You are excellent at hiding, Midgardian Soldier,” Heimdall gave him a respectful nod. “It is not every day that a soul can escape my sight.”

“He wasn't ready to party yet, Heimdall,” Darcy shrugged. “But now we're totally going to be Avenging partners. We took down a Hydra safe house together, then stopped a human trafficking rig, and then totally brought a bunch of milkshakes to a bunch of hard working firefighters. It's been thirty-six hours of non-stop avenging for Darcy and Bucky. Oh! We should have a crime-fighting name.”

“Good luck. Prince Thor and Doctor Foster await your arrival downstairs,” Heimdall advised.

Bucky silently followed a skipping Darcy as she walked around the halls of the Asgardian palace like she owned the place. He began ruminating on acceptable names for their crime-fighting team. He had liked being a part of the Howling Commandos, it was one of his fondest memories he had regained. He remembered how very reassuring the camaraderie had been. He knew all of his old friends were long gone now, but Steve's little firecracker of a dame wasn't so bad a replacement for his old brothers-in-arms.

Bucky wagered it might even be fun to bring Steve into their fun every once in a while. That's if Steve could find it in his heart to forgive the mischievous little troublemaker.

“Darcy! What are you doing here?” Jane called out happily, walking ahead of a smiling Thor. She wrapped her arms around her friend and squeezed. “When did you get here? How are you not arrested yet? Why's Steve's BFF accompanying you?”

“Ten minutes ago, we came straight to see you, so there was no opportunity to tangle with local law enforcement, and Bucky and I are finally starting our avenging together!” Darcy grinned between Jane and Thor. “We got so much done already, but Bucky really needs some work done on his arm, and I thought, who better than Asgardian medicinal wenches?”

“Darce, you can't call them wenches,” Jane scolded.

“That would be a great disappointment to the wenches,” a sotto voice mutter came from the other side of the hall. “They quite enjoyed their new titles given to them by the Princess of Asgard.”

“Whaddup Odin!” Darcy waved.

' _Odin_ ' smirked at the girl and addressed Thor. “Take your lightning sister's comrade to the wenches, see if there isn't anything that can be done.”

“What are you going to do?” Bucky said softly to Darcy. He didn't want to offend anyone, but he didn't like the way the guy on the throne was looking at Darcy.

“I have to go visit my people,” Darcy shrugged. “You know, Princess duties.”

Jane rolled her eyes.

“You'll be safe with Thor, he's a good bro,” Darcy assured Bucky. “Go and get that arm fixed up proper. Little Lightning Soldier has some avenging to do.”

* * *

“What do you mean you lost Darcy?!???!”

Steve's mouth twisted into an uncomfortable line. Darcy had been missing for nearly forty hours at that point. After Natasha had exhausted all of her tracking options and intel, she had finally convinced Steve that they needed to call and inform Darcy's parents about her being missing. Pepper was on the screen, having just screamed at Steve angrily, her eyes flashing, _literally_ with fire. Tony was silent, staring at the screen in disbelief.

“FRIDAY?” Pepper demanded.

“Darcy has not been within my surveillance net for forty hours after her confrontation with Captain Rogers.”

“ Confrontation?” Pepper furrowed her brow. “You and Darcy had an argument? About  _ what _ ?”

Steve sighed and muttered, “The baseball game, Pepper.”

“But that was _days_ ago,” Pepper helpfully pointed out. “And it was _Darcy_. She didn't get you arrested, she didn't get herself arrested, she just played a silly prank on you. Since when do you argue with her about silly pranks?”

“A silly prank?” Steve repeated. He shook his head incredulously and said again, “A silly prank?”

“Did you break up with her?” Tony asked with uncharacteristic, quiet calm. He looked at Steve heavily and asked, “Did you break things off with her now? Because of national anthem boners?”

“NO!” Steve spat out. “I just...I was upset. And told her to---”

“To what?” Tony wondered.

“To get out of my office,” Steve shrugged.

“Well, she did what you told her to do,” Tony offered with no small amount of bitterness. “FRIDAY, what's the last surveillance you had on Darcy?”

FRIDAY brought up the short little video of Darcy skating towards the track, beginning to hold up a large posterboard. It was far away, and the angle was just slightly off so that the words on the sign couldn't be read. She didn't hold it up long before sitting down on the track, disappearing from view. The camera angle changed and by the time it came back to Darcy's spot, she was long gone.

“Can we do anything to enhance the sign?” Tony wondered. “I can make out Can, a B, an o and a question mark. Fill in the rest of the letters with every letter combination that might make it a readable word that are in Darcy's speech patterns and bring them up on the screen.”

“Oh...well...there's that,” Sam's eyes widened as he watched FRIDAY populate the list. He pointed at the fifth from the top. “Steve-o is Mean-o. Can Bucky come out to play?”

“ _ Shit _ ,” Natasha hissed.

“My daughter, my only heir, the light in mine and Pepper's life, has been driven away from her home by the man she loves and into the arms of a deadly assassin with a metal arm and a memory with more holes in it than swiss cheese,” Tony said quietly. “And we can't find Bucky, so there is no way we're going to find Darcy until she comes back.”

“That's not entirely true,” Pepper shook her head. “Can we get in touch with Heimdall?”

* * *

“The Princess has been incarcerated!”

Bucky's eyes widened as one of the palace guards came running into the healing ward where they were finishing up on his arm's tuneup. Two EMP's, five vials of poison and three small bombs were removed from his arm and had scanned clean before the healing _wenches_ had happily started to make their own upgrades. Bucky could now feel even more sensation between the metal plates and the strengthened nerves that connected the metal to the man. It was running smoother and quieter too, as well as being stronger than ever before.

All in all, Bucky knew that Darcy had been right in convincing him to come to Asgard. Thor was as great as Darcy had made him out to be, and thankfully the creepy one eyed guy hadn't bothered to go with them at all.

“Again?” Thor gave Bucky a commiserating smile.

  
  


“She and your future queen, Lady Jane have been involved in an...altercation at the local pub,” the palace guard admitted.

“It is known to happen from time to time,” Thor nodded with a smile towards Bucky. He watched as the healing wenches finished up replacing small plates by Bucky's wrists. “We shall go and free them before there is another prison riot.”

* * *

“I can't help but think this is exactly what she wanted,” Steve sighed. Sam gave him a commiserating smile and Steve shrugged. “She wanted her revenge. She got it. And now I'm so worried sick about her that I can't remember to be upset anymore.”

“Do you want to still be upset with her?” Sam furrowed his brow.

“I didn't want to be upset with her to begin with,” Steve shrugged. “You know, when it all happened, when I realized what she had done, I had a moment of just...pure pride. She's so clever. And thoughtlessly brave about the stupidest things.”

“So if you didn't want to be upset with her, why were you?” Sam asked thoughtfully. Steve Rogers didn't seem like the type to commit to something he didn't feel like doing.

“Eighty-five text messages in the span of ten minutes,” Steve sighed. “All of them asking what I'd let Darcy get away with now. All of them laughing at me. All of them rude.”

“Since when does Steve Rogers give one small piece of shit about what other people think?” Sam asked seriously. “Last time I checked, one of the reasons you and Darcy fit so well together is that you're both the kind of people who do whatever the hell you want and save the consequences for later....or for other people to clean up afterward.”

“Yeah, you're right,” Steve said softly. “It makes sense that Bucky would take to her so well. He's used to cleaning up after a reckless idiot that does whatever they want.”

“He probably missed it,” Sam nodded. “There's not much we can do if Heimdall can't find them for us. We'll just have to wait until she's willing to come back in.”

“I know,” Steve sighed, picking up the framed picture of her on his desk. She was wearing a tiara on her head that had been gifted to her by Odin, and she had her Captain Ameripillow cuddled against her body. “I just hope I can make it up to her.”

* * *

When Thor and Bucky arrived at the local prison, it was to the sight of Darcy being brought out of the prison on the shoulders of Fandral and Hogun. While Jane was held high by Volstagg.

“TO OUR GREAT PRINCESS OF ASGARD!” Fandral shouted.

“TO OUR GREAT PRINCESS OF ASGARD!” the crowd around the prison automatically crowed.

“TO OUR FUTURE QUEEN!” Volstagg shouted, bouncing Jane on his shoulder.

“TO OUR FUTURE QUEEN!”

Bucky smiled at Darcy as she climbed off of the shoulders and skipped towards him and Thor with an easy grin on her face. She closely inspected Bucky's left arm and nodded in approval as the metal plates shifted and hummed in a very pleasant way.

“It looks right proper now. We can go and do some avenging, now,” Darcy grinned.

“Now?” Bucky repeated.

“Well, there's this hairy beasty thing that's been terrorizing the village close by. I thought we could go and capture it and give it to someone as a gift,” Darcy shrugged. “Cint's kids have been asking for a puppy.”

“Alright,” Bucky shrugged, clearly willing to go along with whatever Darcy wanted.

The Warriors Three and Jane and Thor watched as Darcy and Bucky wandered off into the waning daylight eager to start on their next adventure.

“Maybe we should make sure they don't get into trouble?” Jane wondered.

“We could not stop them finding it,” Thor said wisely. “It's best to just let them have their fun.”

* * *

“She's in Asgard with Bucky.”

Steve stood up from his chair so quickly that his knee smacked against his desk and sent it flying towards the front door that Natasha was standing at. He reached for his shield and nodded.

“Let's go.”

“Not so fast, hotshot. Heimdall has to get permission for you to come up,” Natasha informed him. She was unimpressed with Steve's impatient face and said, “Do you really want to start a multi-realm incident over this? Darcy is _perfectly_ safe. Not only is she under Thor and Odin's protection, but Bucky is with her. She'll be fine.”

“ I know that,” Steve said petulantly. “I just...I  _ miss  _ her.”

“Well then, you probably shouldn't have let her walk out of your office,” Natasha said helpfully. “Also, when we do get the permission to go to Asgard, you should ask Thor about that quest.”

“Oh...yeah, of course,” Steve nodded. “You still think she'll want that?”

“Steve, you fantastic idiot, part of the reason why she ran is probably because you seem to have _forgotten_ about asking for a quest,” Natasha sighed heavily. It was very tiring to be the only person with a lick of common sense. “She was probably afraid that you didn't want to marry her anymore.”

“Shit, that's the exact opposite of what I want,” Steve panicked. “C'mon, we have to go and go now.”

* * *

“This supposed beast is not as big as I thought it was going to be,” Bucky stared down at the little fuzzy creature in Darcy's arms. It was less than a foot long, and probably weighed five pounds soaking wet. It looked like a fluffy little bear, Darcy had called it an Asgardian Ewok and had named it Marshall and declared it to be her and Bucky's mascot.

“Yes, but the hissing, barking screeching is really terrifying,” Darcy shrugged. She held up Marshall to be nose to nose with Bucky and grinned when the little creature licked at her new partner in crime's nose. “I hope you know, that I can't take care of him on my own. You have to come home now.”

“I know,” Bucky said softly. “I'm looking forward to it, actually. It'll be nice to have some...fun for a change.”

“Oh, Bucky-bear, I can help you with the fun,” Darcy promised eagerly. She shrugged and said, “Steve-o may not approve but...oh well. I'm sure I'll learn to love again.”

“Hey now, who said anything about needing to learn to love again?” a line appeared between Bucky's brows, clearly concerned with Darcy's sudden change in mood.

“He's not going to want to marry me, Bucky,” Darcy shrugged. “It's okay. I mean, it was a beautiful dream while it lasted. But he deserves to be with a gal who isn't going to get arrested for fun every other Thursday. And who isn't going to train his penis to stand at attention whenever the National Anthem plays. I mean, there's a reason he hasn't tried to contact Thor for his quest since he asked. He's finally come to his senses. But it's not so bad. I'll always have Captain Ameripillow.”

“My sister and her soldier have returned. We feast!” Thor called out from the gate. He looked at the little fuzzball in Darcy's arms warily and said, “The creature is not welcome in the castle.”

“But----fuzzy!” Darcy held out Marshall to Thor.

“The stables, Lady Darcy. He will be well there,” Thor assured her. Those tiny creatures were very dangerous to have in mixed company. Hogun and Volstagg would surely wet themselves in fear should they see it.

“ _ Fine _ ,” Darcy huffed. She popped up on her tiptoes and gave Bucky a peck on his cheek. “See you at the feast. Save me some roast boar!”

Bucky and Thor watched as Darcy scampered away with her new pet. Bucky turned a thoughtful look Thor's way and wasted to no time or words before asking,

“I want you to send me on a quest. To be worthy of Darcy.”

* * *

* * *

  
  


  
  
  


** If Bucky-bear is in Your Corner, You Can't Lose **

* * *

* * *

The nature of a quest was that it was supposed to be kept secret from the object of the quest.  If the object of the quest found out what was happening, the entire quest would be forfeited and would have to be applied for again. 

It was all very bureaucratic when it came down to it.  A lot of forms needed to be filled out and signed.  A very specific contract regarding  the quester, the quest and the questee needed to be drawn up and Asgardian notarized (that particular spectacle involved a goat, a high tide and a male warrior virgin). A lot of secrecy was involved in the quest.  Bucky was fine with all of that, he was great at secrecy. He understood the contract.  He remembered how to sign his name and the magic involved in the binding contract didn't even hurt that much.  It was more like a pleasant sting.

What Bucky did have a problem with was how incredibly perceptive Darcy Marie Lewis Stark-Potts soon to be Rogers actually was.

And another big problem was of course the fact that she wouldn't leave him wander off by himself to slay a mountain turtle (vicious things, not at all adorable), or meditate for exactly fifty-five minutes every morning at the crack of dawn, or find different ways to insult and infuriate the Warriors Three before the clock struck 13.

But at least he had managed to lose his ever present, ever curious, ever suspicious partner-in-crime as he made his way down into a fiery pit a few dozen miles away from the palace. 

"Hey Bucky-bear!  Whatcha doin'?"

Or not.

"Need to find sludge for an engine that Thor wants to be fixed," Bucky shrugged. 

"That sounds fake, but okay," Darcy shrugged.  She handed their furry little mascot to Bucky and he smiled at Marshall as he licked at his cheek.  Darcy bent over and hit a button on her new Asgardian shoes, and the wheels were replaced with a bouncing material that had her bobbing up and down with each step.  Darcy loved her new "roller skates", but bemoaned the loss of her perfectly broken in roller skates back on Midgard when "Odin" had gifted her with the ever changing shoes that morning.

She may have caused Sif to go into a rage at breakfast after making the weepy realization that Steve was her pair of perfectly broken in roller skates, and she had ruined the whole thing and now she would never ever find an opportunity to have her perfect skates again because as she had put it, "I'm a moron baby with an idiot complex!"

Sif had disagreed wholeheartedly.  When Jane had tried to helpfully and delicately explain EXACTLY what Darcy had done, _Odin_ had decreed her a hero, and Sif and the Warriors Three had commended the Captain for showing his nation his virility and desire for his intended. 

Thor had shrugged off Jane's concerns about him showing his own virility and desire for her on national television. 

The Asgardians were firmly ensconced in the camp that Darcy had done no wrong in her machinations against her beloved.  And instead of boosting her morale, it had done the exact opposite. 

Darcy was now in the midst of full blown Eeyore mode and absolutely convinced that should she return to Midgard, Steve would want nothing to do with her.

Darcy bounced in her magic shoes next to Bucky as she took Marshall back and strapped the happy little beast into her Asgardian Baby Bjorn that the Engineering Trollops (they, like the medical wenches, loved their new names), had built her the night before to keep the wretched fur beast close to her.  Bucky and Darcy continued their journey towards the pits.  In no time they were staring down a completely vertical rock ledge, and at the bottom it was dark, fiery and definitely filled with suspicious creepy crawlies.  Bucky shrugged and went into his bag that Darcy had appropriated for him at the Target they had hit up prior to being Rainbow bridged out to Asgard (she had left a helpful I.O.U. signed with Nick Fury's name). 

"Oh you don't need rope, Bucky Bear," Darcy shook her head, as she bounced next to him.  She bent over and fiddled with her shoes again and the bouncing was replaced with hovering.  She was flying in mid-air, the extra foot of air space making her exactly as tall as Bucky.  She shifted Marshall in his baby bjorn and held out her arms to Bucky.

He shrugged and wrapped himself around her and they began the slow descent down into the fiery pits.

"You're a good cuddler," Darcy remarked.  "Don't worry. I won't tell Sif."

* * *

The amount of inter-realm diplomacy that went into planning a trip to Asgard was, in Steve's humble opinion, the biggest load of bullshit he had ever encountered. 

Apparently they had to bring gifts.  Highly specific gifts for the ruler of Asgard, the council of Asgard, the council's janitor, the janitor's trashman, and the trashman's second cousin thrice removed. 

It had taken a ridiculous amount of time to procure everything.  Some of it had to be hatched.  Some of it he had to knit himself.  (Darcy was a much better knitter, and that was saying something, as she wasn't very good at all).

"Did Darcy and Bucky have to do all this before they gained admittance into Asgard?" Steve huffed, looking down at the friendship bread he had to bake before he could cross the rainbow bridge into Thor's realm.

"She's Asgardian royalty," Natasha reminded him.  "She can come and go as she pleases back and forth to Asgard, and she can bring guests."

Steve furrowed his brow at Natasha's tone.  Apparently, she had been a guest.

"I like their meade," Sam nodded.

"She took you too?" Steve frowned.

"You were still persona non-grata thanks to your murdering of Cardboard America," Sam shrugged.  "She thought I looked tired and said that her medicinal wenches on Asgard would be able to perk me right up.  They totally did."

"Wenches?" Steve repeated.

"She goes around renaming things.  They are in no way similar to wenches in pirate stories," Natasha assured him.  "The people of Asgard like her ingenious way of doing things.  Her visits are treated as holidays, practically."

"She visits often...how?  I mean, how?" Steve shook his head in disbelief. 

"You have missions, Steve.  Granted since Clint made her an Avenger, she sneaks along on most missions," Natasha shrugged.  "But before that, she would come and go as she pleased on Asgard.  She's held in high regard there.  Even Odin is quite charmed by her."

"I feel bad that she hasn't been there as much lately," Steve admitted, punching down the dough with a little too much force.  "I've been monopolizing a lot of her time."

"Actually, the Avenging has been monopolizing a lot of her time," Sam corrected him.  "You're just an added benefit to the avenging."

* * *

"The lava is cold."

"Weird," Darcy nodded after she had finished turning the baby sling so that Marshall was hanging off of her back happily.  She reached out to touch it and giggled at the tickling coolness under her fingertips.  "COOL."

"It's very cold down here, are you alright?" Bucky asked in concern, each word coming out as a puff of breath from his mouth. 

"Marshall is very warm, he's like a mini space heater.  Are you alright?  I KNEW we should have gotten that winter coat at Target.  It was like 90 percent off, and Fury was paying for it anyway," Darcy sighed.

"I'll be fine," Bucky went for his bag again and pulled out a long, unevenly knitted, red scarf. He smiled at her when her eyes went wide and wet with happy tears.  "I never thanked you for my scarf.  It was a very nice gift."

"No need for thanks, you totally saved my life a couple of times since then," Darcy nodded.  "And Steve has a blue one just like it and you guys can be...twinsies."

"Hey," Bucky said softly, pulling her to him, wrapping her up in a strong armed embrace.  "It's going to be fine.  Stevie couldn't find a better dame than you.  He's an idiot, but he's not stupid.  He'll forgive you in no time, and then I'll get to say I told you so."

"Sure sure," Darcy sniffled against his chest.  "And when I get to tell you I told you so, then you have to become my legally indentured Bucky-bear."

Bucky smiled at her and popped a kiss on the top of her head.  He pulled away and grabbed the Asgardian tupperware that Sif had assured him would withstand the most dangerous of materials, even Marshall's poop.  He walked towards the sludge that was seeping from a violently purple plant and scraped the sludge using his metal hand.

"Why are you so sure that Stevie is going to give you up?" Bucky asked quietly as he worked at collecting as much sludge as he could. 

"Cause until I found Janie, everyone gave up, except the nuns," Darcy shrugged.  "Friends, teachers, potential foster parents, college advisors.  Eventually I was just too much... _much_ for them."

"Doll," Bucky sighed, closing up his container and going back to her, bending at his knee and aiming that dangerous smile at her that had her smiling back and fanning her face in no time.  "There ain't no one on the planet Ear---Midgard that is as stubborn as Stevie.  Except maybe you.  He's going to keep on loving you and wanting you to be his bride no matter what kind of mischief you throw his way. I promise."

"Do you know what being a legally indentured Bucky-bear, means?" Darcy gave him a precious wrinkle of her nose.

"Well---if I'm right, which I am, then I---I'll get," Bucky pursed his lips in thought.

"My first born?" Darcy offered.

"Sure, I'll get your first born," Bucky laughed.  "Also, Steve will have to wear a sash that says Bucky is always right for a full year."

"DEAL!" Darcy laughed.  "Can he also wear a pin that says Property of Darcy Marie Lewis Stark-Potts Rogers?"

"That's an awful big pin, doll."

"Yeah, he has the chest area to pull it off."

* * *

Bucky found that the questing was really more like a list of the Asgardian palace's least favorite chores.  And there were a lot of them.  He was going on about eight errands a day, and of course, Darcy followed along happily with Marshall strapped to her body, helping out tremendously even though the quest's end objective was to be worthy of her.

Bucky learned very quickly, that where Darcy went, Jane usually followed.  And where Jane went, Thor usually followed.  And where Thor went, Sif and the Warriors Three usually followed.  Suspiciously enough, the harder and more disgusting errands were just Bucky and Darcy, but the nicer, more picnic-like errands brought out the whole crew.  Even Marshall couldn't dissuade any of the party to stay at home when the quest brought Bucky to a lovely glade of elegant trees, a babbling brook, and plenty of lovely flowers and butterfly like creatures floating about. 

Bucky had to sit in the babbling brook and capture a fish using no tool and no magic.  He had to commune with the fish and convince it that it needed to be captured.

Apparently the compliance made the fish taste better.

"Why do you quest?" Sif questioned him as she sat on the rocky bank of the little brook, directly across from Bucky as he sat in the brook, his hands out in the water, waving gently to and fro in search of a compliant fish. 

"Someone should," Bucky shrugged. 

"Captain Rogers should," Sif insisted.  "Lady Darcy always spoke of her love for him, in any form he took...cardboard...pillow...potato head.  It should be Captain Rogers on this quest.  Not you."

"He's been a little busy keeping Midgard safe," Bucky shrugged again.

"I dislike this gesture you keep repeating," Sif rolled her eyes and mockingly shrugged up and down a few times. 

"I got other gestures," Bucky dryly asserted.  "Now keep your yap shut for a minute or two, I got a fish to gently grab."

"It takes most warriors days to catch the fish," Sif assured him.  "Lady Darcy is in the field setting up camp as we speak.  You will not complete this task easily, Sergeant Bucky of Barnes."

"If I can catch it in the next two hours, then you have to..." Bucky thought hard for a second.  "You have to become my legally indentured Sif for the next Midgardian year."

"We would need a contract!" Sif insisted.

"Hmmm, I guess you kind of realize that I'll be able to catch this damned fish," Bucky smirked at her. 

"Well if you take longer than two hours  then you will become my legally indentured..."

"Bucky-bear!" Darcy helpfully provided from the reeds along the shore. She popped through the long, elegant grass like plants and handed a wrapped treat to Sif, then waded into the water and unwrapped an identical treat for Bucky.  Seeing as his hands were otherwise preoccupied, she held it to his mouth and grinned when he bit it without even asking what it was.

"That's tasty, Doll," Bucky smiled at her.

"Indeed," Sif agreed.

"S'mores!  Well, the Asgardian equivalent," Darcy shrugged, feeding Bucky another bite.  "They don't have graham crackers here, but they have cookies that are kind of similar.  And I made the marshmallows myself.  And Odin gave me the chocolate."

"Oh, and I brought extra cookie bits for the fish," Darcy reached down the front of her Asgardian catsuit (which was more like shiny metal armor, but still skin tight and still very bulletproof).  She pulled out a small bag and dumped it into the water before putting another bite of the treat into Bucky's mouth. 

"That's not fair, that's cheating!" Sif insisted as Bucky grinned and within moments had pulled out a giant, happy, non-thrashing fish. 

Darcy clapped and said, "I still say we spend the night.  I set up camp and all, and Thor has Janie all excited about a night under the stars and whatnot.  Good job, Bucky-bear!"

She shoved the rest of his treat into his mouth before turning to Sif with a completely non-sympathetic smile.

"Legal indentured Sif doesn't sound so bad.  I promise that my Bucky-bear is a fair and just ruler," Darcy nodded before stomping out of the water and skipping up the rocky bank past Sif.

Bucky followed Darcy out of the water and grinned at Sif as the giant fish gently lay in his arms, completely compliant and accepting of its fate.  If a fish could look happy, this one definitely did.  Sif glared at the fish in annoyance then looked up to glare at Bucky.  The expression melted off her face and was replaced with a smirk.

"You have a bit of sticky mess on your mouth," Sif helpfully told him, gesturing to the corner of his mouth.

"Hmm, seems like my hands are full.  A legally indentured servant should be able to get that for me," Bucky waggled his eyebrows up and down twice. 

Sif felt emboldened.  She liked Sergeant Bucky of Barnes quite a lot.  He was brave and very smart and obviously his heart was caring and loving with what he was doing for his friend.  A warrior with a heart like that would do a good job raising her future warrior children.  And he was very comely.  Even if he wasn't in traditional Asgardian garb, but more of a mixture of Midgard's blue jeans and a loose fitting black sleeveless tunic of Thor's.  The metal arm was quite shiny and attractive, and he had gained it in honorable battle, which meant he was worthy of Valhalla already. 

And she quite liked talking to him.  And Lady Darcy had no higher praise than for her Bucky-bear.  And Sif believed everything that came out of Lady Darcy's mouth.  She was a seer, practically.  And the decadent chocolate and sugar treat that Darcy had provided her had been delicious.  The chocolate seemed to be magic in origin, making her heart light and free, unburdened by any heavy thoughts from her brain.

Sif darted forward and kissed the corner of Bucky's mouth, clever tongue darting out to lick at the chocolate and marshmallow in little, teasing kitten licks.  She pulled away and nodded.

"Happy to serve Sergeant Bucky Bear," Sif nodded, before turning and walking back up towards the camp.

Bucky stood on the bank for some time, the compliant fish in his arms, happily running out of appropriate air to breath through its complicated gills. 

That had certainly been surprising.

* * *

Five and a half days after Darcy disappeared from the new Avengers Facility, Steve walked out to the spot on the lawn that Heimdall used as a transport pad between Asgard and Earth.  He was laden down with baskets and bags full of offerings as a Midgardian visitor to Asgard.  He took a deep breath and nodded at Natasha and Sam, who had come to see him off.  He had just had a very tense call with Tony, who had politely asked that he not drive his adopted daughter to another realm. 

He hadn't meant to drive her to another realm.   It felt like she had run off to another realm as a form of self-punishment at this point.

Tony had also very calmly and politely requested that if Steve was planning to break up with Darcy, that he do it as quickly and gently as possible.  Steve had patiently explained to his teammate that he had no plans to break up with Darcy.  Ever.  Tony seemed pleased, but tried to hide it.

Steve had also had a good conversation with Natasha and Pepper. 

Darcy had expressed to Pepper some melancholy over Steve not asking for Thor to give him a quest right away after he had proposed six weeks ago.  She had jumped to the worst conclusion, thinking that his hesitancy was due to him changing his mind about marrying her.  She had been "conditioning" him for years at that point, and had hinted to Natasha that her next prank might be the final nail in the coffin, but at that point it would have taken hypnosis to break the conditioning she had inflicted upon him, and she would have still had to explain what she had done to him and still faced definite consequences.

Wanda had given him the insight of what she and Darcy had commiserated together over many late night baking sessions in the industrial kitchens of the facility.  Both girls had been orphans during their formative years.  And while Wanda had her brother at the time, they had both felt the sting of not being wanted, and being pushed away by the people who should want them.

Sometimes it was just easier to act out and cause the inevitable abandonment. 

Rainbow bridge travel was thankfully, mercifully short.  Steve was standing in front of Heimdall in no time, giving him a thankful smile and a polite nod. 

"Is Thor not here?" Steve looked around in confusion.  He hadn't thought Darcy or Bucky would be standing before him.  They had no idea he was on his way, after all.  But he thought Thor would be there to greet him at least.

"Thor is out of the palace," Odin announced from the doorway.  He arched an unimpressed brow Steve's way.  Obviously the offerings were just barely enough.  "He is assisting on a quest."

"Oh, that's interesting, I've come to ask for a quest," Steve admitted, giving a respectful nod Odin's way.  "I wish to be given a quest so that I can marry the unoffical princess of Asgard, Darcy Marie Lewis Stark-Potts."

"Interesting," Odin chortled.  "Your request is denied."

Steve dropped his parcels and bags a few feet away from Odin and reached for the shield on his back.

"Might I ask why?" Steve wondered suspiciously.

"Another is on the quest to be worthy of Darcy Marie Lewis Odinsdottir," Odin shrugged. 

"WHO?" Steve demanded angrily, feeling as if his whole body was suddenly tight and too hot as jealousy and anger coiled within him.

"James Buchanan Barnes.  His quest is nearly complete," Odin happily relayed.  "He will have the honor of the hand of Asgard's only princess within the next few days.  If he can find the fish quickly enough."

"Bucky?" Steve demanded.  He huffed out an annoyed breath and looked between an unimpressed Heimdall and a smirking Odin.  "Where is he?"

* * *

"I think the chocolate was drugged, did you have any, Doll?" Bucky whispered as he watched Volstagg tenderly cooking the compliant fish.  Seriously, it looked like the giant warrior was making time with the roasted beast.  Fandral was leering at Darcy.  Hogun was making grass angels.  Sif was staring at Bucky, and Thor had hauled Jane over his shoulder and went to find a quiet bit of land an hour ago.

"Nope, not yet.  I was saving mine for after the compliant fish dinner," Darcy shrugged, pulling a bag of treats out of Bucky's backpack.  "I have extra too, so everyone else can have some more after compliant fish dinner."

"Why would the King of Asgard drug a bunch of people with chocolate?" Bucky furrowed his brow.

"I'd imagine cause of boredom.  Half of the things I do are done out of boredom," Darcy shrugged.  "It's just making people do what they really want, no harm really.  What's it making you want to do?"

"When Stevie was real little, and it was cold in our little apartment back in 1939, we'd share a bed...no funny business, doll," Bucky promised, smirking at her look of disappointment.   "But it was nice to cuddle.  With no funny business.  Just real comfortable."

"That's not so bad, I think Fandral wants to lick my face," Darcy shrugged.

"I do!" Fandral agreed from across the camp.

"You'll be losing those dumb whiskers if you do, pal!" Bucky warned.

"So you just want a nice platonic cuddle with someone who is Skinny Steve sized?" Darcy shrugged.  "I'm skinny Steve sized...well height wise.  I'm sure I outweigh him by fifty pounds, at least."

"You don't mind?" Bucky smiled, positively giddy with the idea of getting what he wanted at that moment thanks to the influence of the Asgardian chocolate. 

"Platonic cuddling makes my world go round.  Even Natasha will let me do it," Darcy shrugged.  She reached for Marshall and hugged him to her chest before scooting close to Bucky, allowing him to wrap an arm around her before moving them both to the rolled out mats by the fire.  She sighed happily and cuddled her back into him.  "This is the good stuff right here."

"I wish to participate," Sif said suddenly. 

"My back is pretty cold," Bucky smiled at her easily. 

Sif quickly plopped down behind Bucky and arranged herself as the big spoon. 

"CUDDLE PILE!" Jane called out as she drug a thoroughly satisfied Thor back to the little camp.  "CUDDLE PILE UNDER THE STARS!"

Jane spread herself next to Darcy, and Thor was quick to follow.  Fandral winked at Darcy and stood to join and she waved a stern finger at him.

"Absolutely not!" she insisted.

"This is really nice, Doll.  Thank you," Bucky whispered in her ear.

"Sif is making this less platonic," Darcy furrowed her brow, feeling a sudden stiffness against her backside.

"Sorry, she's very... _ tough _ ," Bucky shrugged.  "I like how she talks."

"I heartily approve," Darcy admitted.  "I like them tough, too."

" ** BUCKY! ** "

"Wuh oh," Darcy flinched, looking to the sound of where the shout came from.

Steve Rogers stood on the top of a small, sloping hill of tall reedy grass, backlit by the sunset, his shield in hand.  He was staring down at the cuddling pile of people in the grass, but he didn't care that Jane was against Darcy and Thor was against Jane and Sif was against Bucky and a tiny furry little bear dog was against Darcy too.

He only cared that Bucky had his arms wrapped around Darcy, spooning her and whispering into her ear. 

"Get your damned hands off my girl, Bucky!" Steve growled as he walked with a sense of purpose towards them.  "This isn't 1937, you can't go around stealing any girl that'll give me the time of day, and you definitely can't steal Darcy!  I love her, and she's going  to marry me, not you!"

"Sure," Bucky agreed, reluctantly pulling his arms away from Darcy and pulling himself into a sitting position as the rest of the cuddle pile also dispersed.  Bucky sat up and ran a hand through his hair.  "Nice to see you too, punk."

"Shaddup you jerk!" Steve grumbled.  His eyes ran over Bucky quickly, grateful to see him healthy and mostly whole.  There was a peace in his eyes that Steve doesn't think he's seen since before D-Day.  Steve's eyes narrowed as he saw a definite tenting in Bucky's pants.

"Impressive!" Volstagg paused in his fish cooking and applauded Bucky.  He gave an approving grin to Sif and continued, "Virile and powerful!  Your desire shows you will gift Asgard with many healthy warriors!"

"Now, pal, this ain't what it looks like," Bucky held up his hands in a gesture of innocence.

"Wuh oh," Darcy said again, rising to her feet, pulling Jane to do the same before scrambling out of the way.  She'd seen that look on Steve's face before.  A few months ago when a Hydra agent had stood between Steve and Darcy during that disastrous first field mission where Darcy had accidentally fallen asleep in the quinjet supply cabinet during an Avenger's raid on a Hydra base.  Steve was about to try and throw Bucky into the atmosphere.

"Calm down, Stevie!" Bucky warned as he stood defensively.  He should have saved his breath.

Steve was looking for a fight at that point.  When Steve was looking for a fight, he was going to find it.  Bucky easily caught the shield that Steve had thrown at him and handed the thing off to Thor, who stood to the side and allowed his friends to work things out with pleasing violence.

Bucky rolled his eyes as Steve tackled him to the soft, grassy ground and easily worked out of the hold that he had TAUGHT to a much smaller Steve Rogers.  In the blink of an eye, Bucky had Steve in a hold just strong enough to restrain him, looking very much like he was trying to spoon against Steve in the same way he had been spooning against Darcy.

"Now, are you ready to open those big dumb ears and listen?" Bucky demanded.

"No!" Steve petulantly disagreed as he uselessly struggled against the hold.  They managed to roll away from the camp and the audience, towards the sloping bank of the brook.  "Why are you trying to steal my girl?"

"I'm not!" Bucky insisted as they rolled down the bank and both landed in the gentle, lovely water. 

"Odin says you are," Steve huffed.  "Says you're on a quest for her hand!"

"Yeah, to give to you!" Bucky revealed.  All the fight left Steve and Bucky sighed in relief, releasing his friend as they both sat in the water.  Bucky put his hands in the water, just as he had done to catch the compliant fish earlier. 

A growling, angry ball of fur came running down to the water's edge, snarling and yipping at Steve. 

"Marshall, it's okay. Steve's a friend!" Bucky called out, causing the sounds to stop, thankfully, as the snarls and yips were really unpleasant and sort of dangerous to listen to.

"You're doing this for me?" Steve wondered, his hands going out in the water, mimicking Bucky.  The gentle current was unlike anything on Earth, and it really was very calming.

"Course I am, ya big dope," Bucky rolled his eyes.  "You've been busy.  I haven't made things easy for you these past few years.  And Darcy...well that little firecracker deserves to have what she wants, and for some stupid reason she wants your dumb ass."

"She does, doesn't she?" Steve sighed.  "I love her so much, Buck."

"I know you do," Bucky nodded.  "That's why I was doing the quests.  It's in the contract that Thor's people wrote up.  I finish the quest, and give Darcy's hand to her, so she can chose the one worthy to give it to.  And you know she was going to chose you."

"I...don't know what to say.  Thank you, Buck, that's just...that's the nicest thing you could have done for me," Steve smiled, tears in his eyes.  His eyes widened as a fish gently went into his outstretched hand, pulling it out of the water. 

"Huh, compliant fish," Bucky nodded.  "You wouldn't have been so bad at this questing business."

"I want to help," Steve insisted.  "I want to prove myself worthy too."

"Sure, it'll be like a regular party," Bucky grinned, standing up out of the water.  "Little Lightning Soldier and Big Steve."

"Huh?" Steve wondered, following Steve with the compliant fish laying uselessly in his arms. 

"Me and your little firecracker are working on team names for us," Bucky shrugged.  "It's nice to be a part of a team again."

"Yeah, yeah it is," Steve nodded.  He walked back up the slopes and followed Bucky back to the camp, handing off the compliant fish to an eager Volstagg.  He walked towards Darcy and smiled at her, "Hey, Sweetheart.  I missed you an awful lot."

"You did?" Darcy asked hopefully, the hint of a playful smile playing at her lips. 

"I really did," Steve nodded. 

"Do you forgive me for my avenging?" Darcy wondered.

"I do, of course I do, but---can you not do that kind of thing to me on national television anymore?" Steve wondered hopefully.

"Sure, sure," Darcy nodded. "Friends and family are okay, though right?"

"Fine, sweetheart," Steve reluctantly allowed, reaching for her and bringing her in for an indulgent kiss.

"Awesome," Darcy grinned as she pulled away.  She turned him to face the rest of camp and shouted, "Look it, guys!  Ohhhhh aaa saaaaay can you sssssssssseeeeee!"

Darcy's shriek of laughter echoed throughout the peaceful, calm Asgardian evening as Steve picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, before stalking away from camp, eager to find a quiet, private place to put her conditioning to good use.  He couldn't help but roll his eyes as a grin settled on his face as the Asgardians cheered loudly and raucously, and he could hear Bucky in the din of felicitations.

"Thatta boy, Stevie!  You go and show that little firecracker who the boss is.  HER.  She's the boss!"

* * *

* * *

  
  
  


 


	27. Arranged (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Arranged
> 
>  
> 
> Summary:  
> When Steve went into the ice in 1945, the Worldwide Coalition for Human Survival was a fledgling matchmaking service just getting started. When Steve woke up, he had no way of knowing that the WCHS was now one of the world's most powerful entities, telling people who to marry and who to have children with. It's probably a good thing he's probably going to wind up matchless like the rest of the superhero crew.  
> Darcy Lewis was born out of an unmatched pairing, and has been unmatched her whole life. Until Nick Fury drops a bombshell two weeks before the Chitauri Invasion.  
> They've found her match, that she definitely does not want.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply  
> Category: F/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Captain  
> America (Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Tony Stark, Jane  
> Foster (Marvel), Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Sam  
> Wilson (Marvel), Clint Barton, AlexanderBagofDicksPierce, Sharon  
> Carter  
> Additional Tags: alternate universe: what if a matchmaking service controlled the  
> world, Arranged Marriages, worldbuilding stuff, darcy and steve go on  
> the run, Road trip shenanigans, first-time shenanigans, romance and  
> fluff and car chases, PTSD stuff, characters who can't keep their  
> hands out of each others pants, steve has an inner monologue that  
> sounds an awful lot like Bucky  
> Series: Part 1 of Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me a Match  
> Stats: Published: 2016-02-23 Completed: 2016-03-09 Chapters: 12/12  
> Words: 47910

 

  
  


 

** Arranged **

** Chapter One: You Must Be A Keyboard Because You're Just My Type **

* * *

Abraham Erskine's work had been so much more than the super soldier serum.  

The world's powers had discovered that in 2142, a perfect storm of human population decline due to genetic incompatibility combined with the arrival of a rogue comet would end all life on Earth.  The solution was clear and agreed on by all the world's superpowers after World War One: begin matching humans together based on a young Erskine's work on genetic compatibility in order to create a world full of more capable humans that could work towards the end goal of recreating life on another planet.  

One of the hidden motivators of World War Two was the idea that in order to create a more perfect human race, only perceived perfect human beings should survive.

Erskine developed a genetic study that showed clearly it didn't matter the person, there would be a match somewhere on Earth that would allow for procreation and human proliferation.  And he had insisted that even those who could not proliferate human kind, were equally as important and valuable.  The super serum was developed to prove that end.  His work was passed on to the Worldwide Coalition for Human Survival when his life was lost in Brooklyn.

Steve Rogers, post serum, should have been one of the first people to enter the fledgling database of compatible humans in 1943.  His information never quite made it in.

So when the WCHS launched its worldwide matching program in 1944, Steve Rogers did not have a match.  

He was in the ice before he could worry too much about that.

* * *

By 2012, the WCHS was the most powerful, all encompassing force on the planet.  Every child in the world was entered into the system at age 18.  They were matched between the ages of 20 and 25.  They were expected to produce at least two offspring by the age of 35.  Over the course of 68 years, a very curious thing happened. Instead of rebelling against the essentially arranged marriages, an incredible 96% of the population embraced the idea.

It had helped that in the 1950's, the WCHS had taken over production at a major entertainment studio.  Suddenly, the idea of your ideal match was everywhere.  There were movies about beautiful young girls being matched with ideal handsome men and overcoming ridiculous odds to end up squarely in their happily ever afters.  There were romance novels, pulp fiction, and comic books squarely dedicated to the idea that your match was pre-destined, and that the love that would come from such a match was something sacred, precious and worth dying for.  There were songs about pining for that perfect match, about the long wait to find them.  

Children of that first generation of matches were told by grandparents that they were lucky.  They didn't have to wait.  They didn't have to look.  They just had to do as they were told and happiness would come to them and be forever lasting.

In less than a decade, the world had essentially been brainwashed into believing that the WCHS was benevolent and kind, providing an essential service to the world.  

By the 1970's, there was some disillusionment.  The system was set up for heteronormativity, but there had always been homosexuality within mankind.  When the WCHS' approval rating dipped below 85%, they finally brought one of Erskine's solutions to the floor.  Erskine had been a homosexual male, after all. He had insisted that same sex matches would be made.

7% of all matches made between a man and a woman by the WCHS resulted in a platonic relationship.  

They considered themselves lucky to not have to marry, so long as the two children were created.  The children were entered into a database and were assigned based on compatibility to homosexual couples that had made the proper requests and had been deemed eligible by the WCHS.  

* * *

Darcy Lewis was an oddity.

Darcy Lewis had been abandoned at a WCHS run orphanage as a newborn.  

She had not been born of a matched couple.  It happened in this world the WCHS had created, but not often.  The chance of it happening was 1 in 1,340,000,000.

Darcy Lewis was not compatible with the hundreds of thousands of couples who had applied for a child either.  

She lived her life in an orphanage equipped to care for newborns until she turned 18, at which point she was entered into the database to find her match.  

At that point in her life, she was not surprised that there had not been a match waiting for her.  

She was used to it at that point.

* * *

The doctors Jane Foster and Erik Selvig had been Darcy's first encounter with any other un-matched humans on the face of the planet.  For the first time, she felt like she belonged.  She wasn't doomed to walk through her life alone any longer.  Jane and Erik would walk with her.  

And then Thor crashed into Earth.  And his arrival brought a host of unmatched people into her life.  

Thor, of course, and any other Asgardian couldn't be matched.  The genetics were just one small shade too different.  Darcy had a sneaking suspicion that if he could be entered into the database, he and Jane would explode the system with all of their compatibility.

Thor's arrival brought SHIELD into their lives, unwelcome and unbidden.  But at the same time, it brought Phil Coulson and Clint Barton.  Both unmatched.  Both amazing in their own way despite that fact.  Coulson was ruthlessly efficient and appropriately apologetic when he gave her back her ipod. And Barton...well he was a human disaster poured into a perfect, compact little body and Darcy didn't mind tuning out every idiotic thing out of his mouth and just staring at his biceps for hours.

Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, James Rhodes, Natasha Romanoff.  All unmatched.

Darcy was beginning to sense a theme.

Mainly that the most kick-ass people on the planet didn't need a match to complete them.  They were amazing people without the Worldwide Coalition for Human Survival.  It took her 23 years, but she had finally found the place and the people she belonged to.

Until one day, two weeks before the Chitauri invasion, Nick Fury was standing in front of her in Jane's new Stark Tower lab, an apprehensive look on his face.

"Miss Lewis.  I've found your match."

* * *

Being matchless in 1944 was not such a big deal.  The WCHS had only managed to enter less than 15% of the world's population at that point, and although the world's greatest minds were working on making the database more powerful, it still took quite a bit of manpower and pre-historic computing power to run the numbers.  

Steve was not concerned in 1944.  

When Steve woke up in the twenty-first century, he had no way of knowing just how important and influential the WCHS had become.  He did not know that a small, growing movement during the war had become an all encompassing super power of its own.  A power that was unchecked and limitless against an all too willing world-wide population.

He didn't know that SHIELD, the United States Government, the United Nations, they were all a few steps below the WCHS in terms of global power.  When the WCHS made a request, SHIELD would do its best to comply.

Which is why when Maria Hill was told to get Steve Rogers into the database, she didn't ask questions.  

She thought plenty of questions, she just didn't vocalize them.

Steve Rogers should have already been in the database.  There was no reason to re-enter him, he had been frozen solid for nearly seven decades, there was no way any of his readings could have been changed during his time in the ice.  

One of her most prevalent thoughts was that now that he was genetically perfect, he should have come back as a match to every woman on the planet.  

And finally, she couldn't help but wonder why they weren't working harder to bring him into the twenty-first century instead of playing matchmaker.

But she didn't ask the questions.  She sat opposite Steve and explained the samples she would need, as well as the completion of a small questionnaire that hadn't changed since 1944.

"I should be in the system, I mean if the system still exists," Steve furrowed his brow.

"That's what I thought, too," Maria answered with a shrug.  "Let's just get this over with, Captain.  With the track record of you super hero types, it's doubtful you'll come back with a match.  Either that or---you'll match everyone, which will free you from the WCHS."

"I don't understand," Steve shook his head after she had taken the genetic samples necessary and handed him the questionnaire.  "What do you mean _free me_?"

"Things are different now," Maria said in a very low voice, looking around suspiciously.  "When you went into the ice, the world was still autonomous, Captain.  Now, we rely on the WCHS to essentially organize worldwide arranged marriages.  Organize and  _ enforce _ ."

"But---what?" Steve shook his head.  "It's just a matchmaking service."

"Not anymore," Maria shook her head, leaving it at that. She took the completed questionnaire from him and nodded.  "We'll hear back from them in less than a week.  Like I said, chances are you're just going to jam their database."

* * *

The results of Steve's matching were given to two pairs of eyes only.  Blind Case X3201 had one viable living match.  A young woman who had been born from a matchless couple and had been equally matchless her entire life.  An oddity of this new world.  

"What do we do with this?" Alexander Pierce looked down at the results.  He knew what he wanted to do.  He wanted to have  Strike team ready to bring this girl in and keep her until she was needed.  

"THIS has a name," Fury gave his friend an irritated quirk of the eyebrow.  "THIS is a young woman who has attained a higher SHIELD clearance level in six months than most highly-trained recruits can get to in their first two years.  THIS is a girl who considers over half of our Avengers' initiative recruits a friend.  THIS is a girl who works in Stark Tower with a few of the most brilliant minds on the planet."

"Are you saying THIS is fate?" Pierce rolled his eyes.  "Fate hasn't existed since before Rogers was shot up with super serum."

"I'll handle Miss Lewis," Fury insisted.  "You worry about getting the WCHS off of the security council's back."

* * *

"You found my what?" Darcy sat down in the cushy lab chair she had just used as a skateboard across the length of the lab.  

"Your match," Fury repeated.  

"But, I'm incompatible," Darcy shook her head.  

"Not quite," Fury held up a file folder.  "There's one here."

"Is he five years younger than me?" Darcy furrowed her brow. "I'm not really into younger men."

"He's older than you," Fury assured her, a smirk playing at his lips.

"But...I don't want one," Darcy lamely disputed.

Fury looked down at the girl in undisguised curiosity.  Like so many of his associates and co-workers, he was unmatched as well.  Unlike Miss Lewis, he had been disappointed for a large portion of his life.  Eventually, he learned to funnel that disappointment into his work.  

Darcy Lewis had no disappointment about her matchless state. 

"Why don't I give you a few weeks to adjust to this," Fury offered.  "I have a few projects I'm working on that are about to come to fruition.  Afterward, we'll revisit this topic.  You may want to meet him, Miss Lewis."

"Doubtful."

Fury's phone beeped and he looked down at it with a scowl.  Hill was concerned with Selvig's work.  Hill being concerned about anything was vaguely terrifying.

"I'll rephrase that. You will  _ have  _ to meet him. I'll see you in a few weeks, Miss Lewis."

* * *

Darcy managed to not completely freak out after Nick Fury's visit and subsequent departure. For about ten minutes. Then she seriously needed to talk to someone about it. Her options were limited, however.

She had just sent Jane off to sleep, the small astrophysicist had been noticing some very strange readings in the Nevada desert, and she had inadvertently stayed away for 72 hours trying to figure it out. It had taken all of Darcy and JARVIS' skill to get her to finally let go of the notes she had written on three rolls of toilet paper. She'd be sleeping for at least the next ten hours.

Darcy sighed and composed a quick text to Barton.  _ 911\. Your boss says I'm matched in the database. Freaking the ever loving fuck out. Help. _

She didn't think that Clint would be able to get back to her. He was on a surveillance project that he assured her was a piece of cake, but he didn't check his phone regularly when he was doing surveillance.  _ What's the point of watching something if I'm staring at a screen. Nat almost got shot when I was playing Snake on my phone back in 2005 _ .  _ She almost fricasseed my balls off, Lewis.  _ He had told her this after the first time he hadn't replied back to a text to her in over 10 hours back in New Mexico. Granted, at the time she had just wanted him to bring her back nachos from the convenience store. This was a hell of a lot bigger than that.

Natasha was out. Sure, she and Darcy had bonded quickly over the fact that Darcy could create any baked item with a hot plate and a handful of ingredients. Natasha would definitely offer her an ear to freak out to. But Natasha had warned her she was going under deep and would have to maintain radio silence for two weeks.

Having spies for friends seriously sucked.

Rhodey was in Washington DC, as he always was. He'd have been a great sympathetic ear, and honestly he was the most rational member of the strange group of friends she had managed to assemble in a little under a year. She sent him a text as well,  _ Help me please? Need a friendly ear to hear me freaking out _ .

Tony was busy with working on the power grid for Stark Tower. And he wouldn't have been her first choice to talk to anyway. He'd clap his hands and talk about her finally getting some. And then continue to talk about her getting some. And when he had exhausted that topic, he'd take a deep breath and talk about her getting some.

Pepper wasn't exactly close with her. Darcy and Jane had been in the tower only two months at that point, and Pepper had flown across the globe approximately fifty times in that span of time. She was a busy woman, and while she was very nice and seemed amazing (Darcy _seriously_ had a girl crush), Darcy would feel like she was taking up too much of the important woman's time.

“JARVIS? Is Happy in the tower?” Darcy wondered.

“I'm sorry, Miss Lewis, Happy is currently on security detail for Ms. Potts off site,” the ever helpful AI informed her. He paused before asking, “You seem to be distressed after receiving your news?”

“Yeah---I uhm, never saw myself getting matched up with anyone,” Darcy sighed, looking down at her hands. Matchless children just didn't happen in the world anymore. She was one out of a handful of people around the globe. The sample was so small that the WCHS didn't even bother to study them. They just figured she'd remain matchless forever.

“Would it be so terrible to find someone you are compatible with?” JARVIS wondered. “The success rate for the WCHS stands at ninety-eight percent worldwide.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Darcy shrugged. “But there's a ton of stories out there that say the ninety-eight percent is just because people are too lazy to divorce or split up or try to do this whole...finding the right person for them on their own. I mean, I have a friend from college who hates her match, but she refuses to step away from it because her parents would be pissed and now they have their first baby and what would it look like for the kid if he came from a broken match...”

“Miss Lewis, I am having tea delivered from the kitchens, along with your favorite coffee cake,” JARVIS announced at her first pause for breath. “You seem highly agitated.”

“Thanks J-money,” Darcy nodded. She smiled when the delivery bot came into the lab with her tray of tea and cake. She polished off her treat, allowing the tea to warm her and try to calm her nerves.

  
  


“Perhaps a walk in the park would help?” JARVIS suggested. “Ms. Potts often will utilize her treadmill when she is trying to work through a problem.”

“That's a great idea, thanks JARVIS!” Darcy nodded, giving the tray back to the delivery bot and grabbing her purse.

“I will monitor you on local surveillance cameras to ensure your safety, Miss Lewis.”

“Aww, JARVIS, you're the sweetest.”

* * *

New York City Springtime was a tempestuous thing. One day it would be 85 degrees and humid, and the next it would be a chilly 45 with an arctic wind. That day had been somewhere in between, and Darcy lamented the fact that she had left her homemade scarf and knit hat in the lab. She had walked one block away from the tower before she was shivering from head to toe, cursing her susceptibility to cold after spending six months in the desert. She stopped at a corner cafe and decided that to continue her walk, she'd need the hottest and largest damned to go cup of coffee she could get her hands on.

“Hot tamale, get a load of that dame.”

Darcy had been used to a lot of catcalling in her lifetime. When your boobs came in at 13 and came in HUGE, you tended to hear a few things. She had managed to cultivate an acid tongue and an impressive resting bitch face to fend off those more hurtful comments.

But the adorable group of old men hadn't meant for their comment to be heard. She suspected one of their hearing aids was malfunctioning. She ordered a coffee and gave the one with the adorable glasses a flirty wink and a  _ pew pew  _ finger gun.

“Aww, dollface, you're gonna fritz out my pacemaker!” the old man chuckled. He turned in his seat and addressed a young man in a leather jacket sitting at the next table over, who had been watching the interaction with a small smile on his face. “Forget the blonde, ask this looker out. She's got sass!”

“ Hey now, maybe I'm looking for somebody a little older,” Darcy smiled at the table of laughing older men, her eyes darting to the young man very briefly.  _ Woah _ . Hot tamale, indeed. “I like a mature guy that knows how to treat a gal right.”

“Call my lawyer, I'm writing her into my will!”

Darcy laughed, an explosively loud bark of mirth that bounced off the tall concrete walls and seemed to create a joyous, short melody. Steve Rogers openly stared then, fascinated with the way those pouty red lips opened wide as she full on belly laughed. His pencil moved on the sketchbook page on its own, outlining her face very quickly. He blushed and looked down when she finally stopped laughing and looked at him again.

He quickly turned back to an older page, filled with building facades and ornately done sketches of the various stone statues around the city. He could feel her eyes still on him and he took one slow, deep breath. He heard Bucky in his head.

_Open that sorry shit hole you call a mouth and say something, punk_ .

“It's rude to stare,” he looked up at her and pursed his lips in the smallest smirk.

“Sorry. I like your sketches,” Darcy smiled back freely. “You've got a lot of skill.”

“Just doodles,” Steve shook his head, shrugging off her compliment.

“Sure sure, and this guy is just a harmless old fool,” Darcy jerked a thumb back to the man who was now watching the two of them with his chin in his hand. “Not an actual facts shit disturber.”

“Nothing wrong with a meet cute,” the older gentleman mumbled. “This world could use more meet cutes.”

“So, I was just heading to the park, do you sketch landscapes, or is it just old stone buildings for you?” Darcy smiled. She didn't know what had gotten in to her. Maybe it was her impending match talk with Fury. Maybe Jarvis had secretly ordered a shot of liquid courage in the tea she had thrown back half an hour ago. Maybe that old guy was secretly a Cupid.

She just knew she wanted to know this leather jacket guy. She wanted to know his name and ask him why his eyes looked so damned sad, even when his mouth was smirking at her. And very, very suddenly, she wanted to reach out and push that perfect swoop of honey colored hair messily over his forehead.

“I've been known to sketch some wildlife,” Steve shrugged.

The waitress came back out with Darcy's to go cup and a smile towards Steve. Darcy's eyebrows hiked up in amusement before she gave her old-man Cupid another wink and began to walk away.

“If you don't go after that ripe tomato, I'm going to smack you with that book and go get her myself.”

The Bucky voice inside of his head agreed with the sentiment and reiterated the threat.  Steve was out of his seat in no time.

* * *

Darcy had made it a block away from the cafe when heavy, quick footfalls sounded from behind her. She tried to bite back a grin when leather jacket guy slowed his pace and walked along side her.

“I'm Darcy, by the way.”

“Steve,” he nodded at her.

Darcy waited for the inevitable questions as they walked along in companionable silence.

_ Are you not matched? _

_ Are you from a broken match? _

_ Seriously, why is a woman of child-bearing age not matched up with a ring on her finger? _

Steve, to his credit, asked none of these questions and millions of more rude follow-ups. He stared straight ahead, his eyes darting around their path very quickly and thoroughly, as if he were looking for potential threats. He reminded her of a SHIELD agent in his posture and constant vigilance.

“So Steve, you hang out with those adorable old geezers at the cafe often?” Darcy wondered. “You seemed to be part of their little club.”

“I see them about once a week,” Steve acknowledged. “They're pretty funny guys, if a little nosy.”

“Hmm, did they try to set you up with the waitress?” Darcy smiled knowingly.

“It might have been mentioned,” Steve nodded.

“Glad you resisted their plan,” Darcy giggled.

  
  


“I prefer a brunette,” Steve muttered. His inner Bucky cheering raucously in his head.

They arrived at the park, and quickly found a bench to call their own. Darcy sipped at her coffee and people watched, while Steve pulled out his sketchbook and doodled. If he surreptitiously glanced at his companion and made a few more elegant strokes on the sheet that had the beginnings of her face, well, then that wasn't so bad. An older woman came by and Darcy shimmied on the bench to make room, so that she and Steve were sitting tight against each other, thighs pressed tight.

And if Darcy didn't immediately move back and give Steve some breathing room when the older woman had wandered off, then it was just because the conversation was so good. And if they sat there side by side until the sun started to set hours later, well, time flies when you're having fun.

“So, I have to ask, because, it---well I have to ask,” Darcy blurted. “Are you un-matched?”

“Uhm...yeah,” Steve nodded. Maria had taken the necessary samples and data from him to be entered into the system, but that had been three weeks ago, and he hadn't heard anything since. He assumed that his genetic code had been so altered that there hadn't been a match.

“Huh,” Darcy nodded. She stared down at her hands, a little line appearing between her brows. He didn't ask if she was matched, which was seriously weird. That's all anyone cared about. If you were unmatched you were considered easy pickings.  If you were matched you were considered invisible and untouchable.  And twenty-four hours ago, Darcy would have buttoned up her courage and admitted that she was match-less with as much pride as she could muster.

Today, she felt terrible, because here was this seriously adorable, hot as sin guy sitting next to her and she could seriously see herself spending an awful lot of time with him in the future. And he was matchless but she had just found out that she was suddenly very much no longer matchless.  She was going to have to meet this supposed perfect match for her in a few weeks and she would be expected to either marry the guy or pop out a couple of kids for the greater good of humanity.

If she didn't, she could be fined, censured, even incarcerated. People didn't disobey the WCHS.

She was trapped and it felt very much like her free will and decision were being yanked away from her. She hadn't realized the freedom she had before Nick Fury dropped his bombshell earlier that day.

“Are you okay, Darcy?” Steve questioned.

“I'm---I'm fine. I have to go,” Darcy said quickly. “Sorry, but, yeah. Sorry.”

“Wait...I'd---I'd very much like to see you again, Darcy,” Steve blurted out with a surprising amount of bravery. Bucky would have been proud. “I really enjoyed spending the day with you.”

“Uhm...yeah, me too,” Darcy nodded. She pulled out her phone and said, “You can give me your number.”

“I don't have a cellphone,” Steve admitted sheepishly. He _had_ a cellphone, provided by SHIELD, but it was sitting in a drawer in his apartment. He turned his sketchbook to a new page and offered her his pencil, “But I can go and get one.”

“ Oh, well, here's my number then,” Darcy grabbed the pencil and scribbled her number down. She smiled and was seriously charmed at how he was smiling down at her number on the paper.  _ Screw it _ . She bent over and pressed her lips to his cheek, very close to the corner of his mouth. When she pulled away her own cheeks were flaming and she nodded. “I'll see you soon, Steve.”

  
  


Steve watched her _run_ away with no small amount of confusion. He thought he had been doing pretty well. He thought he was a small step away from making a friend. His first friend in this modern new world. A very pretty friend. A very pretty friend that he had wished had kissed him on the lips instead of on the cheek.

He looked down and turned the book back to the page with the sketch he had been doing of her face, his pencil mid-scratch on a pair of plump, smiling lips. He quickly scribbled something under the half-finished sketch and sighed, before getting up and heading back to his apartment, keen on figuring out the ridiculous glass and plastic rectangle that Maria had insisted was a phone.

Steve had woken up alone after sixty-six years. He felt like he'd been cheated out of an awful lot. All of the Howling Commando's and Peggy had moved on and gotten married and had families and full lives. And he had lost the only person he had ever really loved in Bucky before being frozen and transported to a foreign new time. Darcy was the first bright spot he had encountered. He really hoped that he hadn't done anything to scare her away so suddenly.

_Darcy_ .

“I really hope that I'll be seeing you soon.”

* * *

* * *

  
  


** Chapter Two: On a Scale of 1 to America, How Free Are You Tonight? **

* * *

* * *

Steve's first mistake on the helicarrier was assuming that Fury couldn't impress him.

His second mistake was underestimating how nosy Natasha Romanoff was, even in the middle of a terrifying, busy mission.

He walked into the locker room where his uniform was and furrowed his brow at the red-headed spy going through his sketchbook with not a care in the world. She cleared her throat and turned to the page with the half-finished sketch of Darcy's face.

“Small world,” she remarked with a small smirk.

“You know her?” Steve stood next to Natasha and looked down at the pretty face he wished he had time to finish. Now he was back to work, and he seriously doubted fate would allow him to run into her again. And as nice as the texting back and forth was, he would really prefer to talk to her face to face.

“Clint introduced me to her a little while ago,” Natasha nodded. “She was in New Mexico while you were being thawed out, and Thor had landed. She's an intern for the leading astrophysicist in inter-realm travel.”

“ Shouldn't the leading astrophysicist in inter-realm travel... _ be here _ ?” Steve shook his head in confusion. “Some additional brains couldn't hurt.”

“Dr. Foster is not an option. She and Darcy are on a plane to Norway,” Natasha shook her head. “It's kind of a big deal that they stay out of the action and safe.”

“Well, that's good,” Steve nodded.

“You've been texting her,” Natasha nodded, the hint of an approving smile on her face. “She thought your first attempts at texting were very adorable and expertly punctuated.”

“I had to ask my seventy-three year old neighbor to translate her texts to me,” Steve admitted. He had no idea what LOL had meant, but she had said it to him an awful lot in the messages. Apparently, she found him very amusing, and Esther (his neighbor) had assured him it was a good thing. Ladies loved a great sense of humor.

“She is not aware of what you do for a living,” Natasha commented.

“Yeah, and she didn't tell me that she was working with the leading astrophysicist in inter-realm travel. We talk a lot but not so much about work,” Steve shrugged. “It'll come up when it comes up.”

Natasha nodded and kept her mouth shut, now was not the time to talk about Darcy's impending match. And it definitely was not the time to inform Steve that he too, would have to have a chat with a WCHS representative when the dust settled. The results had taken a while to trickle back down to Maria, the higherups had held on to them for weeks now.

Steve nodded towards the new uniform and asked, “You gonna give me two minutes to change, or did you want a free show?”

Natasha blinked at Steve, in her closest approximation to surprise. She had not been expecting a sense of humor, even though Darcy was constantly laughing at her phone according to Rhodey. Steve gave her a trolly little smirk before going to the buttons on his shirt, clearly he had no problems with stripping down in front of a co-worker, female or not. Natasha thought about his old days in the USO tour, she was sure he was used to stripping down in front of a locker room full of ladies.

“I'll be waiting on the quinjet. Clint might get irrationally jealous if I saw Captain America's tighty-whiteys,” Natasha smirked before getting up and walking towards the locker room door.

“ Agent Romanoff?” Steve called out. He gave her a wicked smirk when she turned around to look at him in his undershirt and khaki pants. He went to the belt buckle and said, “There was a reason we were called the howling  _ commandos _ .”

Natasha turned away with a genuine smile. Steve Rogers was an absolute  _ troll _ .

Darcy would be perfect for him.

* * *

Darcy was  _ so bored _ .

“I'm so bored, Janie.”

And Darcy had no problem telling Jane that she was bored. Repeatedly. Over and over again. Constantly.

They had gotten the consultation as a last minute gig, and it was so ridiculously lucrative that they literally could not say no. But now they were sitting in a fancy hotel in Norway, bored as crap, with nothing to do and no one but each other to talk to. And absolutely zero cell service, so Darcy couldn't even text Steve, aka the Jane Austen texter. Even if she did have service, the amount of multi-part text messages that Steve would send just to describe what he was doing would have sent her roaming charges through the roof.

“So...what are you going to do about your match?”

Darcy rolled her eyes. Jane had been bringing up the fact that Nick Fury had come to her with her long lost match nonstop since Darcy had made the regrettable mistake of telling her while they were in line at airport security.

“Well, the WCHS and the American government will make sure that I pop out two kids with the elusive match,” Darcy shrugged. “Then my duty to the world and the human race will be complete and I will be able to go back to being a free spirit, following you around, toasting your poptarts, flirting with cute boys in leather jackets at coffee shops in New York City...”

“Cute boys in leather jackets?” Jane repeated. “Say it again, please? With details. So many details.”

“Uhm, two weeks ago, after Fury told me he found my match, I met the cutest, _hottest_ dude with the most amazing smile at a coffee shop,” Darcy shrugged. “His name is Steve. And he didn't ask one damned question about matches or if I was matched or if I was waiting or whatever.”

“ Woah, that's... _ strange _ ,” Jane shook her head. “Is he secretly Asgardian? I mean, remember how confused Thor was when we started talking about matches?”

“Dunno, he was hot enough to be Thor's cousin,” Darcy nodded.

“LIES!” Jane gasped.

“ NOT EVEN A LITLE!” Darcy insisted. “He was as hot as the sun, and his jawline was...was... _ heroic _ , Janie! And we've been texting each other ever since, and he's just...he's the sweetest, funniest guy. And...now is when the universe has decided to drop the supposedly perfect match on my head. Because of course it is.”

“Well...at least you knew you were matched at that point, so you didn't get your hopes up about pretty, heroically jawed strangers?” Jane offered helpfully. Except by the devastated and gloomy look on Darcy's face, Jane _knew_ that she totally had gotten her hopes up. Way, way up.

They sat in silence for another ten minutes before they both sighed and simultaneously complained,

“ _ I'm bored _ .”

“Let's hack into SHIELD and find out who my match is!” Darcy said suddenly, her eyes wide with a sudden plan. If she could find her match before Fury found her again, she could convince him that they should totally just pretend to be married and not do anything else at all so that she could date a really cute guy named Steve she met two weeks ago.

Jane gave Darcy two thumbs up in hearty agreement, like it was an automatic response to Darcy's _great idea_ tone. And it was. Darcy usually had pretty entertaining ideas to dispel boredom. “Awesome.”

* * *

“Nat says you met-cute Darcy.”

Steve glared at Clint as they waited for the next wave of alien invaders to swarm their little bridge.

“Is now really the best time?” Steve wondered, flinging his shield into the neck (or at least he assumed it was the neck) of the nearest Chitauri.

“Not many people meet cute nowadays, Cap. It's not the 40's,” Clint shrugged.

“Well, we may have met cute, but she kind of ran away,” Steve shrugged, retrieving his shield and using it to bludgeon the Chitauri to death. “And every time I want to meet her somewhere, she's busy.”

“She was having a rough day,” Clint shrugged, remembering the text message he had received and had been unable to reply to as of yet.   “She'll probably come back to the tower, if it's still standing after all this. You could talk to her again. She could use a friend, I think.”

“We'll see,” Steve sighed, looking to the portal in the sky where more aliens were pouring out of.

“Pretty sure you could use a friend too,” Natasha put in helpfully, ending her silence as she stood shoulder to shoulder with Clint, guns drawn and firing at any and all aliens. “Just a hunch.”

* * *

“Thank fuck we're not in New York,” Darcy whispered as she and Jane were glued to the screen, watching the life feed of the action.

“ Yeah,” Jane nodded. She watched as Thor flew to the top of the Empire State Building and charged his lasers. “But  _ Thor _ .”

“Well, at least we know that he can come back now,” Darcy shrugged. “And I'm sure our trip to Norway is due to the fact that he would want you safe. I mean...if this is his crazy friends or aliens or family or whatever...he'd want you safe, Janie.”

“I know,” Jane nodded. “Can you hack into someone's phone? Coulson! Or oh, call your buddy Clint so I can talk to him at least.”

“They look a little busy,” Darcy shrugged. She looked at the screen and squinted. She took off her glasses and put her face half an inch from the screen, so close that her nose was bumping against it. “Holy crap.”

“Holy what now? Yeah, so, it's Captain America,” Jane shrugged. “I heard a bunch of security at Stark Tower saying that he was found in the ice a little while ago.”

“ That's Steve Rogers.  _ Steve _ ,” Darcy said quietly. She pointed at the screen and whisper-yelled, “JANIE! That's my leather jacket guy!  _ My Steve! _ ”

* * *

When the dust cleared, and the Avengers went their separate ways, Nick Fury returned to the Guest House. He watched as Phil Coulson was pulled back into life, painfully and torturously. He didn't regret his decision. The world needed Phil Coulson just as much as it needed Iron Man and Captain America. The difference was that the world didn't know it yet.

“Was there a way this could have gone easier for him?” Fury wondered softly of the lead scientist on Project T.A.H.I.T.I.

“This will never be easy,” the scientist answered back neatly.

“The primary purpose of this whole project was to be able to bring back an Avenger if the world needed it,” Fury reminded him. “What would make it easier for you to do? We have plenty of alien bodies to study now, as well as more alien tech. What would make it better?”

“We don't need the aliens to make this process better,” the scientists shook his head. “To tell you the truth, if we had a way to get tissue, plasma or blood that matches on a genetic level, that would have made the process...well, nearly fool proof.”

“What kind of genetic match? We can't clone them yet. And frankly, I don't want to clone any of them. One set of heroes is difficult enough to manage,” Fury rolled his eyes.

“An identical twin would be ideal, but honestly, anything would help. A child, even with only half of the genetics of a parent would still give us a head start on the healing,” the scientist admitted. “Agent Coulson had zero lung capacity. It took us such a long time to stabilize it, if we had a bank of stem cells, or hell, any tissue that was his genetic match, we could have saved so much time and it would have theoretically been less painful.”

“Alright. I'll get to work on it,” Fury nodded. “Thank you for your work on Coulson. It's appreciated.”

Fury walked out of the Guest House, intent on finding Darcy Lewis and introducing her to her match.

The fate of the world depended on it now.

* * *

“Welcome back.”

“Holy shit, it's Captain America.”

Steve rolled his eyes at Darcy's glib, playful tone as he stood in the doorway to Jane's lab, a carrier tray of coffees in his hand. Two iced coffees and two hot coffees. He looked down at them and then back up at Darcy with a friendly smile.

“I didn't know which kind you'd like more...the weather's been pretty unpredictable this spring,” Steve shrugged.

“Iced please,” Darcy couldn't help but give him a big, thankful grin. He walked towards her and let her have her pick before putting the rest of the coffee on the lab bench. “So...thanks for the coffee. And you know, saving the world.”

“It's nothing,” Steve shook his head with a sheepish smile on his lips. “I take it your trip to Norway went well.”

“It was pretty boring, but otherwise alien free,” Darcy admitted.

“I prefer the world being alien free,” Steve agreed with a smirk. “Well, except for your pal, Thor. He was pretty helpful.”

“And easy on the eyes,” Darcy waggled her eyebrows, grinning when it elicited a bark of laughter from him.

“How do you feel about going out and grabbing some lunch with me?” Steve wondered suddenly. “Clint said that you might be able to use a friend...and I know he's taking some downtime so I'm volunteering my services. And, in the spirit of total honesty, I could really use a friend too, Darcy.”

“Alright. That sounds great,” Darcy gave him a small, genuine smile and a shrug. “How do you feel about Mexican food?”

“My neighbor, Esther, gave me a taco once, it was pretty amazing,” Steve said seriously, causing Darcy to giggle as she got her purse and her jacket.

“Oh, Steve, I'm going to introduce you to queso and guac and the never ending fresh tortilla chip bowl,” Darcy promised. “It's completely life changing.”

* * *

Lunch turned into people watching in the park. And that turned into a late afternoon frozen yogurt stop. And that turned into going into cheap tourist shops near Times Square. And that turned into a leisurely walk for more coffee and then very slowly meandering back towards the tower. It had been Steve's best day in 2012 so far, and it had been Darcy's best day in a really long time. She hadn't thought about her looming match talk with Fury the whole time she was with Steve.

So of course Natasha was waiting in front of the tower for them.

“Did you have fun?” she wondered, a small, indulgent smile on her face as she looked between both Darcy and Steve.

“Yup,” Darcy answered back easily.

“Director Fury has been here for two hours, it took all of my powers of persuasion to get him to not send out a squad after you,” Natasha revealed quietly.

Fury's name made Darcy freeze and a fearful shiver went through her. Steve noticed, as her arm was wrapped in his and he looked down in concern.

“Darcy, are you alright?” Steve murmured. “What's going on? What can I do to help?”

“ I don't want to meet with Fury,” Darcy said honestly. Her big, scared blue eyes darted between a truly concerned Steve and a gently smiling Natasha. “Like...I  _ really  _ don't want to.”

“Is this about your match?” Natasha asked softly.

“I don't _want_ a match,” Darcy shook her head. “I never asked for one, and I've been matchless my whole life and I don't want anyone to tell me I have to marry another person or have kids with them. I---I don't want it!”

“Darcy, you know as well as I do that these things can't be stopped,” Natasha reminded her.

“No one can _force_ her to do anything,” Steve ground out. He pulled on Darcy's arm to have her facing him fully, his big hands running up and down her arms in a protective, soothing gesture. “What do you want to do, Darcy? How can I help you?”

“I don't want to meet with Fury. I want to---I want to run away,” Darcy admitted. “They can't make me marry some random guy off the street. And they can't...I'm not a baby machine. I want to run.”

“Okay, we'll run,” Steve nodded. He looked to Natasha again and asked, “Will you help us?”

“Of course,” Natasha shrugged, as if that was the plan all along. She held out her hands, “Give me your phones. Go to the garage, I'll have JARVIS direct you to a Stark car that will take you to a non-SHIELD safe house. I'll make sure to get you what you'll need to go away.”

“Thank you,” Darcy nodded, finding that Steve had moved his hand down to grip hers and it made her feel safe. It made her feel strong. It made her feel as if she _could_ escape the WCHS.

“Don't mention it,” Natasha shook her head as Steve pulled on Darcy's hand and began walking very quickly towards the side entrance for the garage. “Darcy? You can't run from this forever.”

“But I can run for now. And that's plenty good enough.”

* * *

“Captain Rogers, Director Fury would like to see you as well,” JARVIS announced as Steve and Darcy piled into the only sensible SUV in Stark's overly packed garage full of ostentatious vehicles. The Jeep was a sedate navy blue, and wasn't overly large and didn't have spinning, sparkly rims, or giant spikes coming out of the grill.

“Director Fury can kiss my patriotic ass,” Steve huffed out in annoyance. He didn't have a problem with Fury before today. But the mention of his name had sent Darcy into a panic, so at the moment, the Director of SHIELD was not high on his list of friends.

“Shall I relay that message?” JARVIS asked immediately. His boss was Tony Stark. He had certainly delivered worse messages.

“No need, JARVIS,” Darcy shook her head. “Just tell Director Fury that Steve is otherwise occupied.”

“Certainly,” JARVIS agreed. “If you will follow the GPS instructions, they will guide you to the appropriate Stark safehouse where you can plan the next leg of your escape.”

“Thanks JARVIS,” Darcy smiled as Steve started the engine and wasted no time in pulling out of the space and heading towards the exit of the garage. She smiled at him and said softly, “You really didn't have to do this, Steve, but I'm so grateful that you're willing to help me. And this isn't Fury's fault. He's just the messenger. I'm sure he's taking no joy in this.”

  
  


“ Yeah, I know. But no person should be forced into a relationship with a stranger. That's not what Erskine would have wanted, it was supposed to be a voluntary matchmaking service, not  _ this _ ,” Steve shook his head. He gave her a reassuring smile and reached down to grasp her hand in his, “And I'll always be willing to help you, Darcy. I like you...very much.”

“Oh, ditto,” Darcy nodded, her cheeks flushing red. She looked back out the front window and her eyes widened. “Shit.”

Steve followed her line of sight and his foot tapped the break unconsciously. Nick Fury was standing at the garage entrance, flanked by half a dozen SHIELD agents. Steve took a deep breath before putting his foot down on the gas, increasing his speed, showing absolutely no intention of stopping.

The SHIELD agents dove out of the way twenty feet before Steve arrived at the door. Fury stood his ground until Natasha appeared, tackling Fury out of the entrance, moments before Steve would have rammed the vehicle right into the man.

“Holy shit,” Darcy breathed. “Fury is lucky that Natasha was there.”

“She definitely deserves a raise, because I wouldn't have been able to stop at that point,” Steve huffed out a relieved breath. He looked at the GPS panel and said, “Okay, once we're out of the city, we'll be driving for about three hours...”

“Well, Nat took my phone, but I got this in the mail a few weeks ago from Coulson before...you know,” Darcy held up her ipod. “Now, Captain America, are you ready to start your musical education properly?”

* * *

Nick Fury glared at Natasha as she gracefully got back to her feet and held a hand out to him to help him up.

“Cutting it kind of close there, Romanoff,” Fury grumbled as the Black Widow pulled him to his feet.

“You wanted it to be believable, didn't you?” Natasha smirked.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Fury sighed as he watched the Jeep that Steve was driving turn out of sight in the distance.

“One trait Darcy and Captain Rogers have in common is a well placed streak of rebelliousness and no small amount of righteousness,” Natasha shrugged. “If you told them they were matched to each other, they would have fought you every step of the way. This way, they think they are fighting you every step of the way, and you're still getting what you want.”

“And what are you getting in this?” Fury wondered.

“Darcy is a friend, I would like to see her happy,” Natasha admitted. “And actually, believe it or not, but the same goes for Steve.”

“I need for this match to take, Romanoff,” Fury said resolutely.

“Give me a month or two, you'll get your match, Director.”

* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  


** Chapter Three: Do You Have a Map? Because I Just Keep Getting Lost in Your Eyes **

* * *

Steve and Darcy drove non-stop until they hit the town with Tony Stark's safe house. It was a split-level suburban home in a nondescript Pennsylvania town. Darcy had the bright idea to hit up the Target before arriving at the safe house so that they would look like they were moving in. She used the Stark card hidden in the glove compartment for emergencies and together they filled a few suitcases with clothing and whatever else they could grab off the shelves during their fifteen minute shopping spree.

“We should try to stay away from areas that have surveillance cameras,” Darcy nodded towards one of the cameras in the ceiling. “The safe assumption is that Fury has access to anything connected to the internet.”

“Sunglasses,” Steve said, steering the overly full cart towards a nearby rack. He grabbed a baseball cap off a nearby shelf and threw it in the cart.

“Now you'll be practically invisible!” Darcy teased him with a smirk. “Have you seen your perfect jaw? Or your shoulder to waist ratio?”

“I have looked in a mirror in the past few weeks, yes,” Steve teased back.

“No baseball cap and pair of sunglasses is going to hide you,” Darcy promised. She looked at him carefully and wondered, “Can you grow a beard?”

“Never tried,” Steve shrugged.

“Well you're going to,” Darcy nodded. “I think you'd look handsome with a beard.”

“Thanks,” Steve blushed. “I think you'd...”

He paused and winced at the automatic compliment he had been ready to pay her and Darcy giggled.

“Go ahead, finish the thought,” she goaded.

“I think you'd look handsome with a beard too,” Steve huffed a sigh, his cheeks turning bright red. Bucky was laughing at him in his head again. He was still kind of shit at talking to girls.

“I'd be the prettiest bearded lady at the circus,” Darcy agreed. “Now, important questions. Candy opinions...chocolate or are you just a straight sugar heathen?”

“While I prefer chocolate and peanut butter, I'm still a big fan of both,” Steve shrugged. “With a metabolism like mine, you can never have enough candy.”

“Ugh, you're disgusting. Come on, let's go load up. If we're going to watch every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix, we're going to have to have enough candy to get us through.”

Steve pushed the full cart as Darcy led them to the ridiculous overstocked candy aisle, watching as she threw giant colorful bags full of candy on top of all of their other purchases. She was adorable and he knew that he was in for a world of trouble. He really,  _ really  _ liked her.

“Darcy?”

“Hmmm...ohh, they have an even bigger bag of reese's peanut butter cups. Can you reach up there and grab it for me?” Darcy asked sweetly, pointing to what had to be a five pound bag of candy.

“Aren't you even a little curious about your match?” Steve wondered as he reached on the top shelf and grabbed a bag for her. He turned and saw that her face was carefully blank as she took the candy from him and placed it in the cart. “I realize you're scared, but I don't want you to regret running away. With me.”

“That's never going to happen, I would never regret this,” Darcy insisted. “Steve, I don't want a questionnaire I filled out at the age of 18 deciding the rest of my life. I don't want to be told how I should live the rest of my life.”

“ I only knew one matched pair during the war. Morita...he, uh, was matched up towards the end. I looked it up, they got married. Had five kids. They looked... _ happy _ ,” Steve shrugged. “What if you're running from happiness?”

“I'm not,” Darcy shook her head resolutely. “And you want to know how I know that?”

“How?”

“ Because. I'm really happy with  _ you _ ,” Darcy said softly. She reached out and grabbed his hand, interlacing her fingers with his. “I like you, Steve. A lot. And I don't care what the matchmaking says, I want to be here with you.”

“Okay,” Steve nodded, squeezing her hand as he pushed the cart one handed down the aisle. “Just so you know. I really like you too.”

* * *

Steve pulled into the garage that JARVIS had opened for them and no sooner were they in the house, did they realize that this was no typical suburban home. It was Tony Stark's idea of a typical suburban home on steroids. The floors were beautiful hardwood, the counters were ridiculously amazing marble, the walls were artfully painted to maximize and brighten the space, and the furniture looked like it belonged in a magazine of someone's perfect, cozy, comfy chic home.

And of course, every surface was either covered in a Stark-made electronic device or a glass panel.

Three of the glass panels flickered to life and Tony's smiling face was on each of them.

“Capsicle! How goes the honeymoon? I see you spent a pittance on the Stark-card,” Tony shook his head. “Really, Darcy Lewis, I'm disappointed in you. You've been itching for a me-funded shopping spree for months now. You're letting the depression geezer influence your spending habits.”

“Wait until you see the charges for pizza delivery,” Darcy gave him a wicked grin. “Steve says he has a great metabolism.”

“Ugh, he's disgusting,” Tony huffed. “So...how IS the honeymoon, kids?”

“Tony,” Steve gave him an unimpressed look. It was hardly an appropriate joke seeing as Darcy was currently running away from an arranged marriage.

“Well, we're waiting for weird Uncle Tony to stop bothering us so that we can consummate this thing,” Darcy joked.

Tony laughed and pointed at a blushing Steve. He held up his hand to the screen and refused to move it until Darcy held up her hand and did a video-call high five with him.

“Alright, you'll be getting a delivery tomorrow from your friendly neighborhood fedex man, it'll contain some things you might need. I would lie low, there isn't much surveillance in that town, but the WCHS is everywhere, surveillance or not,” Tony nodded. “As always, mi casa es your casa. And do your worst on trying to max out that card, Lewis. I'll be entertained with your efforts. FYI, Pepper can max one of those bad boys out in less than an hour.”

“That's why she's the queen,” Darcy nodded.

“Tony, thanks a lot,” Steve said genuinely. “I really appreciate your help here.”

“See, it's so difficult to be mean to you when you pull out the sincere puppy thing that you do,” Tony rolled his eyes. “And Darce, if you wanted out of a match, you should have asked a long time ago. I could have solved this whole thing for you in a few minutes. Anyway, too late now since the Pirate knows. Have JARVIS get in touch with me if you need anything else.”

“You totally did that genuine appreciation thing on purpose didn't you?” Darcy asked Steve confidentially after Tony hung up and after she got over her shock at his nonchalant offer at solving the match problem before it began. Tony Stark was crazy impressive, but even he couldn't go against the WCHS and win. He was seriously lucky that he was unmatched.

“Darcy Lewis, you are going to be a problem,” Steve shook his head in amused disbelief. “The only other person who has ever been able to call me out on doing something like that was Bucky.”

“Great minds think alike?”

* * *

That night, after eating way too much candy and falling asleep on the lovely and oversized couch in front of the television screen, wrapped up in too many blankets, Darcy had her first run in with Steve's night terrors. Darcy had fallen asleep midway through the Season One finale of _Buffy_ , her cheek landing against Steve's surprisingly comfortable bicep. It had been a very eventful day, and Steve had watched her sleeping, completely missing whatever was playing on the television.

He had shifted so that his arm was around her, her face against his chest, a little wet spot of drool accumulating on his t-shirt. He'd found sleep pretty easily that night, which was no small accomplishment as he hadn't been sleeping particularly well since before 1943.

There was something about the small woman cuddled up against him, drooling on him, letting out a small snorting snore with every inhale. She had trusted him to help her, and Steve wouldn't be Captain America if he didn't have a little bit of a hero complex. He wanted to help her, not only to stay safe, but to stay  _ happy _ . It was a mission ingrained upon him now, just one day old, but still so very important already.

She was so easy to talk to. He honestly hadn't had an easier time conversing, laughing and just plain being with another person since Bucky. And the fact that she was easy on the eyes was like icing on the cake.

He fell into dream land with the feeling of her sleep warm curves pressed up against his side, and the lovely vanilla smell of her hair filling his nose. His last conscious thought was that she was well on her way to becoming more important to him than anything else in 2012.  _ Quickly. _

So when he woke up to a terrified Darcy underneath him, repeating his name over and over again, he had the realization that the very real dream he had of Darcy being dropped into a Hydra base covered in Chitauri and Hydra troops alike was just his brain's way of telling him what happened to the important things in his life. He had desperately tried to save her, covering her as the gunfire and alien fire came rushing in at her.

Darcy had woken up when Steve pushed her to her back on the couch and covered her body as he screamed and lashed out at imaginary villains that were trying to attack them.

“It's okay,” she promised. “I'm fine. We're both right here, in the living room, and there's nobody here but us, we're safe, Steve. It's alright. Come back to me, please.”

He was breathing heavily, his eyes darting around in confusion. His eyes finally landed on Darcy and his face twisted with his unspoken apology.

“No, Steve, it's okay, I'm fine,” Darcy reassured him. “You were trying to _protect_ me.”

He sat up, looking down at his clothing, drenched through in sweat and put his head in shaking hands. Darcy sat up as well and gave him a gentle kiss to the temple before whispering,

“I'll be right back.”

She was gone less than two minutes, coming back with a large glass of water in one hand and a change of clothing in the other.

“I'm sorry,” Steve rasped out after he downed half of the glass of water.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Darcy reached out and tugged at his sweated through t-shirt. “Do the nightmares happen often?”

  
  


“Often enough,” Steve nodded, pulling off the shirt and tossing it on the floor.

“Do you think it would help to talk to someone about it?” Darcy wondered, popping the new t-shirt over Steve's head. “Like a professional? A therapist?”

“It's just a little shell-shock,” Steve shrugged it off.

“Nowadays, we call it post traumatic stress disorder,” Darcy said softly. “And it's not something that will go away by being stoic and manly. There are all kinds of people out there who you could talk to. And there's nothing wrong with it, it's the only way to feel better. I want you to feel better, Steve. I don't want you to have nightmares.”

“I'll...okay,” Steve nodded. Her concern for him was genuine and powerful and it made a warmth blossom across his chest.  He never wanted to wake up like that again, with her frightened face staring up at him, quietly pleading with him. “Will you help me find someone to talk to?”

“Absolutely, Steve,” Darcy smiled at him, her hands smoothing his hair back off of his forehead. “We'll find someone tomorrow.”

* * *

The next day the delivery truck arrived with a few large boxes. One of them contained Steve's shield. Another contained a literal black briefcase full of unmarked cash with a post it note from Tony stating  _ In case you need to order more pizza _ .

There hadn't been a need to order pizza, because Darcy was currently taking advantage of the state of the art kitchen and totally stocked pantry and fridge. Steve didn't think he'd ever eaten so well. Breakfast had been huge stacks of thick french toast and sausage and copious amounts of maple syrup. She then set a computer tablet in front of him showing him profiles of therapists that he could speak on the phone with that she and JARVIS had managed to compile.

He'd sorted through them, narrowing them down to two to show her. She smiled and pointed at the one on the right.

“He's my favorite, to be honest. I like that he's about your age...your _out of the ice_ age,” Darcy nodded. “And he went through a lot of the same things you did and it'll feel less like you're talking to a therapist and more like you're talking to a friend...a contemporary.”

“ Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.  _ Sam Wilson _ ,” Steve nodded.

“JARVIS? Can we get a starkphone sent to Mr. Wilson so Steve can call him some time?” Darcy wondered.

“Absolutely, Miss Lewis. Mr. Wilson will have the phone tomorrow. I will alert him to the fact that he has been hired as a private therapist,” JARVIS assured them.

“Awesome. We are kicking butt today, Steve!” Darcy held up her hand for a high five and grinned when she pulled Steve's hand up to slap against hers. “So...lunch?”

Lunch had been homemade chicken corn chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches. After that, they went to  _ school,  _ in that Darcy spent an hour going over some history that Steve had missed during his nap in the Arctic and he worked with her on the best way to get away from someone trying to grab you. Steve had never enjoyed actual physical education in school before, but wrapping his arms around her while she wriggled her way out had been quite a bit of fun for him.

Darcy's culinary adventures had even had her making them a three o'clock snack of tasty chocolate chip cookies and milk. Steve was sitting on top of a kitchen stool, his face in a Harry Potter book that Darcy had insisted he read as she assembled dinner and dessert.

“This may be the honeymoon phase talking, but I could get used to feeding a metabolism like yours,” Darcy grinned. “I used to cook at the children's home. I mean, it was just for me and the caretakers, since you know, babies drink formula. But I like cooking. It's nice to take a few simple things and make something extraordinary. I mean, I'm not saving the world or discovering new ways to travel between realms, but I know that I can still make a really delicious chicken parm.”

“And cookies, I think you _could_ save the world with these cookies, or you know, that smart brain of yours,” Steve smiled at her before shoving another chocolate chip cookie into his mouth. “And my metabolism could get used to eating Darcy cooked meals.”

“Flattery will get you anything you want,” Darcy promised.

“You're a swell dame,” Steve added, his now familiar trolly smile on his face. “Smartest gal I ever met, excellent in the kitchen, and pretty as a picture.”

“Now you're just blowing smoke up my butt. You know Natasha Romanoff, I can't be the smartest gal you ever met,” Darcy scoffed.

“But you are everything else. And definitely _one_ of the smartest gals I ever met,” Steve promised genuinely. Not a hint of troll.

“Stop saying such nice things or you will be forced to face the consequences,” Darcy warned playfully.

“Hey, Darcy?” Steve gave her a mischievous little half smile. “You're a real sweetheart.”

“That's it!” Darcy threw the spoon in the pot and rushed around the kitchen counter and put a hand on either side of his face, smooshing his cheeks together. “Oh hey, you can grow a beard. That's a lot of stubble you have coming up there, Steve.”

“Is scwatchy,” Steve said through his smooshed cheeks.

“Give it a day or two, then I'll be able to scratch it for your proper,” Darcy winked.

“I wook fowwad to it,” Steve winked at her, causing Darcy to smoosh his cheeks harder. His hands came up to her wrists and he encircled them with his fingers.

The mood tipped from playful to _more_ in a heartbeat and Darcy's hold on his cheeks lessened, but her hands didn't move. Her soft palms gently brushed the burgeoning stubble on his skin.

“Darcy?”

“hmmm?” she smiled up at him as he angled his body slightly so that she was standing between the space between his legs. She couldn't look away from his eyes, bright and blue and focused on her own lips.

“Can I kiss you?” he murmured. His inner Bucky fainted from sheer pride and shock.

She barely nodded before he moved his head down so that his lips brushed against hers, just a slight caress. He stayed in her personal space and his lips turned upwards in a grin before he dove back in, avidly kissing at those pouty lips he had been fascinated with ever since he saw them wide open with laughter at the little cafe.

Strong hands encircled her waist and pulled her closer, and she felt his fingers digging into her hips.

“Steve,” Darcy whispered as he moved his lips from her mouth to her jaw. “You should know...”

“Hmm?” he asked, sucking at the skin at the juncture of her shoulder and her neck, grinning when she let out a tiny, harsh gasp.

“ Well...the thing is, I'm...I've never...I haven't,” Darcy shrugged. “I just... _ Steve _ .”

He stopped his pleasant marking of her neck and gave her a curious look.

“I know that this seems fast, but I promise you Darcy, I'm not trying to mess around on you,” Steve shook his head. “My whole life is gone, all of my friends, everyone. And you're...you're _the_ bright spot. And I meant what I said, you're smart and pretty and a sweetheart. I really like you. And if you'd like...I'd like to call you my girl. My best girl.”

“ Okay. That sounds...like whole huge ass buckets full of awesome.  But you should know,” Darcy nodded, kissing his lips one more time before pulling away and taking a deep breath. “Full disclosure though, I'm ...well I've never  _ been  _ anyone's girl before.  Or you know...I haven't.  Steve, I'm kind of---you know, a virgin.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Four: Do You Happen to Have A Band-Aid? I Scraped my Knee Falling for You **

* * *

* * *

“Please don't take this the wrong way,” Steve said quietly, his hands on her shoulders as he stared down at her with his most neutral expression on his face, trying not to look like he was judging her in anyway. His inner Bucky was screaming at the top of his lungs

_Don't fuck this up, punk, don't you fucking dare do this to me you stinking, rotten asshole_ . _Who cares how it happened, now you can make it right for her. If you put her off with your stupid questions. I'll end you._

Steve took a slow breath before opening his mouth again, “But how does someone as great as you...I mean, are you religious?”

“Not even a little bit,” Darcy laughed.

“Saving yourself for---well no, because you don't want to be married,” Steve furrowed his brow.

_ Stop asking questions, just tell her it doesn't matter, tell her she's an angel sent from heaven above and kiss her, kiss her and don't stop kissing her! _

Steve fought at the flinch building up in his system. His inner Bucky was being less than helpful with this new revelation.

“I don't want to be told I have to get married. I'm not opposed to it, when it comes down to it. But...it's not really a big deal,” Darcy shrugged. “I get that back in the 40's, during the war, things were different with sex. I mean, it was comfort and acceptable sort of.”

“It was,” Steve nodded.

_Hell yeah it was_ _plenty_ _acceptable_ . _Remember that time during---_

“Well, then the WCHS came along,” Darcy revealed. “And suddenly, there was all this subliminal propaganda about waiting for your perfect match. And people bought into it.”

“But...you never wanted a match,” Steve's hands were still on her shoulders, fingers rubbing in small, shallow circles.

_ So soft and warm and perfect. I swear on all that is holy and good Steven Grant Rogers, if you mess this up I will come back from the dead and kill you _ .

“ Right, but every guy in my age group  _ did _ ,” Darcy admitted quietly. “Dating is a thing your generation did. It's not something people do anymore. They wait for their match and then they start their lives together. It's what society expects. And I never met another unmatched person before Erik and Jane. So, I mean...you're actually only the second man I've ever even  _ kissed _ .”

“Wow, you're a natural,” Steve's eyes widened and a genuine smile bloomed on his face before he pulled her to him again and kissed those lips, slow and deliberate. A contented hum rattling through his chest when he pulled away, his inner Bucky dancing around his brain in euphoria.

“Besides, I was the weird-ass orphan who couldn't get matched up to get adopted,” Darcy shrugged with no small amount of self-effacing humor. “Boys didn't want to get near me. They thought they'd catch a case of the unmatchables.”

“They're idiots,” Steve huffed out in annoyance.

_ Kiss her, jerk. _

He shook his head, suddenly angry when he pulled her in for another kiss, heated and fierce. When he pulled away this time, it was just barely, and his lips moved against hers as he spoke, “ _ I want you _ . So damned much.”

“So, yeah, I figured it was important to go full disclosure here. I mean it's not a big deal. It's just a thing I haven't done yet, like I also haven't ever been camping,” Darcy nodded, her cheeks flaming red in response to Steve's very real desire for her. She could feel it pressing against her hip. That was definitely new to her. “You don't mind, do you?”

“Sweetheart, does it matter to you that I'm not a virgin?” Steve questioned, his hands drifting up and down her back in soothing sweeps.

“Peggy Carter?” Darcy wondered softly.

Bucky snorted in his brain and Steve shook his head. “We were colleagues first, and we were pretty busy with our work. We'd only kissed the once.”

“Oh...the USO showgirls?” Darcy guessed, her mouth tilting up into a smiling little smirk that Steve felt compelled to kiss again.

“Maybe,” Steve shrugged, playing coy.

_ Tell her about that time with the--- _

“Does it matter to you?”

“Of course not,” Darcy promised.

“ Then why on Earth would it matter to me what YOU have or haven't done?” Steve said softly. “You've never been with anyone else. Well, I've never been  _ with you _ . So it's going to be new and exciting for both of us.”

“Just to be clear, you want to know me biblically, right?” Darcy questioned with what Steve could already recognize as her trademark, silly bluntness. “I mean not right now, because there is dinner to be eaten, but you will want to know me in the biblical sense someday. Yes?”

_ Hell yes. _

Steve laughed and his hands gripped at her waist to haul her up into his lap. He grinned into the kiss when her legs draped on either side of his hips and he continued to kiss her lips with a decadent laziness, his hands digging into her perfectly plush hips.

“I would very much like to know you in the biblical sense someday, Darcy,” Steve sighed when the need for oxygen caused him to pull away. “But this is your show now, you tell me what you want, and you'll get it.”

“I like kissing you an awful lot,” Darcy smiled softly.

_ This dame is the most perfect dame in the world. Don't fuck it up, Steven _ .

“Then that is what you will get, sweetheart. And it will be my genuine pleasure to give you those kisses.”

* * *

“How do you lose Captain America?”

Fury shrugged at Alexander Pierce, leveling him with his best poker face. And he was Nick Fury. He had a damned fine poker face.

“The match is being handled,” Fury shrugged nonchalantly. He gave an appraising glance to the man he had called a friend for decades now. “You should have no interest in this anymore. We'll get what we need, and a lovely young woman and a very brave and kind young man will get a happy ending. I don't see what the problem is here.”

“Nick, there's no control here...you just let Rogers run off with this girl, we have no idea if they're serious about the match, they could be playing you,” Pierce disputed. “The WCHS will not be pleased.”

“I have my best people on it, making sure that they follow through. I've been assured they will be married by the end of the year,” Fury shrugged again. “Again, it's handled. The WCHS wants them married. They _will_ be married. We all need to make sure a bunch of Captain America Juniors are brought into the world so the scientists can use placentas and cord blood or whatever to make sure we never _lose_ Captain America, that will probably happen in no time with their compatibility rating. 99.98 percent is a damned guarantee that Miss Lewis and Captain Rogers will get their happily ever after. It's the highest rating that's been given out in the last three decades. The WCHS representatives are thrilled that they're together.”

“ I'd feel a lot more comfortable if it happened where we could  _ see it  _ happening,” Pierce admitted. He had his reasons for having the girl in an easily accessible position. And Fury didn't need to know any of those reasons.

“That's creepily voyeuristic,” Fury snorted. “I have it handled. This is no longer your problem. Let's focus on the next phase.”

* * *

“So, what does being the best girl of Steve Rogers entail, exactly?” Darcy wondered as she wandered into the bedroom that Steve had claimed as his. She was dressed in an overly large t-shirt that hit the tops of her knees and slid down one shoulder, and he ~~hoped~~ assumed small shorts underneath it. She sat cross-legged on the edge of his bed as he put aside the Harry Potter book he had been devouring. She shrugged and said, “I've never been anyone's best girl before.”

“Well, it means you can kiss me whenever you want,” Steve smiled before obnoxiously pouting his lips at her. She didn't move to kiss him, instead she looked at him with an arched eyebrow and a small smile on her face. He waited patiently, pointing to his lips with exaggerated helpfulness.

She rolled her eyes and went to her knees, crawling across the large king sized bed and popping a too brief kiss on his puckered lips. She squealed in delight when he grabbed for her waist, pulling her close so that she straddled his lap as he kissed her properly, stealing her breath away and making her chase for more when he pulled back.

“It means, we keep doing what we've been doing. Spending time together, having fun and talking. It means you have to keep making me cookies,” Steve grinned at her. “And it definitely means I'm keeping you safe, and I'm not letting you go back so those people can try to take you away.”

“ You know, if  _ you  _ were my match, I don't think I'd have a problem with this arranged marriage thing,” Darcy sighed. Steve gave her a dubious look and she shrugged, “Alright, I'm rebellious at heart. I'd be running and screaming if you were my match.”

“It's okay sweetheart, I'm a little rebellious too,” Steve smiled at her. His inner Bucky rolled his eyes and gave him the middle finger. “And I promise you, no one is going to make you do what you don't want to do. Not while I'm here.”

“Thanks,” Darcy smiled softly. She melted against him, her head laying against his chest. “Does your best girl get to sleep here with you?”

“If you want,” Steve said softly, kissing the top of her head. He could feel his pulse pounding in his veins at the very idea of sharing a bed with her. He wanted nothing more than to hold her and wake up to the sight of her face. But a very real fear gnawed at the edge of his happiness. “Promise me if I start thrashing, you'll get out of the bed, though?”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded. She kissed his lips very softly before pulling away and whispering against his cheek, “You didn't hurt me, Steve. You were really trying to protect me in your dream.”

“Still, I'm stronger than I look, if I hurt you, even by accident, I don't know what I'd do,” Steve sighed heavily, inching his way down on the bed so that he was lying against the pillows, Darcy right on top of his chest, his arms wrapped around her like steel bands. “Promise me, Darcy.”

“I promise,” Darcy nodded. She felt the low rumbling of his voice working through his chest and sighed. “Tell me something nobody else knows about you.”

“Hmmm...once, in 1939, I stole something by accident,” Steve said softly, his fingers toying with the ends of her hair. She gave a little gasp of shock and he couldn't help but chuckle softly before explaining, “Bucky and I were buying his little sister her communion gift, and we were deciding between a cross and a locket, and Bucky paid for the cross, and I didn't realize the locket had snagged onto my jacket pocket. I found it a few days later and I was so ashamed that I had stolen it, I couldn't take it back. Thought the shop owner would think I was a no good thief.”

“But it was an accident,” Darcy sleepily mumbled against his t-shirt.

“Yeah, still, the first thing I did with my hazard pay once I had enlisted was to send money to that shop, ten whole dollars, which was a pretty high sum at the time,” Steve admitted with a chuckle. He and Darcy had spent more than that on coffee the other day in New York City. “Bucky said I was a nutjob and that the shop wasn't missing a silly little necklace.”

_ You were a nut job. Ten dollars could've bought us so much more than a stupid locket _ .

“So you didn't steal anything at all. You straight laced goober,” Darcy teased. “What happened to the locket?”

“I kept it through the war, always thought of one day being able to give it to someone special,” Steve shrugged.

“That's sweet, too bad it's gone now,” Darcy mumbled as the rich grumbling sound of Steve's voice, the warm feeling of his arms around her and his solid body beneath her lulled her into a comfortable dozing state.

“Hmmm,” Steve hummed, kissing the top of her head. Howard Stark and Peggy Carter had boxed up all of his things from his quarters and had stored it through the years, eventually going to SHIELD. Fury had returned it to him two days after he had woken up, the locket was in a box sitting on his bookshelf at home. He'd tell her that later, when he gave it to her.

Darcy started in with her tiny, adorable snoring and Steve smiled, looking up to the ceiling and whispering, “JARVIS? Lights?”

The lights dimmed into blackness and Steve reached for the fluffy comforter on the bed, bringing it up and over both he and Darcy. His arms held her close, before he too drifted off with the luxurious feeling of contentment and comfort with her right in his arms.

* * *

Days passed by, blissfully the same. Darcy would cook with an insane amount of joy and Steve would clean with less joy, but insisting it was the least he could do for everything else she was doing for him. Steve had begun calling Sam Wilson, spending an hour every other day talking quietly on the video phone with him. Sam was a godsend. He was smart and irreverent and compassionate. It really did help to talk about the things he had experienced in the War and during the Chitauri invasion. And Sam had a lot of helpful hints for when anxiety struck or the best ways to calm down after a night terror.

Darcy would spend the time that Steve was on the phone with Sam making him something baked and amazing as a celebration for another successful session. She was getting the hang of this _best girl_ thing pretty quickly. She was pretty sure that she was the best _best girl_ that had ever existed. She'd reward him for being open and honest with Sam with a comforting beard scratching, a lovely make out session and then a yummy baked treat. Steve had joked that he'd call Sam a few times a day if she continued to be so good to him.

They'd made it to the fifth season of Buffy in a short amount of time, and Darcy had gotten to the Cold War in her impromptu history lessons. And she could manage to get out of any hold Steve threw her way, so long as he didn't use his full strength to do it. And he rewarded her for every successful training session by letting her tackle him to the ground and roll around on the floor with him.

Steve hadn't had another nightmare since Darcy had begun sleeping in his arms. Sam had warned him that Darcy wasn't a permanent solution to the nightmares, but that he should take what comfort he could. He also approved of Darcy getting out of the bed as soon as any signs of a nightmare showed up. He took a half hour one day drilling her on the warning signs so that she could be prepared.

“So what's the story of you and your girl? I mean...all I know is I got this gig and had to sign my name to about two hundred and sixty-seven non-disclosure agreements,” Sam said at the end of one of their sessions. “And my fee plus an exorbitant tip has been deposited into my account by a traceless source.”

“It's---for lack of a better word, complicated,” Steve shrugged. “There are some people looking for her, and I'd prefer it if they never found her, so we're hiding for now.”

“Dangerous people?” Sam asked with no small amount of concern.

“Yeah, I think so,” Steve nodded as he walked from the little den to where Darcy was putting chocolate frosting onto freshly baked vanilla cupcakes.

“Hey Darce, I got those cookies in the mail yesterday. Too bad you can't send me any of those cupcakes, they look delicious,” Sam called out from the phone as Steve turned the camera to face a smiling Darcy.

“Someday, Sammy, Steve and I will come visit you, and you will have all the treats,” Darcy promised. “How's my guy? Did he do a good job today?”

“He did an excellent job,” Sam promised. “I gotta run, I have a group session down at the VA. Talk to you on Thursday?”

“Yeah, I'll call at 10,” Steve nodded.

“Bye Sammy!” Darcy called out. She grinned at Steve as he put the phone to the side and sat on one of the kitchen stools. She held out the spatula she had been using to smooth huge globs of chocolate frosting to his lips and he gave it a lick. “Good?”

“Mmmhmm,” Steve nodded, taking the spatula and putting it on counter. He grabbed for her hand and licked at her fingers, which had little specks of the sweet frosting as well.

“Tickles,” Darcy remarked.

“Delicious,” Steve countered.

_ Take the sweet stuff to the bedroom and smear it all over her br--- _

“ I---I want,” Darcy hesitated. Steve had been very conscientious about letting her set the pace for their physical relationship. It had been a lot of making out, but his hands would stay resolutely on her hips or waist or lower back. She wanted  _ more _ . But for once in her life, she didn't know how to push the words out of her mouth so she sighed into his mouth as he kissed her with his chocolate-flavored lips and grabbed his hands from her waist, before placing them squarely on her chest.

_ Holy Mary Mother of Christ _ .

Steve paused in kissing her and pulled away a fraction of an inch.

“Please?” Darcy whispered.

“No, sweetheart, it's _my_ pleasure,” Steve assured her, his hands groping at her t-shirt and apron covered breasts, exploring and testing and teasing. “Jesus, Darcy, you feel so damned good.”

“Why thank you,” Darcy giggled before leaning into him and letting her lips smack against his neck noisily. “You're really good with your hands.”

_ Hell yeah you are. That's my boy. _

She was moaning and gasping with every squeeze and caress. He could feel the hardened nubs of her nipples through layers of fabric as he gave her a slight, exploratory pinch that had a lovely pleasured squeak leaving her lips. He was fascinated with the blush that was working its way down her neck and he slowly moved one hand down to untie the apron, getting at least one of the layers of fabric out of his way.

“Fuck me,” Darcy exclaimed in a breathy tone when Steve's mouth sucked at her earlobe.

“HEY GUYS! GUYS! STEVE DIDN'T HANG UP THE PHONE! PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD TURN OFF THE PHONE. VOYEURISM ISN'T MY THING. GUYS!”

* * *

On the eighth day of their mini-staycation at Stark's safe house, Darcy woke up before Steve, finding that she was still laying right on top of him, her legs straddling his waist as he held her to his chest. Steve didn't move much in his sleep, and his tight hold on her throughout the night meant that she didn't move much either, which was crazy, because she usually star fished her way through a good night of sleep.

She sighed into wakefulness, wiggling atop Steve ever so slightly, feeling a familiar hardness resting against her inner thigh. Every morning had been the same. Her waking up and feeling his erection against some soft flesh of hers. She would blush and feel thrilled and empowered and so, so warm. Steve would wake up soon after that and kiss her forehead before rolling her onto her back and retreating quickly to the bathroom.

But today would be different. Because Darcy was so ready and willing for more.

Darcy placed lovely little teasing kisses against whatever skin she could get at on his chest, pulling gently on his t-shirt so that more beautiful skin was showing. She managed a slight wiggle of her hips and Steve groaned in his sleep at the feel of friction against his length.

“Darcy...” he sighed in his sleep.

She grinned bigger and blushed redder, but went about her important work, managing to work her hands so that they pushed his t-shirt up his torso, her hands petting at his abs, her lips still working at the taught skin of his throat, and she could feel herself getting warm and wet as she continued to rub her lower half against him.

“Rise and shine, sleepy head,” Darcy coaxed between kisses.

“Whaaa,” Steve mumbled, his arms tightening around her. He blinked his eyes open and stared down at her mischievous little face and blinked at her in confusion. “Wasgoin'on?”

“I'm waking you up,” Darcy told him helpfully. “Helping the elderly will get me another badge for my sash.”

“Elderly, huh?” Steve grumbled as inner Bucky cackled in delight. He groaned as she gave a quick roll of her hips against him. He had her on her back beneath him in no time, his arms going to her thighs as he gripped them, loving the way his fingers sank into her soft flesh. His mouth was on hers, scratching her face pleasantly with his rapidly growing beard. He greedily licked at her lips and then her tongue as he rolled his hips against her, his hard length rubbing against her through layers of cotton. He could feel the heat rising off of her, could feel the wetness soaking through her panties and her sleep shorts. “I'll show you elderly, little missie.”

“Steve,” Darcy gasped into the kiss as he continued to rhythmically grind against her.

“What do you want, sweetheart?” Steve murmured against her skin. “Tell me how far you want to go today.”

“I want to...I need to...” she happily sighed as he rubbed against her again. “Can I----can I touch you?”

“If that's what you want,” Steve rasped out, feeling a strong clenching in his gut as her hands immediately drifted down his stomach until they were at the waistband of his sleep pants. He held his breath as her curious little hands pushed at the pants pushing them down his body.

Steve was surprised when she managed to get the upper hand and turned his body again so that he was flat on his back, and his pants were around his ankles.

“Where are the tighty whiteys?” Darcy giggled.

“Don't like 'em,” Steve smirked at her.

“I've seen a few of these in you know...pornographic movies and whatnot, but I've never felt one,” Darcy admitted with a blush as her hand gripped at him tentatively. She took Steve's sharp intake of air as a good sign and increased her pressure, her thumb swiping along the head where beaded moisture had collected. “You're...big. That's not just a virgin thing, you're like...sizeable.”

  
  


“Used to be smaller,” Steve nodded. “The serum...”

“Oh,” Darcy nodded, her hand moving up and down languidly. He was hot and hard and surprisingly silky smooth in her hands. She liked it. She loved the look on his face, staring at her with his pupils blown wide, his mouth open and panting as she controlled his pleasure in her hands.

“So good,” Steve sighed as she gave him a few pumps in her fist.

“I feel...powerful,” Darcy said truthfully, licking at her lips as she worked his length up and down.

“You should,” Steve nodded emphatically. “No one else could make me feel the way you do.”

“Tell me if I do something wrong,” Darcy told him before bouncing to her knees and repositioning herself so that her face was level with his erection. “You have to tell me what you like.”

“ Darcy?” Steve questioned before he let out a moan, and his hands went to the bedsheets, grabbing fistfuls as she took the tip of his cock into her mouth and sucked experimentally. “ _ Fuck _ .”

“You have to tell me,” she murmured before stretching her lips around him, her fist still pumping him up and down as she licked and sucked at the very tip of his cock.

“ Keep---keep stroking just like that, sweetheart,” Steve rasped out. Her tongue swirled around his head and he couldn't help but stare down at her as she enthusiastically went about her work. “Do that again, please... _ yes,  _ Darcy.”

“This is easy,” she giggled before kissing the tip of his dick playfully, then taking him back in her mouth. “And enjoyable.”

“Stroke me faster, babydoll,” Steve's voice was begging. “Yes, feels good when you suck it like that...'m not gonna last, Darcy...you're so good at this. You're so beautiful...”

Darcy hummed around his length and Steve's eyes rolled into the back of his head.

“Again, please,” he whispered, groaning when she gave another high pitched hum before sucking him into her mouth as far as she could, her fist working the rest of his length.

“Babydoll, I'm gonna...I'm there,” Steve gripped the sheets tight as he felt his orgasm building very quickly. “Darcy, please, I'm going to come...”

She gave another suck and felt him erupt in her mouth, pulling off of him in surprise after the first stream of spunk. The next hit her lips and then her chin.

“Messy,” she smirked, licking at her lips tentatively at first.

When Steve opened his eyes again, it was to see her wiping his release from her chin and into her mouth.

“Fuck,” he groaned at the sight of her cleaning up.

“I'm a natural,” Darcy praised herself.

_ Hell yes she is. _

Steve laughed and pulled on her arms so that she was against him again, her wet lips hovering above his. He kissed against those messy, slick lips, licking his taste off of her eagerly.

“ Babydoll, would you let me return the favor... _ please? _ ”  Steve begged, as if it was the only thing he wanted in the world. Inner Bucky was doing cartwheels in his brain. “I would love to have a taste of you.”

“ Oh... _ oh _ ! Uhm...sure,” Darcy shrugged, blushing beet red. “And also, I'm digging the pet names. SO CUTE.”

“You're cute,” Steve promised jostling around on the bed as his hands went for her sleep shorts, yanking them down as he positioned himself between her thighs. He had trouble swallowing as he gazed at her unabashedly, his tongue suddenly to big for his mouth. He loved those rounded thighs that he had his fingers wrapped around, and at the juncture of those lovely thighs was beautiful, pink glistening lips, framed by a small thatch of curls that Steve wanted to nuzzle against. He smiled up at her, “Now, you tell me what you like too.”

“Oh, that's good already!” Darcy giggled as Steve went straight to his pleasant task, gripping her thighs apart and literally diving right in, his tongue taking a long lick of her wet lips. “I like---I like...”

“Mmmhmm?” Steve hummed against her as his tongue firmly licked against her clit.

“ I like the way your fingers feel when you dig them into my thighs... _ shit _ ,” Darcy breathed as he increased the pressure of his fingers as he lightly sucked against her flesh. “Is that strange that's what I like the most?”

“No, sweetheart, it's not,” Steve assured her before taking another lick of her beautiful little pussy. She was intoxicating, the feel of her, the taste of her, the beautiful sound of her voice was enough to have him whining and panting like a no good dog in a rut.

“I like when your nose hits right there,” Darcy sighed, then cooed when he nuzzled his nose against her clit, his tongue circling her opening. “I like how your beard feels against my skin.”

Steve reached up and took her hands, directing them to his head before going back to her thighs, gripping as tight as he dared, knowing that the marks his fingers made would be visible on her pale skin for days. He knew that the tickling of his new beard would leave red marks on her skin as well. The thought of it made him lick and suck at her with even more enthusiasm and she gripped his hair as her hips bucked up into his touch. He was hard again, twitching against the sheets as she let out little, beautiful moans and pulled at his hair.

“Woah, woah, woah,” she whisper chanted. “I'm---Steve---I'm...”

Steve nodded into her sweet little pussy, sucking hard on her clit as she broke against him, thighs trembling in his hands. He nuzzled his nose against her as she came down from her immediate high. When her breathing evened out a little, he began again, eager to feel that sweet release against his face once more.

“ Steve, what...oh  _ god _ ,” she breathed when she realized that he wasn't finished, not by a long shot.

JARVIS chose that moment to set off the warning chimes.

“There are suspicious vehicles ten miles from the house at this moment, it appears that they are coming towards the house,” JARVIS announced. “I believe they are registered with the WCHS Task force. You have fifteen minutes to escape without notice.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Five: Great view from where I'm looking...there's a Side view, Rear View and Iloveyou **

* * *

* * *

Both Darcy and Steve very rapidly went into action.

Without knowing it, they had both separately prepared themselves to leave very quickly. Once they had their pajamas on again, each reached into the closet for a bag they had packed with clothing and a few necessary toiletries. Steve rushed to the living room and picked up the shield and another bag he had put the money in, as well as a few other essentials. Emergency flares, matches, a first aid kit.

Meanwhile, Darcy ran to the kitchen and began throwing filled tupperware into a backpack. It was mostly water and candy and not too perishable treats she had made that were high in calories to save Steve from his metabolism and to make sure they didn't have to stop too often if they had to be on the road for an extended period of time.

“Car keys, please,” Darcy held out her hand expectantly.

“Sweetheart, I can drive,” Steve promised.

“You're a great, _safe_ driver.  I mean, A plus work on getting us here, cutie.  But...but I'm _really_ good at driving,” Darcy promised. “Like...evasive driving. Barton...he took me out in the RV and gave me lessons. Trust me, Steve, please?”

Steve smiled at her and tossed her the keys before grabbing his bags and hers, rushing towards the garage.

“JARVIS, do you have anywhere we could go?” Steve wondered.

“Head south. Agent Romanoff is working to find you a new safe spot.”

* * *

"Tash, are you sure that JARVIS gave Darce and Cap the heads up?"  

Clint's question was wary and cautious as he sped through the small town streets in a black, unmarked SUV.  He had two other cars behind him, a handful of new and green SHIELD recruits who were told that they only had to follow his car at two car lengths behind.  The last thing a bunch of fresh faced kids straight out of training needed to know was that they were playing a game of cat and mouse with a honeymooning Captain America.  And they certainly didn't need to know that it was because the Black Widow told him to.

"They should be leaving soon," Natasha confirmed over the comms.  "Remember, Rogers isn't the best evasive driver when he doesn't have a motorcycle.  You're going to have to dial it back, Barton."

"So boring," Clint sighed and rolled his eyes.  He squinted in the distance and saw a block down, a navy Jeep was exiting a driveway at full speed, going up on two wheels as it turned away from his small fleet of pursuers.  "Shit."

"What?  If you're getting too close, take the cars around the block a time or two," Natasha advised, sounding very bored.  "Honestly, Barton, you used to be good at this."

"Cram it, Tash," Barton grumbled, putting the pedal to the floor as he tried to catch up to the Jeep, which had to be going over one hundred miles per hour on the suburban streets, barely tapping the brakes at stop signs.  "I can't believe he's letting her drive."

"Darcy is driving?" Natasha asked quietly, the edge of worry filtering into her voice.  "I'm coming in..."

"No, it's fine, I can handle this," Clint said resolutely.

"Clint, you're a moron trapped in an idiot's body.  You're the one that taught Darcy how to drive properly," Natasha reminded him.  "I've seen the footage. What did you tell me after she managed to get you wrapped around a cactus in the desert?"

"That she was Mario Andretti on crack, a sugar high, and without his ADHD meds," Clint sighed.

"She's better than you, and you know it," Natasha said evenly.  "I'm coming in."

* * *

"Darcy..."

Steve could feel his stomach lurching as Darcy slowed the car just barely at every stop sign filled intersection.  They had piled into the car, and he had been concerned at first.  She had taken an awful long time adjusting the seat for her height, the mirrors for her view, and even the steering wheel level so that she could comfortably keep her hands at ten and two.  She'd even taken a moment to plug in her ipod and set the appropriate temperature for her side and encouraged him to do the same.

He thought that she had been exaggerating when she said she could drive.

He had been very mistaken when she had finally situated herself and peeled out of the driveway as soon as the garage doors had safely opened, putting the Jeep up on two wheels as she made the hard right turn from the driveway into the street.

"Sweetheart?" Steve whispered as she made a wide left turn to get on to one of the main roads, this one, not so empty as the residential road they had just been on.  

She was whizzing in and out around the more sedate cars on the two lane road.  Smiling and waving with obnoxious cheerfulness at those who dared to honk.  Steve felt bile rising in his throat as she continued to zip down the road, splitting her focus between the road and skipping through the ipod that she had taken the time to connect to the auxilary cord before leaving the safe house.

"Babydoll," he whispered as she pushed the car so hard that the chassis was rattling.

"I really should have a better soundtrack for a chase," Darcy complained playfully, pressing the skip button on the steering wheel again.  She looked in the rear view and rolled her eyes.  "Damn, I thought I'd have a head start.  Whoever is driving that car behind us is seriously talented.  But don't worry, babe, I'm better.  I promise. Barton said I was better than anybody else in Shield, even him. YES.   [ This song ](https://youtu.be/ozLHPsAkphQ) !"

A guitar heavy song came on that Steve recognized from their earlier road trip.  It was a band called Weezeys...Weezers?  Either way Steve could understand why Darcy would think it was a great song to perform death defying vehicular stunts with, as the singer was talking about what a Troublemaker he was.  

"Will they start shooting?" Steve wondered, turning to look at the black, unmarked SUV's that were about a block away from them.  He couldn't make out the drivers due to the heavily darkened windows, but Darcy was right, whoever was in the lead car was a good driver.  Definitely highly trained in high speed chases. "Is that something the WCHS does now?"

"Dunno," Darcy stopped bopping her head along to the song to bite at her lip anxiously.  "No one has ever really...RUN from the WCHS before, Steve.  We're kind of ground breakers at the moment."

"Well, I guess I'm getting used to being a ground breaker," Steve shrugged, reaching into the backseat for his shield.

"If I may, Captain Rogers, the vehicle is entirely bulletproof," JARVIS helpfully supplied.  "Also, Miss Lewis, there is a state trooper a half mile ahead on this road."

"Thanks JARVIS, you're the shit," Darcy grinned at Steve before warning him, "Hold on!"

* * *

"Seriously, isn't Cap supposed to be a man of chivalry?  A testosterone fueled superhero?  Alpha male and all that fucking crap?" Clint demanded.  "Why on Earth would he let Darcy drive?"

"That's a myth. He worked closely with Peggy Carter for years, do you really think Old Ironsides would have let him be a typical alpha male asshole? And besides, this shows that he trusts Darcy," Natasha said, and Clint could hear the self-satisfied smirk through the comms.  "It's a good sign."

"Yeah, yeah, they're matched, no shit," Clint rolled his eyes.  "I still don't understand why we're going through all this trouble."

"What did Darcy do when you told her that SHIELD was giving her and Dr. Foster a curfew?" Natasha wondered glibly.

"She and Jane managed to set all of SHIELD's clocks and watches and phones to read in nonsense numbers," Clint smirked.  It had been fun to see the agents rushing around, confused and out of their depths just because they couldn't tell what time it was.  Even Maria Hill had missed running a debrief because her watch kept telling her it was Beer O'Clock.  

"Steve Rogers once swam the English Channel to get to France because Peggy Carter told him they didn't have time or resources to get Bucky a birthday cake," Natasha revealed.  "I read the report, it's framed in the Director's office with the solid gold subtitle card reading  _ NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A STUBBORN FOOL _ ."

"Alright, so I get why you can't just tell them they're matched," Clint sighed.  "Then why don't we just bring in the WCHS to do the dirty work?"

"I want them together and happy, not in jail or worse, dead," Natasha muttered.

"C'mon, Tash,  that's a myth," Clint argued as he reached a comfortable distance from Darcy and Steve's vehicle, happy to have a cushion just in case they could see who was driving.  

"It's not a myth, Barton," Natasha insisted calmly.  "You have no idea what saying no to these people will do to a person.  And Darcy and Steve are the type of people to say no, just because they are physically allergic to saying yes to authority figures.  I'm not willing to risk bringing the real bad guys in here."

"Oh shit!" Clint hissed, watching as the Jeep took a sudden right turn onto a small side street.  He barely got the turn in time, but his two accompanying cars blew right past the street, directly into the waiting speed trap twenty feet up.  "That smart ass little brat. My shadows are down.  Speed trap."

"I'm definitely bringing the quinjet in so you can get the medical attention that you'll need when she's through with you."

* * *

"You're amazing."

Darcy grinned at Steve before turning her gaze back to the small street.  She hooked an immediate left and then a right, and arrived on another long, empty straightaway.  

"Hold on!" she warned as she pushed the Jeep past one hundred and forty miles an hour.

Steve had always been fascinated with people who were good at what they did.  He remembered being a small kid, maybe seven or eight, traipsing down to the baker with Bucky in tow, before school.  They'd watch as the baker went through his morning routine, creating so many amazing things out of flour and sugar and butter.  Most days they'd get a soft little oven warm bread roll for their troubles before being yelled at to move it along.  

When it was during the war, it was watching Bucky at the shooting range, making easy work of the targets, and then expertly taking apart his gun and cleaning it and zipping it all back together.  

Now, Steve's eyes were darting between the car that was even further behind them and Darcy as she calmly bopped her head along to her soundtrack and maneuvered the large vehicle at ridiculously high speeds.

"When we stop this car, be prepared for me to kiss the living daylights out of you," he said loud enough to be heard over the music.  “Seriously, I'm half a second away from falling totally in love with you.”`

_ Holy shit, punk. You're gonna scare her off! We agreed not to tell her that yet. _

Darcy's eyes lit up in delight despite inner Bucky's worry over Steve's overshare and she shrugged, "I think that I should find an opportunity to stop this car, then."

Another left hand turn and Darcy was heading back towards the speed trap from the opposite direction.  She whizzed back on the main road and seemed to wait until the car behind her caught up a little before slamming her foot down again and hurtling down the road at warp speed.  

* * *

"What in the hell is she doing?" Clint huffed in annoyance.  "We just went in a big round about circle."

"Clint---you idiot!" Natasha warned.

His eyes widened as Darcy pulled a 180 degree turn in the middle of the road and began driving straight towards him.  He swerved just in time and his car went into an uncontrollable spin, smacking into a mailbox and finally stopping right in front of his SHIELD backup and the state troopers who had pulled them over.

"Hello gentlemen," Clint managed to get out as he put the car in park and put his hands up.  "Would you believe that I was tricked into doing that?"

* * *

Natasha rolled her eyes and ended the call with Barton, putting the autopilot on in the quinjet.  She anticipated the next call, and answered quickly as soon as JARVIS came up on the phone.

"Romanoff."

"Hey Nat!  It's Darcy and Steve," Darcy cheerfully greeted her.  "So...we were just chased away from our safe house, but don't worry, the chasers are probably getting arrested for wildly irresponsible vehicular endangerment.  Seriously, the way some people drive nowadays is really disappointing."

"Steve let you drive?" Natasha smiled.

"Course I did, she's a great driver," Steve huffed out.  

"He's totally impressed with me.  I'm pretty sure it turned him on," Darcy revealed.

"I have no doubt," Natasha nodded.  "I've seen the footage of you driving.  I was turned on."

"SCORE!" Darcy laughed.

"Do you have another place for us?" Steve wondered, sounding only a little annoyed at Natasha flirting with Darcy.

"Head south, I'll have JARVIS send you coordinates of a safe place," Natasha promised.  "But you should both know, this won't be the last time you're chased out of a safe spot.  They'll keep coming after you until you come back in."

"Let them," Steve nodded.  He grinned at Darcy and said with a lovely, beguiled softness.  "I'm absolutely sure that my girl can out drive them."

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Six: Is that a Mirror in Your Pocket? Cause I Keep Seeing Myself in Your Pants **

* * *

* * *

The drive to the next safe house took four hours with a quick, sunglass and baseball cap disguised bathroom break, and they were suddenly somewhere in Virginia, pulling down a dirt covered path to a lovely little log cabin in a clearing in a thick, dense forest.

“We in the right place, JARVIS?” Steve furrowed his brow at the rustic sight. It didn't seem to be Tony's style.

“Indeed, I will open the entrance.”

The entire west facing side of the cabin began sliding down into the Earth, revealing a tunnel just big enough for Darcy to whiz the car through and down, down, down into the ground at least four whole stories before coming to a stop in a small, concrete room that would act as their garage. Darcy unbuckled herself and went to open her door when Steve put a hand on her shoulder and essentially hauled her over to his side of the car, situating her so that she was straddling his lap.

“Warned you I was gonna kiss you, when we finally stopped,” Steve murmured before doing just as he said he was going to do.

_ When the hell did you get to be a smooth bastard? I'm so damned proud _ .

His arms wrapped around her as he sucked on her pouty bottom lip, then moved to lick into her mouth until she was moaning and grinding herself down into his lap. She threw her head back with a gasp for air and Steve moved his kisses from her mouth to her jaw and then her neck.

“You driving is the sexiest thing I've ever seen,” Steve promised her. “Thanks for getting us out of there.”

“ No problem, it was fun,” Darcy panted as he sucked marks onto her neck and scratched and tickled her skin with his beard. “ _ Steve _ ...”

His name on her lips was a breathy, wanton prayer and his hips jerked into her at the sound of it. She whimpered and her hands tangled into the hair at the back of his neck. His hands settled on her waist, bringing her down as his hips lifted up in short bursts until he was panting with need from the feel of her and she was letting out sharp little moans every time his erection pressed against her clothed front.

“Didn't get to finish this morning,” he sighed. “I wanted to taste you for hours, babydoll. You were so delicious.”

“We can...we can do that again later,” Darcy nodded.

“Promise?” Steve gave her small little smirk.

“ I'll be disappointed if we don't,” Darcy admitted. She made a whining, keening noise as he rolled his hips into her again. She could feel every hardened inch of his considerable erection through the thin smooth fabric of his track pants. “Steve...I'm gonna...right there.  _ Please _ .”

“No babydoll, you never have to beg me,” Steve promised providing her with the friction she needed, rubbing himself against the wet spot appearing on her thin cotton shorts. She was breaking in his arms in no time and he watched her avidly, loving the way her mouth hung open and her bottom lip trembled, the flush that appeared across the bridge of her nose and extended to her cheeks, and the feel of her thighs gripping and fluttering against his body.

“You didn't—you didn't finish,” Darcy managed to whisper once she had recovered a little.

“I'm alright, don't worry,” Steve insisted.

“No,” Darcy furrowed her brow adorably, her right hand unclenching from his shirt and quickly going for the waistband of his pants.

He didn't have the strength or willpower to stop her and he groaned as she stroked him under his pants. He was already pretty close, and her willing, surprisingly strong little hand pumping up and down his length and those pouty lips giving him firm little kisses were just what he needed.

“I'm doing a good job, right? Making you feel good?” Darcy questioned between kisses.

“ So good, babydoll,” Steve nodded. “Perfect...you're perfect.  _ Fuck _ .”

Darcy grinned against his lips as he spilled over in her hand, hot and sticky and messy. She reached for her purse and grabbed for a tissue, cleaning up the mess as best as she could. She kissed him one last time for good measure and said,

“Let's go explore the next stop on the Steve and Darcy's Excellent Road Trip Adventure. I hope this place is as cozy as the last.”

* * *

While the last safe house had been Tony's idea of suburban bliss, this safe house was his idea of a futuristic bunker. Darcy had immediately nicknamed it Zombie Preparedness Central.  Everything was sleek chrome and glass and the underground facility had more rooms than any one person would need in the event of an apocalypse. There were about ten bedrooms, painted brightly and cheerfully and full of overly large beds with too many pillows and squishy, soft  blankets. There was the industrial grade kitchen and extensive pantry, full of MRE's and all kinds of staples that would never go bad. And of course, there was a war room that was like a miniature SHIELD headquarters room, full of computers and monitors and displays.  And that war room connected to an overly impressive armory. 

But the rest of the rooms were filled with things that, presumably, Tony Stark would want if he were ever driven sixty-feet underground by a world-wide disaster. There was the jacuzzi and tiny swimming pool room. The swimming pool was about the size of three bathtubs, but it still had a small diving board and a ladder and looked to be at least ten feet deep.

There was the state of the art gym. The garage and workshop filled with all kinds of materials that someone could use to build tiny, adorable bots. There was a game room with a ping pong table, a pool table and regulation darts. There was half a basketball court. A fully stocked wine cellar and a room set up to be what Steve had explained to Darcy as a distillery to make bathtub gin.  There was also a room that was entirely padded and filled with little, colorful, plastic balls. Steve had to drag Darcy away from it before she jumped in headfirst.

“But...ball pit!” Darcy made grabby hands.

“Later,” Steve promised. “Let's get situated and find exits in case we have to leave in a hurry.”

“You're hot when you're being all forward thinking and prepared,” Darcy grinned at him.

“Thanks?” Steve laughed.

_ Don't tease her, punk. She likes you the way you are, even when you're being a fuddy-duddy. _

“Ohhhh, Tony built a crafting room in his underground bunker. SO FUN!”

* * *

Their new safe house may have looked very different from their old one, but life was pretty much the same. Three days in, they had settled back in to their routine with a lot more mutual, intimate touching.   Granted, the food wasn't as amazingly phenomenal, because everything was non-perishable, canned or freeze-dried, but Darcy managed to work some magic with what she had, and Steve definitely wasn't complaining about the tasty, three square meals a day plus unlimited snacks.

Steve made use of the gym, and Darcy made use of a bench while she shamelessly watched Steve work out, fanning herself every once in a while when he did something impressive with a set of weights, or with just jumping around, practicing his ability to use his surroundings to get out of tough spots.

“So hot,” Darcy sighed as Steve used the top of a treadmill as a jumping board to spin in the air.

“Hmm?” Steve questioned, wiping his forehead with the bottom of his t-shirt, even though he wasn't sweaty, he liked the way she licked at her lips when she saw the bare skin of his chest and torso.

_You know exactly what you're doing to this juicy little tomato, punk_ . _Don't play coy._

“You know exactly what you're doing to me, you incredible ass,” Darcy rolled her eyes at him. “If you're going to tease me, do it properly. Just take the damned shirt off.”

“Your wish is my command, babydoll,” Steve smirked at her, whipping his shirt off and throwing it on top of a treadmill.

“Now...can you bench press me?” Darcy wondered in curious delight, big blue eyes lighting up with playfulness and flirtation.

“I could bench press ten of you,” Steve promised. “At least.”

“I had a big lunch today, you don't know that you could,” Darcy countered playfully.

Her eyes got round and wide as Steve, beautiful, playful, trolly,  _ shirtless  _ Steve stalked towards her with a smirk that looked like sin on his face. She let out a small, high-pitched squeak as his hands lifted her up, maneuvering her so that one large hand was gripping her butt before hoisting her into the air with ease and no sign of physical exertion whatsoever.

“Woah, it's fun to be tall,” Darcy looked around at the view and squealed when Steve brought her down and manhandled her again so that she was wrapped around him, plastered against his body as he walked towards the wall, pressing her against it with his body as his lips started to kiss at her neck. “Steve?”

“Yeah, babydoll?” he murmured against her skin.

“I'm having a really nice time being on the run with you, and everything we've done so far has been...amazing,” Darcy sighed as he continued to kiss at her skin, his hand going to her breast and groping at her expertly.

“Every minute with you has been an adventure I wouldn't trade for anything,” Steve promised her.

“But---”

_ But?!? What the hell did you do? _

“Sweetheart?” he questioned as she blushed bright red under his suddenly worried gaze, his hand frozen mid squeeze of her breast.

“I'd like to...I want to,” Darcy shrugged helplessly. “I want you to know me biblically.”

“Oh.”

_ OH?!? TAKE HER TO THE BEDROOM, YOU FUCKING MORON. _

“Are you sure, Darcy?” he whispered, moving his hand from her breast despite her whimper of annoyance and cradling her face with it. His thumb rubbed a small line back and forth against the smooth skin of her cheek. “I won't lie, I want you. I want you so much that it's all I can think about most of the time. I'm falling for you so fast, sweetheart.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Darcy nodded. “And I'm so, so very sure. I want you, too.”

Steve had a flash of a grin on his face before he pulled her in for a long, slow, sloppy kiss. He groaned when she sucked on his tongue before pulling back and playfully biting at his full bottom lip. He tried to stay in the moment as she kissed him like she needed his lips in order to keep on living, but his mind immediately set to planning. He knew how to make it pleasant and painfree for her.  But how was he going to make this spectacularly good for her? How could he make it more romantic? Did Tony keep fresh flowers in the underground bunker? What songs would she want playing out of her little ipod?

“Pardon the intrusion. There is a call coming through,” JARVIS helpfully announced.

“Shit, shit shit,” Darcy hissed. “If it's about us having to run away again, let's ignore it and just shoot the cannons at whoever is coming our way.”

“There are cannons?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“Yeah, I found them the second day we were here. They look super dangerous,” Darcy nodded.  "There's a secret panel in the craft room.  Sneaky Stark."

“The phone call is from Mr. Wilson. He is most concerned as you have missed the last two telephone appointments.”

“I'll call him back tomorrow,” Steve promised.

“Nope. No,” Darcy shook her head, wriggling out of Steve's hold and letting her feet hit the floor. “Those appointments with Sam are important. You go grab a room and do your call, I'll go and make something fun to eat. Also, I'll check on the cannons.”

* * *

“Again, I'm really sorry about missing the calls,” Steve apologized again as he walked around the bedroom, checking things over to make sure everything was perfect. His call with Sam had run the full hour, and they had gotten a lot of good talking in, even as Steve bustled around the bedroom, setting things up to his liking.

“Nah, man, I understand. But next time, try a text message, a voicemail, or hell I don't know, a carrier pigeon telling me that you had to find a safer place,” Sam suggested helpfully. “So this is serious stuff, huh? The people chasing you and Darcy?”

“Yeah, it's pretty serious,” Steve nodded. “I think between the two of us, we'll be okay. I'm confident she can defend herself. She picks up on the defensive moves pretty quickly. I also packed away one of those tasers she likes so much from the armory here. And Darcy can really drive, so I'm confident she could get us out of any tight spot on the road...I mean, it's amazing.”

“A girl who is deadly competent is a very sexy thing, I definitely understand that sentiment.  My girl is kind of good with a gun,” Sam laughed. “If you ever need some help, or a place to crash, that helpful British personal assistant dude can tell you where I am. I'm here if you need it. And you know, having Darcy in house would mean I get more cookies, so...”

“Thanks, Sam,” Steve nodded, going to re-light a candle that had gone out.

“So...romance, huh?” Sam waggled his eyebrows, taking in the sight of the room Steve had been bustling around in during their session. Steve had asked him at the beginning how romancing a woman in the 21st century was, had it evolved since his time in the ice? What should he do? What should he avoid?

“Yeah...I'm not so great at the romance, but, I want to try,” Steve acknowledged. “Bucky was always better at romancing, dames.”

_You're damn right I was_ . _You'd a been lost without me._

Steve picked up Darcy's ipod and began paging through her song selections.

“Got any advice on romantic music?” Steve wondered. “She's got thousands of songs on here.”

“What are her playlist names? Does she have any that are titled...sexy times or love or romance?” Sam wondered.

“ Oh, here's one,  _ Fun Lady Alone Time _ ,” Steve read, then blushed. He grimaced at Sam and said, “Can you not tell her that I let you hear that?”

“Absolutely, just tell me she has one Al Green or Marvin Gaye song on that list,” Sam wondered.

“Yeah... _[Simply Beautiful](https://youtu.be/yOxFl4dna3o)_ from Al Green and [I Want You](https://youtu.be/gjRLbzxz_3Y) from Marvin Gaye,” Steve read off. Two sentiments he could really get behind. A lot of the other songs had some really good titles too. _Kiss Me_. Yeah, that sounded nice. He furrowed his brow. “Hey, how do I take a song off the list? I don't want her to touch herself, I want to do the touching.”

_ Idiot. Her touching herself would be a fucking delight and you know it _ .

“Rule number thirteen of dating a modern girl like Darcy, do not alter her playlists without her permission,” Sam advised helpfully. "And helpful hint, don't screw it up Steve, a girl with that kind of taste in music is a keeper."

“Oh, okay, thanks, Sam,” Steve smiled ruefully. The previous twelve rules Sam had jokingly given him had been like little, precious lifelines. He hadn't had even thought about the need to put the toilet seat down, but had been thankful that Sam had given him the heads up.

“Alright man, call me in two days?” Sam wondered. “And if you can't, just try to give me a heads up through JARVIS or something.”

“I can do that. Thanks again, Sam,” Steve nodded. The phone cut off and Steve looked up at the ceiling. “JARVIS? Can you play this song list for me through the speakers?”

“Absolutely, Captain Rogers. Miss Lewis is on her way to the room,” JARVIS helpfully revealed.

Steve took a deep breath and closed his eyes, wondering briefly, if his inner Bucky had any last minute advice.

_ Make it good for her, don't even think about yourself, punk _ .

Steve decided that was pretty good advice.

“Who wants brownies?” Darcy questioned as she opened the door to the bedroom. “Oh, hey, where's Sammy? I was going to taunt him with bro---woah.”

Steve smiled as JARVIS had dimmed the lights and started the playlist just in time. The room was lit only by candlelight, and Tony was _seriously_ going to have to restock them, as Steve had pilfered every emergency supply in every room and lit them. He hadn't understood why Sam had told him candlelight would make things better. In his day, candlelight was something people used when the electricity would go out (it happened often in the awful tenements he and Bucky had lived in).

He could see the appeal though, because Darcy, with her mouth in a rounded _oh_ of surprise and her big, sparkly eyes darting around to take in the dozens of candles looked absolutely beautiful in the candlelight.

“I couldn't find rose petals,” Steve said softly.

“I'm allergic to roses,” Darcy smiled ruefully, putting the plate of brownies on desk by the door.

“That's good to know,” Steve chuckled. “Anything else you're allergic to that I should know about?”

“Nope...” Darcy shrugged, a shy look passing across her face.

“Babydoll, you still sure?” Steve gave her an appraising look.

“What if I'm awful at it?” Darcy wondered. “What if I'm no good?”

“Impossible,” Steve promised her, walking towards her and wrapping his arms around her, bringing her to stand flush against him. He pressed his lips against hers chastely. “We've done an awful lot of touching these last couple of weeks and I can tell you with absolute certainty, you're pretty damned amazing at everything. I just---I can't get enough of you.”

The song [switched](https://youtu.be/Yn9IAPgz3KE) and Darcy sighed happily. He had thought of literally everything. When she had compiled the list of songs on her ipod she had truly thought it was going to be for her self-pleasure only. But now, here was the world's most perfect man, in her opinion, standing in front of her, declaring that he wanted her and wordlessly promising her that he was going to do everything in his power to make it not just good but absolutely amazing.

_Kiss her, jerk_ .

Steve could get behind that. He reached for her and wrapped his arms around her, bending to meet her as she got on her tip toes to kiss him, soft and slow and lazy. Her arms wound around his shoulders and she giggled into his mouth when he lifted her up so that her feet dangled a few inches off of the ground. He was very deliberately trying to let her set the pace.

But it turned out her pace was set a bit faster than  _ he  _ wanted. She was pushing at the fabric of his t-shirt, intent on trying to get it pushed down his shoulders, rather than pulling it off, and her legs were suddenly wound around his waist, toes gripping at the sweat pant material on his thighs, in little, fruitless attempts to pull them down.

“Slow down, babydoll, we have all the time in the world,” Steve promised her.

  
  


“Yeah, sure, until some bad guy comes storming the castle or someone calls,” Darcy disputed, stretching Steve's t-shirt to the point that it did manage to fall down and reveal one broad shoulder, which she wasted not time in kissing repeatedly.

“JARVIS, no interruptions unless it truly is a life or death situation,” Steve said sternly.  "I'll let you know when to lift it."

JARVIS only chimed in response. Tony Stark's AI Butler knew when his voice was not needed.

Steve turned and took a few steps until Darcy's back was against a wall. He grinned down at her as he unwound her legs from his body and placed her firmly on the ground. Any pouting on her part stopped when he pulled his shirt up and over his head and tossed it carefully on the ground. Her hands were immediately on him, rubbing at tight muscles reverently. He went to her t-shirt next and carefully lifted it up, waiting patiently for her to get with the program and lift her arms.

  
  


When she finally did, his hands were on her bra covered breasts, his mouth kissing and sucking at the skin visible with a worshiping mouth. Again, Darcy slammed her metaphorical foot on the gas pedal and she had her bra off with a flick of a hand and Steve had to take a few deep breaths as he stared at the perfection that was Darcy. His inner Bucky was silent at least, due to the heavy panting he was currently occupied with.

His hands cupped her bare breasts, thumbs gently strumming over nipples until they were tight, hard peaks. He groaned before surging forward and taking a nipple into his mouth, tongue circling and laving until she was mewling with pleasure. He pulled off and immediately did the same for her other breast, hands contentedly squeezing and massaging the whole time.

“Jesus,” Darcy huffed out before sighing with no small amount of pleasure.

_ I'll say, doll _ .

Darcy's hands began impatiently tugging at her own pants, pushing and pulling at fabric as if she had never undressed herself before. Her hand eye coordination felt completely out of whack as Steve sucked and nipped at her breasts, his eyes closed as he obviously took a lot of enjoyment out of it.

“Please, please,” Darcy whispered, arching her back into his touch.

Steve grinned and stopped his pleasant task, going to take another lazy sip of her lips. He looked down and saw that her pants and panties were pushed down to mid-thigh and chuckled.

“You're going to be so much trouble for me, sweetheart,” he whispered, kissing the tip of her nose before dropping to his knees in front of her, his hands going for her pants and panties, pushing them down her legs into a puddle on the floor, allowing her to step out of them before his hands gripped her thighs, pulling her right leg up off the floor and draping it over his shoulder. Eager lips kissed at the juncture of her thigh and he felt his pulse hammering at the first inhale he took of the lovely scent of her arousal. Lightly musky and sexy and buzzing around his head like powerful little bullets.

“Me? Have you taken a look in the mirror lately?” Darcy giggled. Her eyes darted to the other side of the room and she gulped audibly, knowing that Steve had placed her in this spot of the room for a very specific reason. Because on the other side of the room was a full length mirror, reflecting a naked Darcy with a shirtless Steve kneeling in front of her. His face lost between her thighs. Her chest was flushed and her breasts were heaving as Steve's golden head moved when his kisses meandered closer to where she really wanted him to be.

One strong hand was on her thigh, gripping with that pressure she really did love, fingers going over spots where marks may have faded ever so slightly since the night before when he had last gone down on her in bed before sleep. She sighed as his other hand stroked her bare backside, rough fingers tickling extremely sensitive, soft flesh.

Steve had an addiction of sorts. He really did love the taste of her. Not a day had gone by for them where he hadn't given her hazy, need filled eyes and begged to be able to taste and nibble and suck on her wet flesh. He just loved the moment when it all became too much for her and her hands would pull at his hair, her thighs would tremble against him and she would break apart. He could feel the beginning of it at that moment, her tugging on his hair went straight to his crotch, making him twitch with need.

_ Your dick can wait, punk. Make it good for her. Get her there and keep getting her there until she can't see straight. _

She broke against him and he waited patiently for the trembling of her thighs to stop before nuzzling at her again.

“I'm ready, please, please I want you,” Darcy whispered, her words slurred together slightly, desperate and needy.

“Indulge me, babydoll,” Steve begged before unclenching his hand from her thigh, bringing it to her dripping core, his index finger circling around her opening. “I want it to be good for you...”

“ I think it's physically impossible for it to be bad,” Darcy shook her head, letting out a sigh as she felt the pressure of his finger slowly sinking inside of her. “ _ Oh _ .”

Steve's erection was a lot bigger than his finger. She understood what he was trying to do, but she couldn't help but feel needy and impatient regardless. He did his best to distract her, his tongue flat against her clit and laving at it before sucking, his finger inside of her moving slowly in and out in short little strokes.

“Come for me again, babydoll,” Steve whispered before sucking on her flesh. She was so warm and wet around his finger, clenching on him with plush walls. He could feel a tremor go through him, knowing that she wanted all of him there, inside of her, finding heaven within her.

Her head fell against the wall and she felt every muscle in her body tensing as she easily complied with his request, feeling that lovely heavy feeling taking over for a brief fluttering moment before it was all heavy breathing and lightness and euphoria. She gasped out when at the very height of her pleasure, Steve managed to add his middle finger in his stroking inside of her.

“So good,” Darcy sighed. If Steve's hand on her ass hadn't been supporting her weight she would have surely had toppled to the ground at that moment as he pumped his fingers in and out of her, stretching them apart ever so slightly before pushing in deeper and curling along a spot inside of her that had her crying out, spasms rocking her whole body. “ _Steve,_ please!”

His mouth moved from her clit, bringing his nose to nuzzle against her curl covered mound before moving up further, placing a lovely, chaste kiss against her belly button.

He slowly withdrew his fingers from inside of her, sucking the shaking digits clean before he got to his feet and kissed her again, less gentle and slow, but with a definite note of need and want and desperation. He was crazed with wanting her at this point, painfully hard and needy to find some kind of relief within her.

He lifted her, one hand around her back, the other under her knees, taking her to the bed and laying her down before pulling his pants down and letting his painfully throbbing erection free. She was prettier than anything he had ever seen, golden in the candlelight, laid out before him on the bed, her skin flushed and glistening, her breasts moving up and down as she tried to regain steady breathing. Her legs were parted and he could see the marks his fingers had left on her thighs and he took himself in hand and stroked himself a few times as he tried to regulate his breathing.

“You're so beautiful,” he managed to choke out.

Darcy peered up at him and let out a heavy sigh.

“You're one to talk,” she gave him a once over. He looked like an Adonis in the light of the candles, the shadows of his muscles were like artwork you would find in a museum. His hand was wrapped around himself, his eyes were dark with need, his lips wet and shiny from her still. She held out her arms and said softly, “Come here, cutie. Let's do this.”

Steve smiled and joined her on the bed, finding room for himself between her parted thighs. He could feel himself twitch against her lower belly and suddenly he cursed.

“What?” Darcy furrowed her brow.

  
  


“Shit, I forgot the rubbers,” Steve grumbled, ready to get up from the bed. He had spent an hour finding every candle in the place and didn't even think about condoms.

“It's okay, I'm on birth control to regulate my---well just to regulate things,” Darcy assured him. She pointed to her upper arm and assured him, “An implant which stops me from ovulating. No babies until I want them.”

“Oh...but...” Steve furrowed his brow.

_ SHUT YOUR FACE STEVEN GRANT. I WILL KILL YOU I SWEAR IT. _

Darcy pointed at herself, “Literally you are the only man who has ever touched me. Totally clean.”

Steve's length twitched against her again. He couldn't help himself. Sam had warned him that modern ladies didn't like being treated like property, and Steve would swear on a stack of bibles that he wasn't trying to treat Darcy that way. But...she was giving him something no one else would be able to have. And for the alpha male that lived deep within him, that was something that made him feel about fifty feet tall. His hands went for her face and he caressed her cheeks.

“I'm assuming you're not going to give me the clap, Cap,” Darcy smirked at him playfully.

“God, I love you.”

_ You dumb punk.  I told you to wait to tell her that! _

“Oh!” Darcy's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

And suddenly she was kissing him. Very passionately. The only thing in Steve's brain was her lips and teeth and tongue as she did her very best to devour him whole. Her legs bent at the knee, wrapping around him until her feet were resting on his backside.

“ Show me,” Darcy whispered when she broke apart for air. “Make love to me, Steve,  _ please _ .”

“No begging,” Steve insisted. He took himself in hand and rubbed the tip of his cock against her wet lips. His breathing was shallow and not enough, as if his asthma had suddenly returned as he brought himself to her entrance and felt her body opening as he pushed in slowly.

She tensed under him at the intrusion, a soft gasp in his ear making him stop completely, heaven so close but so far. He kissed her mouth gently, pleading wordlessly for her to relax, trying to show her through touch how much this meant, how much he cherished what she was willing to give to him. He felt her unclenching, a bonelessness setting into her body again and he sunk into her again. He let out a pleasured moan as he felt her warmth and heat and the velvety caress of her walls around about half of his length.

“Please, talk to me,” Darcy whispered.

“You feel so good, babydoll. So soft and warm and wet for me, ” Steve rasped out. He had never been one for talking a lot in bed, Bucky had been the talker, but he would do whatever she wanted. Forever and always. “Never felt anything so nice as the feeling of you. You're so good to me, sweetheart.”

He withdrew from her ever so slightly and sank back down into her plush warmth, and felt the gasp for air leave his lungs as he went deeper.

“I want all of you, Steve,” Darcy moved her hips slightly. She already felt like she was completely full, but she stared down between their bodies and saw that he was a little over halfway inside of her. She could feel every inch of him, hard and hot and pulsing as he stroked inside of her gently, making slow, pleasured progress.

“You're like...you're heaven,” Steve promised, his forehead shiny in the candlelight as a sweat broke out. One hand was supporting his weight above her, but the other was rubbing up and down her torso lovingly. He let it drift higher, cupping her breast, his fingers plucking at her nipple as he moved his lips to her neck, kissing and licking and sucking his mark onto the pale column of her throat. “I love you, babydoll...”

Darcy mewled and her legs tightened around him, toes on his bare ass curling even as her heels dug in, pressing his body closer. Half a dozen little strokes later, he finally bottomed out within her and she was practically crying from the pleasure of it. There was a painful, burning stretch that was the right side of hurt, it felt good. Glorious and right and good.

“It feels like I was made just for you,” Steve gasped out, his muscles trembling, threatening to give out at the exquisite, luscious feeling of her shaking, quivering walls clenching and fluttering around all of him. “You okay, sweetheart?”

“Yes, yes,” Darcy nodded. Her heels dug in to his flesh, keeping him unmoving except for the twitching he couldn't help. His hand on her breast stilled, but his mouth was still on her neck, attempting to give her the most lurid, vivid hickey in all of existence.

“Mine,” Steve whispered, kissing at the mark. He felt her walls clenching and a rush of wetness around his cock and he smiled down at her, proud and happy and surprised. So much for Sam Wilson's rule number four of dating a modern woman. “You like that, babydoll?”

“Yours,” Darcy whimpered, her feet moving from his bottom to the backs of his thighs. She gave a tentative shift of her hips and let out a moan at the feel of him moving within her, stroking back and forth. She looked into his eyes, half-lidded and darkened, reflecting flickering candle light. “And you're mine.”

“I am, I'm yours,” Steve promised, taking a slow stroke within her, his eyelids fluttering closed at the sensation of it. Every other word was punctuated with another stroke inside of her warmth, “No one is ever going to have you like I have you, babydoll. And the same goes for me, I'm yours. You're mine.”

“Yes, Steve,” Darcy nodded, a flush starting across the pale, soft skin of her chest.

His hand wandered from her breasts to where their bodies met and his thumb sought out her swollen nub, rubbing in persistent circles as he built a steady pace with the slow pistoning of his hips. He wasn't going to last very long at all. She was beyond his wildest dreams, so much more than anything his imagination could have conjured and he was going to lose himself inside of her. He didn't need his inner Bucky telling him that he had better get her to her end again first.

“Come for me, babydoll,” Steve begged.

“God, Fuck, I can't,” Darcy shook her head as too many nerve endings were firing all at once.

“You can,” Steve nodded minutely groaning as she shifted her hips, getting him to hit a different angle inside of her, he could feel his length dragging along her walls and he could only pray that it felt as good for her as it did for him. She whimpered as he gently pinched at her clit in a non-descript rhythm. “Please, babydoll, please I want to feel you coming around me...come for me one more time...”

Her moans were broken by the occasional curse word and she surprised the hell out of him by bringing her hips into his thrust with shocking force that almost had him drooling as he sunk impossibly deeper within her. Her eyes were clenched shut as she avidly chased the threads of pleasure again.

“ Please,” his begging was raspy with need, he was burning with the need to come, to explode inside of her and fill her with everything he had. “Come on, babydoll, one more... _ please _ .”

He thought he wouldn't make it, he full out slammed his hips against her one, twice, three times before he was coming apart inside of her, but thankfully, those last three hard jerks of his hips did the trick because she fell apart around him as he came and he went boneless above her as she clenched down on him so tightly that he couldn't think of moving. He blacked out at the feeling of her walls fluttering around him with her orgasm.

“Fuck, fuck fuck,” she cried out as she felt him coming inside of her, explosive and full of heat, making her feel warm and full to the point of bursting. She gasped for breath, the sound of it painful as he collapsed on top of her as his length twitched inside of her and emptied into her.

“I love you,” Steve rasped out, not knowing how much time had passed since he fell against her, his head buried in her hair, his softening length still inside of her.

“Yes,” Darcy whispered. She winced as he withdrew from her, rolling to his back and pulling her to him so that she would straddle his body like she did most nights, his arms banded around her torso. “I'm a mess, Steve...”

“I know, I made you that way,” Steve gave her a lazy, proud grin. “It's my mess, I don't mind it on me, my silly little sweetheart.”

“I'm sleepy,” Darcy acknowledged.

“Sleep babydoll,” Steve nodded against the top of her head, reaching for the comforter and pulling it around them.

“Can we do this again tomorrow?” Darcy wondered as she drifted off. “Was a lot of fun. I feel tingly all over and I want to feel that way tomorrow too. I also really like that face you made before you went all...jello-y.”

_ Marry her. You put a ring on her finger and marry her or I will come back from the grave and steal her from you _ .

“We can do this whenever you want, Darcy,” Steve promised. He kissed her forehead and stroked her back until she was drooling and snoring against him. “I love you, babydoll. I'm never letting those people get anywhere near you. I promise. You're mine now, forever.”

* * *

 

 


	28. Arranged (2/2)

 Chapter Seven: Kiss Me if I'm Wrong, But Dinosaurs Still Exist Right?  
   
 

 

   
   
Despite Darcy's best intentions on waking up the next morning and doing it all over again, Steve had her whisked away and lovingly manhandled into a luxuriously warm bubble bath, big hands soaping her up and massaging at the sore muscles in her legs. He ignored his erection, but she refused, stroking him off at the end of the bath.  
   
Then the little minx instituted what she had so cleverly named “No Clothing Sundays”, and went about making them breakfast only in a small apron. As soon as he went to clear and clean the breakfast dishes, her little hands were all over him, stroking and pulling at his length until he was rock hard and ready to go again.  
   
“You promised we could do it again,” she reminded him.  
   
Oh punk, I am going to enjoy watching her destroy you for the rest of your lives.  
   
“You're going to be sore,” Steve promised her. “Don't want to hurt you, babydoll.”

“It's a really good sore,” Darcy shrugged, a playful smile on her face. She frowned when he lifted her to sit on the counter, but went right back to doing the dishes. He was steadfastly ignoring his erection again and she sighed.  
   
Then she gave him an arch of her eyebrow and let her hands drift to between her thighs, which were sore, but not overly so. She touched herself with teasing touches, stroking and petting at her wet flesh while he quickly finished his work.  
   
Told you it would be a delight to watch her.  Look at that little dish.  You know that if I were alive I'd take care of the dame proper.  
   
Steve wiped his hands off on a dish towel before gripping her thighs in his hands, fingers going over his lingering marks on her skin and pulling her to the edge of the counter. He knelt in front of her and gave her an arch of his own eyebrow.  
   
“Still hungry.”  
   
He brought her to orgasm twice before her persistent begging and pleading had him taking her on the counter, lasting so much longer than the night before, working her over until she had come around him a couple more times before spilling himself inside of her again. She was like a sack of potatoes as he hauled her back to the bedroom, placing her on the bed before going off to the bathroom and getting a warm, wet washcloth to clean them up.  
   
They napped for two hours before he woke up to her mouth around him.  
   
Taking her virginity had clearly broken some sort of dam, and now she was non-stop insatiable.  The problem was that he also felt it.  He was a hair's breadth away from being rock hard with wanting her at any moment of the day, no matter how soon after they had finished up the last round.  Not that he was complaining.  The Bucky that had taken up residence in the hindquarters of his brain threatened to possess him if he thought about complaining.  It was just unusual, he'd never had such an insatiable need for another person before.  He chalked it up to the fact that he truly did love her and she loved him back and they had all the time and privacy in the world at the moment to keep showing each other that.  
   
Naked Sunday turned into Naked Monday morning. Steve begged for her to put on clothing an hour before he was scheduled to talk to Sam, and she reluctantly agreed.  
   
His inner Bucky promised to punch him in the balls for that.  
   
By Wednesday night, JARVIS chimed after a particularly aerobic sex session on the pool table.  
   
“Mr. Stark has been attempting to contact you since Saturday evening.”  
   
“What? Why didn't you---” Steve furrowed his brow. He nodded in sudden understanding. He had specifically asked not to be interrupted and JARVIS had been good enough to do that for him.  
   
“It was not an emergency, but he is suspicious and threatening to visit,” JARVIS helpfully provided.  
   
“Oh, that's not good,” Darcy shook her head, grabbing for her clothes and kissing Steve's mouth quickly. “I'm going to grab a shower. Feel free to join me after you're done torturing Tony about doing it on every surface of his bomb shelter.”  
   
Steve huffed a laugh as he reluctantly put his own clothes on before going towards the nearest glass panel. His girl really knew him quite well already. No one had gotten to know his tricks faster. Not even Bucky. Tony's face showed up immediately on the screen and he looked at Steve with no small amount of suspicion.  
   
“DAMMIT, Barton, you win. He has sex hair,” Tony sighed. “When you're done at my zombie preparedness shelter, I'm going to have the hazmat team come in and scour the place. Is there anywhere you haven't had sex on down there?”  
   
“The ball pit. Thought that was uncomfortable,” Steve smirked at Tony, rolling his eyes when the older (younger?) man choked on thin air in response to Steve's sense of humor's sudden appearance.  
   
“Where's Darce?” Clint asked from off screen.  
   
“The shower, I'd like to join her,” Steve admitted easily. “Do you have anything urgent?”  
   
“We just wanted to know how much money would be exchanging hands,” Tony admitted. “The world has been pretty quiet. We're planning a reconnaissance mission in Japan, just me, Legolas and Big Green. Romanoff's got her secret spy stuff going. Oh, you might want to tell Darcy that Jane put herself in the medbay two days ago without her. Forgot to drink water and wound up dehydrated to the point of fainting.”  
   
“We really have to figure out this WCHS thing so we can come home,” Steve sighed. Both of them were needed back at home. “Do you have anything about this stuff?”  
   
“I'm researching. Not many people try to fight a match,” Tony said truthfully, although the corner of his mouth was tilted just so, indicating that he was hiding something. “Most of us just get out of having any matches happen before hand.”  
   
Clint snorted off screen.  
   
“Can you do anything about my information in the system?” Steve wondered. It would be highly inconvenient if the WCHS came back with a match for him. Both he and Darcy would be on the WCHS's most wanted list then.  
   
“Too late,” Tony laughed.

“What?” Steve furrowed his brow.  
   
“Oh shit, you didn't know, that's right. You left before Fury or Hill could tell you,” Tony nodded. “You have a match waiting for you, too, Capsicle. I'm guessing you're not interested.”  
   
“You're fucking right I'm not interested,” Steve said resolutely, ignoring Tony's squawk of indignation over his language. “I'm in love with Darcy. I don't need some supposed perfect match from some damned nosy matchmaking service.”  
   
“Shit...you're in love with her?” Clint's head popped onto the screen finally. He pulled out his phone and began texting quickly. “Does she feel the same way?”  
   
“I'd like to think so,” Steve nodded. Sure, she hadn't said the words yet, but Steve wasn't going to get upset about that. He could tell she loved him. The feeling was there every time she looked at him, kissed him or touched him. The words would find their own way eventually.  
   
“Shit,” Clint said, not in a heated or angry way. More like an amazed way as he continued to text.  
   
“So...if you see Fury or Hill, tell them to cram their WCHS bullshit up their asses,” Steve muttered. He rolled his eyes at Tony's flabbergasted reaction to his cursing. “Keep us in the loop. And again, Tony, thanks for giving us this space. We promise to keep on using every available surface to the best of our ability.”  
   
“Which I'm guessing is considerable?” Clint chuckled.  
   
“Very considerable,” Steve winked at the pair of them before waving goodbye before Tony's face could get anymore disgusted and reddened. He stood in the room alone for a moment, wondering what the supposed match from the WCHS meant. Was that why they were so insistent on finding him and Darcy? Would it be better for them to split up so that the focus on the WCHS would have to split their manpower in tracking them down?  
   
“I'm going to get in the shower soon and be all wet and naked and all alone!!!!!!!!” Darcy's loud sing songy declaration echoed throughout the underground facility.  
   
He smiled and pulled his shirt off again.  
   
No way in hell was he letting that girl out of his sight. They'd have to pry his cold, dead fingers off of her.  
 

 

 

"Babydoll?  What are you up to?"  
   
"hhmmm?"  
   
Steve came upon their bedroom after the phone call with Tony and Clint and froze in place in the doorway as she stood in front of the floor length mirror, completely nude still, looking at herself intently, her hands turning her leg so that she could see the marks on her skin in the shape of his fingers.  
   
"It's not naked Sunday, anymore," Steve mumbled half-heartedly. “You have to put on clothes for the sake of my sanity at some point.”  
   
 FUCK YOU STEVEN GRANT.  
   
"You really are an artist," she remarked, an appreciative smirk blooming across her lips.  
   
"You really are the world's best canvas," Steve told her resolutely.  "You were already so pretty before, I'm just...adding small touches."  
   
"Small?" Darcy scoffed.  She saw his earnest expression and couldn't help the mocking giggle bubbling from her stomach.  "You corny cornball.  I absolutely love you."  
   
Steve grinned at her, his eyes lighting up with delight as his heart began hammering in his chest in reaction to her words. He quickly pushed his pants down, stepping out of them.  He was across the room, behind her, in a heart beat, his hands wrapping around her as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.  Her face was flushed with that familiar heated arousal, her eyes were dancing with mirth as she looked back at him.   
   
 "Say it again, sweetheart?" Steve asked, his voice low and rumbling from his chest that was against her bare back.  
   
 "I love you, Steve," Darcy smiled softly.  She hummed as his hands moved from her stomach, the right hand heading between her thighs to stroke at her already wet center (she seriously loved looking at the love marks on her skin.), his left hand going to cup her breast.  
   
"Babydoll, you okay? I---I have to have you," he admitted guiltily, his erection twitching against her backside.   
   
"You can have me, Steve," Darcy promised, smiling at his reflection in the mirror.  "I love you."  
   
 "Jesus," Steve groaned, adept fingers parting her folds, his body guiding hers into a bend.   
   
 Her hands reached out and pressed against the mirror, gripping the sides as he stroked his erection against her clit until she was whining with need and pushing her hips back into him.  She let out a lovely soft moan as he entered her from behind.  
   
"I love you," Steve murmured in her ear as he stroked himself inside of her, each ebb and flow of his hips would find him sinking in deeper.  When he was fully sheathed inside of her, he paused and waited, twitching inside of her.  "I'm never going to leave you.  I want you with me forever, babydoll.  Always."  
   
 Darcy fluttered around him and he felt that small rush of additional heat and wetness inside of her and his smile turned soft and filthy.  She loved to hear him talk, and she always reacted best to soft, romantic words or downright possessive words.  
   
"My babydoll," Steve rumbled as he stroked within her.  His right hand stroking the hardened swell of flesh between her legs, his left gripping her hip as she wiggled her hips back to meet him when he pushed into her.  He groaned as he went deep inside of her loving the sound of her pleasured cry as they found the same rhythm, meeting each other on every thrust so that it felt like he couldn't possibly get further inside of her.  
   
"Love you," she whimpered.  "Steve..."  
   
His left hand gripped her hip tighter, making a new mark as her words broke him, making his thrusts into her harder and faster than he had ever gone with her before.  She was far from complaining, her pleasured wails echoed off the walls of the room.  
   
"Look at you, pretty as a damned picture," Steve looked at their reflection through heavy lidded eyes.   
   
They were pretty as a picture.  Darcy's knuckles were white as she gripped the edges of the mirrors.  Her face was contorted with the heavy pleasure she was experiencing, red, pouting lips open as she mewled and moaned and made the softest sounds of need and want.  Her eyes were barely open, dark pupils ringed with the smallest circle of blue as she did as he asked, staring at the reflection in the mirror.  Her breasts were flushing red and hung heavily, bouncing with every powerful thrust.  
   
Steve was behind her, his own mouth opening and closing as he gasped for air while he worked her over without reservation.  He had had the slightly terrifying inkling that he would never be able to let loose with someone as delicate as Darcy, but here he was, slamming his hips into her hard and fast and precise and she was loving it.  She was crying out, over the edge, breaking against him so quickly.  He felt a rush of wetness pushing from her and working in concert with her clenching walls, pushing him out of her warmth and he growled before working his way back in.  
   
She pushed his hand away from her clit and he took it in stride, knowing she was sensitive, so he put both hands on her hips and began to stroke at her again the moment she had recovered enough to push her hips back  once more.  
   
She began clenching around him every time his hips pressed against her skin, working against him as he wanted to keep slamming into her with that harsh, fast pace.  He couldn't complain though, because every time she did it, it felt like she was impossibly tight against him, threatening to rob him of his sanity and control.  
   
"Look at you, babydoll," Steve grunted.  Her dark curls were falling into her sweaty, red face, he could see himself disappearing inside of her, he could see the delicious droplets of her slick coating her thighs, dripping down her legs at a painfully slow pace.  
   
Darcy lost her words and could only give him pleasured whimpers and nonsensical vowel sounds.  She was close again, and he was to the point where he was withdrawing from her completely before pushing in again with urgency and power.  He heard a garbled declaration of her love for him again as she came again, slumping bonelessly against the mirror, held up only by his hands on her hips as he slammed into her fluttering, pulsing, wet warmth, his release mixing with hers.  He could feel the heat of their cum pushing out of her, adding to the mess between them.   
   
"Jesus," Darcy whispered.  "Fuck that was good.  Don't get me wrong, Steve, I like the slow tender stuff, but we can add that to the rotation too.  Please and thank you."  
   
Such a polite dame, you better give her everything she asks for, whenever she asks for it.  
   
Steve laughed and withdrew from her, licking his lips at the sight of his spunk dripping out of her wet center.  He could easily drop to his knees, but he didn't know if he'd want to lick it out of her or push it back inside.  Instead, he gave her tired, sweaty face a smile and lifted her up in his arms.   
   
"Let's get you another shower, babydoll."  
 

   
   
Once the shower was through, food had to happen, Steve's metabolism and Darcy's growling stomach gave them no room for argument. He actually managed to get her to wear clothing, too, and he couldn't be too upset, because it was his t-shirt drowning her small frame and completely obscuring the small pair of denim cutoff shorts.  
   
"What did Tony want?"  Darcy wondered as she started a pot of rice before taking the cans of tomatoes and beans that Steve had opened for her, intent on making some kind of jambalaya.  Complex carbs and protein were what they needed to keep up the incredible sex marathons, she was sure of it.   And gatorade.  Hydration was important.  
   
"Oh...right, just to know who won the bet on when you would defile a National Icon," Steve smirked at her.  
   
"Oh no no no, you defiled ME.  I was innocent and pure as the driven snow before I had to shack up with Captain Sex-merica," Darcy accused.   
   
"And I did defile you," Steve waggled his eyebrows at her.   
   
Damn right you did.  She's good and properly defiled now.  Just for you, you lucky son of a bitch.  
   
   
   
"Too spicy?" Darcy wondered, holding up a spoon for him to taste.  
   
   
"Could be spicier," Steve wagered.  
   
   
"Ha, not for me, you can add more hot sauce to your own gallon sized serving," Darcy promised.  
   
   
"Tony said that Jane had a bad few days at work, apparently she forgot she was human and needed to drink water," Steve reported.  
   
   
"Ugh, JARVIS?" Darcy questioned.  
   
   
"I have been having drinks and meals delivered to Dr. Foster in the lab," JARVIS promised.  "I lack the ability to force her to drink or eat as you were able to."  
   
   
"Okay, next time she gets close to dehydration, do me a favor and turn on the sprinklers in her lab.  Some of it is bound to get in her mouth then," Darcy wagered.  
   
"An excellent plan," JARVIS assured her.  "I will have her lab waterproofed while she is still in  medical and I will be sure to forward you the footage."  
   
"JARVIS if I weren't so in love with Captain America, I would totally be ready to run away with you," Darcy sighed, giving Steve an eye wink and finger guns when he dared to roll his eyes at her sentiment.  "If he ever leaves me for his perfect match, then we're going to find you a body, WEIRD SCIENCE style and then we can run off into the sunset."  
   
Steve frowned as Darcy and JARVIS chattered on.  He remembered what Tony had revealed then, what he had been intent on telling Darcy earlier before his intent disappeared under the more pressing need to explore her body more.   
   
"Sweetheart?  There's something else Tony told me," Steve revealed.  He took a deep breath and gave her his biggest, most reassuring smile he could before telling her, "You're not the only one running away from a match anymore.  Tony said one came in for me too."  
   
"Oh."  
   
He had been expecting a lot of different reactions to this bit of news.  Annoyance and anger were at the top of his list, he had assumed she would be angry that they WCHS was trying to ruin their happiness and annoyed with them for having another reason to chase after them.  He hadn't been expecting tears to well in her eyes and the pouting bottom lip to tremble uncontrollably.  
   
Now look at what you did!  Hold her and make the tears stop, punk.  I can't stand to see this angel crying.  
   
"Hey, babydoll, what's the matter?" Steve's eyes widened, going around the counter and turning off the stove burners before pulling her into his arms.  She was stiff and unyielding.  His hand moved up and down her arms in soothing strokes.  She wouldn't meet his eyes, looking resolutely at the ground as she blinked back tears.  "Talk to me, Darcy, please?"  
   
   
"You can go back if you want," Darcy whispered.  "I'll be fine down here."  
   
   
"WHAT?" Steve's voice was so loud that it bounced off the stainless steel appliances.  
   
   
"It's your perfect match, Steve," Darcy told him.  "You deserve to go and be happy."  
   
   
"HEY," Steve said, sounding annoyed now.  "I love you.  I'm happy right here, with you.  Darcy, why on Earth would I want to leave you?  I told you I was yours and you're mine."  
   
"But...the match...your generation thought that the matches were important and right," Darcy shrugged.  She looked up at him and took a shaky breath as he stared down at her in a lovely blended mixture of concern and love.  She broke apart then, suddenly overwrought.  It had been a rough couple of weeks for her, and it all seemed to bubble to the surface at the same time.  "Please don't leave me.  I love you, and I'm yours.  Please."  
   
"It's never gonna happen.  NEVER," Steve promised her, bending down to kiss her mouth firmly, trying to convey his conviction through the touch.  He pulled away and wiped at her tears in vain, as they continued to fall.  He pulled her off of her feet and cradled her head to his chest, sighing when she wrapped her legs around him.  "Babydoll, please believe me, I won't leave.  I love you.  I don't care about the stupid match, just like you don't care.  I was in the ice before the whole world went nuts about this ridiculous matchmaking shit."  
   
   
"I'm sorry," Darcy whispered.  
   
"Don't be," Steve ordered her gently.  "I won't leave you, and I know you won't leave me...right?"  
   
   
"Never," Darcy promised.  
   
"We're in this together now," Steve told her.  "They're going to come after me just like they're coming after you.  I promise you, we will figure our way out of this.  Trust in me, sweetheart, please, and I'll never stop trusting you."  
   
"I trust you, Steve," Darcy nodded.  "I love you."  
   
"I love you too, babydoll," Steve kissed her again.  Both of their stomachs growled and he looked back to the stove.  "Maybe I'll go grab one of your emergency bags full of food and we can have a snack while you finish up."  
   
"Sounds good," Darcy nodded.  
   
JARVIS chimed in, this time not with the gentle chimes he so often used when he didn't want to bother them.  
   
These were klaxons.  
   
"Shit," Steve hissed.  
   
"Intruders are within my parameters.  They are unidentifiable.  I am attempting to contact Agent Romanoff.  Mr. Stark is currently on the quinjet with Dr. Banner and Agent Barton on their way to a mission overseas.  He advises that you evacuate immediately as they will not make it back in time to assist."  
   
Darcy immediately ran towards her pantry where she kept a backpack full of foodstuffs for them and Steve darted to their room, picking up the bag full of clothing and money and emergency provisions.  He stopped in the armory for another small bag and his shield, and Darcy met him there with a new bag as well.  He handed her the taser and a holster, before helping her put it on quickly.  
   
"The entryway is being infiltrated by sixteen heavily armed, unknown forces," JARVIS relayed.  "You will not be able to leave with the car unless you can incapacitate these men.  Another squadron is positioned outside, ready to cut the generator.  My connection to you may be disabled and power may go out."  
   
"SHIT," Steve cursed, grabbing Darcy's hand and squeezing before grabbing his shield, preparing to go and battle the men blocking their way.  "Sweetheart, stay hidden.  I'll come back and get you when it's clear.  I love you."  
   
"I love you too, you blockhead, don't even think about going out there," Darcy warned.  "There's another way."  
 

   
   
"Strike Team Charlie, get in position to support Beta if the Captain tries to fight his way out of this," Brock Rumlow ordered.  He put his hand over the comm and nodded, "Power will be out in four minutes and counting."  
   
Brock Rumlow didn't ask questions.   
   
He was given a mission, utilizing Hydra loyalists only.  Under no circumstances was anything supposed to be revealed to any Shield team member.  Nick Fury was not to know of this operation whatsoever.   
   
The operation?  Retrieve one Darcy Lewis and bring her in.  Captain America was not a priority.  As a matter of fact, Alexander Pierce had told him that he was a liability that could be taken out if necessary.   
   
Pierce didn't need Captain America.  He needed Darcy Lewis.  
   
 It seemed odd to Rumlow that one idiot 23-year-old who had stumbled upon New Mexico and therefore Hydra's radar would be a fair trade for Captain America.   
   
But Brock Rumlow didn't ask questions.  
   
What he did do was carry out missions for the greater good of humanity.  If Darcy Lewis could be utilized by Hydra for the greater good of humanity, then he was going to deliver her back to headquarters.   
   
"Thirty seconds to blackout," Rumlow advised, pulling out his night vision goggles.  "Fifteen..."  
 

   
   
   
"That---that's...Shield," Steve's voice could barely be heard as he and Darcy hovered at the hatch for the secret cannons of Tony's underground bunker.   
   
Darcy had shown him her way out, and they had clambered up the rigging, with Steve close behind Darcy.  Steve could have gone faster than Darcy of course, but his girl was no slouch, climbing and pulling herself up nearly sixty feet in the air on slippery scaffolding before they finally managed to peek out.   
   
"That guy is a douchebag according to Clint," Darcy pointed out Brock Rumlow.  "I was to stay away from him at all costs when we were being processed and NDA'd up at the Triskellion after New Mexico.  Natasha taught me how to take him down and run, if you know, I need to.  Apparently he has a trick knee? The right one she said."  
   
"Good to know," Steve nodded.  "Why is Shield bringing this much gunfire to us?  You'd think Natasha would have been able to warn us."  
   
"Unless it's not really Shield?" Darcy wildly hypothesized.  "Or like...Shield could be split? Bad Shield and Good shield?"  
   
"The priority is the girl.  The captain doesn't matter."  
   
Darcy gasped in objection at Rumlow's final warning to his crew before he began counting down from ten.  Steve gripped her hand and gave her a kiss to the temple.  
   
"Babydoll, don't take any offense, but I'm gonna carry you," he whispered.  His shield was already in his hand and he gestured to his back with the back packs on them, Darcy had her own on her back.  "Lights out, you hop on.  M'faster, and I'm not letting them get a hand on you."  
   
The lights went out and all hell broke loose.  Dozens of armed to the teeth troops centered around the main entrance.  Steve hopped out of the hatch and pulled Darcy out as well before bending so that she could climb on his back.  He took off like a bat out of hell.  Thankful for the darkness of early night and the strike team's preoccupation with the main entrance.   
   
He made it to the treeline and was zipping through the forest in no time, smirking at the sound of Darcy's silent giggles and small sounds of joy as they got further and further away.  
   
   
"SO FUN," she insisted as Steve finally came to a stop, nearly two miles from their exit point.  
   
"Shh," Steve looked in the distance.  "Get down, sweetheart, hide."  
   
"Pffft," Darcy huffed out, grabbing her taser out of the holster he had modified for her.  She followed him closely, mimicking his quiet steps as he made his way to a lone perimeter lookout.   Steve had lifted the shield, ready to knock the man unconscious when Darcy shot with the taser, bringing the guy down.  She grinned at Steve's unimpressed look and pointed to the comm unit on the man's ear.   
   
Steve nodded and grabbed it, as well as guns and ammo.  He grabbed Darcy's hand again before taking off at a trot into the night again, listening into the comm unit quietly.  
   
They had made it another mile before Steve heard chatter.  
   
"No sign of them.  How the hell did they make it past?  Perimeter give me a report."  
   
"They're gonna know we got past one of the the perimeter guards," Steve reported to Darcy.   
   
"We can keep heading towards the road," Darcy pointed in the distance, it was at least fifteen miles out at that point. "We can hope for a hitchhike or a car we can grab."  
   
   
Steve stopped in his tracks when he heard it over the comms.   
   
“HAIL HYDRA.”

 

Those motherfucking bastards.

 

 

Chapter Eight: Is Your Daddy a Baker? Cause You've Got Great Buns  
 

 

   
   
Steve pulled the comm from his ear and looked down at it, his face full of deadly anger.  His hand turned into a fist, and the comm was crushed in it before he dropped it on the forest floor, as a harsh growl rumbled in his chest.  Darcy's eyes widened as she watched him, this was a side of Steve she had never glimpsed before.  He looked so angry...absolutely livid and every muscle was strained, including the one jumping in wild anger in his jaw.    
   
"Steve?" she whispered.  "Are you alright?"  
   
You're scaring this angel, Steve.  Take a breath, pal.   
   
He took deep breaths before slowly bringing up his line of sight from the crushed comm unit and let his eyes settle on her concerned gaze.  The anger dissipated immediately and in its place a fierce protectiveness settled.  He was looking at her like she was the most important thing on the face of the planet, something he treasured and loved above anything else.  It made her want to grab him and kiss him, but she did her best to focus on the situation at hand.  
   
"What's happening?" she asked.  "Was it the WCHS?  What did you hear?"  
   
"It wasn't the WCHS, sweetheart," Steve shook his head.  He reached for her and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, his hands going under the straps of her backpacks and the oversized t-shirt so that his hands could rub against the skin of her back.  He felt a calm go through him.  She was safe and solid beneath his fingertips.  Hydra had taken so much from his life, but they would never take her.  They would never touch her.  "We have to get to a safe place.  Tony and the rest of the crew should be back in about ten hours, we just have to hide until then."  
   
"What about Natasha?" Darcy wondered.  
   
"She can't be trusted anymore," Steve said grimly.  
   
"Steve, that can't be true," Darcy disputed, looking up at him in curious appraisal.  
   
"Darcy, those people back there, they were Shield...but not Shield," Steve revealed.  
   
"Right.  Bad Shield," Darcy nodded.    
   
"Hydra," Steve revealed, a bitter taste on the back of his tongue making him wince. "They...on the comms, they said Hail Hydra."  
   
"Steve," Darcy whispered. She could feel a cold dread coming over her at the idea of it. She knew her history. Hydra was everything that Steve wasn't. They were what Steve fought against. What he had lost everything to.  "Hydra has been obliterated since...since you went in the ice."  
   
"Cut off one head," Steve said miserably. He tightened his hold on her and warned her, "We can't trust anyone in Shield.  They're a part of Shield.  Hidden in plain sight."  
   
"But not Natasha," Darcy shook her head adamantly.  "Trust me Steve, please, Natasha is our friend, she's our ally.  We need to get in contact with her."  
   
Steve fought against the need to completely distance himself from all parts of Shield. He trusted Darcy completely. And he knew her instincts were good. If she thought Natasha was an ally, he'd do his best to believe it too. But his fight response was high at the moment, and all he wanted to do, all he needed to do was keep the girl in his arms safe at that moment.   
   
He looked up at the night sky for a brief moment and realized that after the initial run, the summer air was cool against them, Darcy was shivering in her too large t-shirt and practically non-existent shorts.  And both of them were still so hungry that the loudest thing in the calm night air was the sound of growls and whines coming from their stomachs.  
   
"Babydoll, before we contact anyone, we need to find a safe spot for the night," Steve dropped a kiss on her forehead.  "If we can wait it out, Tony can come for us."  
   
"I prepared for that," Darcy revealed gesturing to one of her backpacks with a tilt of her head.  "All the zombie preparedness camping gear you could possibly want.  Even an alarm that we can set around a perimeter that JARVIS said would know the difference between human biometrics and animal ones."  
   
"My brilliant girl," Steve smiled at her.  "Come on, let's find a place to settle for the night."  
 

   
   
"Nat, where in the hell are you?"  
   
Natasha ducked into a shadowed stairwell in a large, corporate building in Washington DC, intent on not drawing too much attention to herself.  She'd gotten in, she'd gotten the files she needed, and she was ready to get the hell out before the WCHS realized she was there. She'd also dodged someone from Shield that she recognized. And she knew that Maria Hill hadn't sent anyone to the WCHS. Something was rotten, she could feel it.  
   
But when Clint called for the eighteenth time in the span of five minutes, she figured it was an emergency.  
   
"Handling something that Doc said was needed," Nat whispered.  "It might help my mission to not have you completely blowing up my phone, Barton.  I told you that you were on punishment and would get no late night visits from me for the next week for underestimating Darcy."  
   
"I can wait a week.  Let's see if you can," Barton smirked over the phone.  He shook himself out of it and said, "Speaking of Darcy...you didn't order a Strike team or three to drive her and Steve away from the Virginia Zombie house, did you?"  
   
"WHAT?" Natasha hissed.    
   
"From what JARVIS is giving us, it looks like a Shield strike team," Barton admitted.  "We're halfway around the world, we need someone to extract Darcy and Steve.  JARVIS reports that their last plan was to book it out a secret hatch and head to the forest.  We're still waiting for JARVIS to come back up in the shelter to know what happened. But all the generators were wiped and he can't get back in."  
   
"Does he have any ID on any of the intruders?"  
   
   
"He's working on facial and vocal recognition.  They were in gear, faces obscured, but Tony is confident if the voice is on record, he can match it eventually," Clint revealed.  "Nat, what do you think is going on?"  
   
"I'm thinking that there is a third player here," Natasha admitted, with the slightest hint of unease in her voice.   "Fury and the WCHS are appeased by Darcy and Steve's current situation.  This is someone new."  
   
Clint gulped, audibly.  Natasha being uneasy was never good.  
   
   
"I have a tracker on Darcy, I'll make sure they get somewhere safer until we can figure out what's going on," Natasha insisted.  "Give me a few hours.  You and the rest of the boys finish that mission.  The last thing we need to do is give this third player the impression that we're panicking.  Call me as soon as JARVIS has a match on the intruders."  
   
Natasha hung up with no further words, even as Clint called out over the other end that 'she was hotter when she was kicking ass and taking names'.  
   
She dialed the phone and didn't even wait for a greeting.  
   
"Carter, your boyfriend is going to have some visitors.  Tell him to stock up on food.  He'll need it."  
 

   
   
Once the perimeter alarm was set and Darcy had set up the little pop-up tent just big enough to fit them both, and they had finally gotten through a meal of Darcy's favorite MRE's (chicken a la king) and brownies for dessert, Steve had insisted that he would be staying up to keep watch.    
   
"I love you, Cutie, but that's dumb," Darcy had rolled her eyes.  "The perimeter alarm will give us time to get away.  And you may be a supersoldier, but you still need sleep. And also, I can't sleep without you, so get in here, you big adorable goofball."  
   
Steve should have insisted, because no sooner than she was wrapped around him and sleeping, did he also succumb to the adrenaline crash, sinking into sleep, the renewed threat of Hydra in his brain and the feeling of clinging to her in his sleep steering where his dreams went.  
   
They were on the train.  
   
Darcy was next to him, arms outstretched, tears streaming down her face as they watched Bucky fall.  Steve reached for her next, determined to protect her even if he had just failed Bucky, but she vanished in front his eyes, appearing on the other side of the train, in the clutches of Red Skull.    
   
"Steve," she whimpered, straining against the hold on her, kicking, scratching, and clawing, trying to get to her taser, doing everything right in order to get out of the hold on her, but it didn't matter, because it was a terrifying dream.  The hold on her never stopped and she cried and Steve's blood boiled at the sight of her fear.  He screamed out when a jagged knife made a fresh cut in her upper arm, causing her to whimper at the pain.  
   
His enemy gave him a wicked smile, and began moving further away, Darcy still in his clutches.    
   
"Steve.  STEVE!"  
   
Steve woke up to see Darcy just outside the tent, looking in on him with worry.  When he sat up slowly, she crawled back in, going to sit in his lap.  Her hands were on either side of his face.    
   
"I'm okay," she promised.  "I'm right here.  No one is going to take me from you. Hydra will never get their hands on me.  I'm right here, Steve."  
   
"Did I---did I hurt you?" Steve managed to croak out as she handed him a water bottle.  
   
"NO," she said quickly and forcefully.  "I was out of the tent before you started thrashing."  
   
She had hated every moment of it, seeing him cry and thrash and rage against his nightmares and hearing him call out for Bucky, then her.  All she had wanted to do was soothe him, to wipe the sweat from his brow, but she knew how strong he was.  She knew with the way he was thrashing around, one elbow to any part of her would bruise considerably and she would never put him through having to see that.  
   
He drank the water and Darcy tugged at his sweat drenched t-shirt and pulled it off with his help.  She turned and went out of the tent again, placing the t-shirt over the tent so it would dry out.  He handed her his pants next and she did the same with those before taking her own clothing off and crawling back into the tent.    
   
His eyes went wide at the state of her undress and she waved him off before crawling over him, wrapping her arms around his torso.  
   
   
"I love you," she whispered.    
   
"I know, babydoll," Steve nodded.  "I love you, too."  
   
"I promise you, that if the worst ever happens, I will do everything in my power to come back to you. I won't even mouth off at anybody," Darcy assured him.  "And I'll come back to you, I promise.  You know, I'm pretty awesome for a non super powered person."  
   
"Yes, you are," Steve nodded, a small smile on his face as she tenderly stroked at his bare skin.  He felt a cringe go through him as he remembered she had tried her best in his nightmare, and it hadn't been enough.  He had already lost everything in his old life to Hydra and time.  And now he had just found the piece he'd been missing ever since he knew what want and love were and old enemies were threatening to take that too.    
   
"Here's what we're going to do," Darcy said resolutely, something in the tone of her voice leaving no room for argument.  She was telling him a plan, rather than suggesting a plan.  "First, we're going to take twenty minutes here and we're going to do the frick frack."  
   
Steve gave her a furrow of his brow and she smirked at him and waggled her eyebrows.  
   
   
PERFECT DAME, STEVIE.  SO PERFECT.  
   
"And then, when we're both nice and calm and feeling the endorphins, we're going to pack up camp and we're going to head towards the road.  Then we're going to steal a car.  Or, I'm hoping that you know how to steal a car.  Because I'm a good girl and don't steal. But I heard that Captain America once robbed a jewelry store of a locket, so I'm hoping he knows his way around grand theft auto."  
   
"I can hotwire a car, babydoll," Steve promised, his hands rubbing up and down the sides of her torso.    
   
"Naughty, I love it," Darcy grinned at him, leaving a soft lingering kiss on his lips.  "And then we're going to drive to Washington DC."  
   
"Why Washington DC?" Steve furrowed his brow.  
   
"Natasha is usually based out of DC, because of the Triskellion," Darcy shrugged.  "But if you're not comfortable going to Natasha, we're going to go to the only other person you and I both trust and who has access to JARVIS."  
   
"Sam?" Steve questioned hopefully.  
   
"Aren't I good with plans?  I mean, I'm not a Star Spangled Man with a Plan, but I'm still good with them," Darcy goaded, sighing when his fingers found her center and began petting and stroking her there.  
   
"Babydoll, you're good at everything," Steve smiled at her softly.  "Now I only have twenty minutes according to General Lewis, so I'm going to have to make them count."  
   
Darcy giggled at the thought of outranking him, but her giggles turned into soft, hushed moans as his adept fingers made very quick work of their foreplay.  By the time his fingers moved from her clit to her entrance, she was already dripping and took in two of his fingers easily.  She pushed him to lay back and shimmied on top of him licking her lips as his wet hand stroked himself up and down.  
   
"Help a girl out here," Darcy whispered, rubbing herself against the leaking tip of him.  She let out a high pitched sigh as she felt him push into her.  She planted her hands on his stomach, fingers tracing the lines of his abs delicately.  She instinctively rose and fell on top of him, and in a half dozen strokes she was settled against his body, his twitching length fully sheathed inside of her.    
   
"I like it like this," she breathed out.  
   
"Babydoll, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you like it all ways," Steve's hands settled on her hips and he groaned when they worked in concert to rise and fall together.  "I think you have a bit of a problem."  
   
"Are you calling me a nymphomaniac?" Darcy laughed, as she worked into a really good, really lovely rhythm  as she rode him.  She seriously did like it like this, his legs were solid against her soft inner thighs and he was beneath her, staring up at her with his mouth hanging open and his fingers digging into her hips.  "Because you're having just as much sex as I am, so you're a nymphomaniac too."  
   
"So long as I'm yours I don't care what you call me," Steve chuckled, struggling to keep his eyes from shutting out of the sheer pleasure she was giving him by riding him.  He wanted to keep his eyes on her, watching the lovely way her breasts were bouncing with every downturn of her hips.  
   
Touch 'em, jerk. Get your hands on them. You owe me that much.  
   
Steve's hands did reach up and grab at those bouncing breasts and Darcy cried out as she slammed down on him, her orgasm coming out of nowhere but fierce and intense nonetheless.  He was breathing heavy through it as she gripped him tight.  She went boneless even as the velvety walls inside of her clenched and fluttered and did their best to break him.  
   
"Shit," she whispered, falling against his chest.  "I see us doing that a lot, cause that felt GOOD."  
   
"Can we...keep on doing it now?" Steve smirked, twitching inside of her.  
   
"Oh, we're not done here? I got what I needed," Darcy gave him her best Steve face.  Trolly and sarcastic and an absolutely shit-eating smile.  It disappeared when Steve pistoned his hips up into her and was replaced with her eyes rolling back in her head.  "Again, again, please."  
   
Steve squeezed at her hips and did what she asked, working up and into her fast and hard with no signs of slowing or fatigue until she was making those telltale gulps for air as she rapidly approached her end again.  
   
"Wait for me babydoll," Steve begged, feeling his own end rushing towards him.  
   
"ngh," she squeaked out.    
   
His hips were so quick, his strokes within her so rapid and fast and forceful that he could feel her scream building and he brought one hand up to cover her mouth, and she clapped her hands on top of his, attempting to keep the sound muted as he slammed into her and erupted, and she could grip his body with her legs, so hard he almost wondered if she didn't have a little super serum too.  
   
   
He came back to the surface sooner than she did, and spent the time she took to catch her breath and find her inner balance again stroking her back soothingly.    
   
"That took eighteen minutes.  We are ahead of schedule," Darcy finally whispered.  "Excellent job, team.  Now let's go get Captain America to go steal a car."  
 

   
   
Natasha knew the exact moment that Darcy and Steve got their hands on faster transportation.  The tracker that Darcy may not even know about went from moving about three miles an hour, to stopping, and then two minutes later, it was suddenly zooming towards Natasha's car heading towards her at over one hundred miles per hour.  
   
She pulled into a diner and went in and got a milk-shake to go, before coming back out and sitting in the non-Shield Corvette that her Tony Stark provided black credit card had purchased when the sun had come up that morning.  
   
She had managed to get one message to Hill, and hoped that it would pass through to Fury.  
   
ROTTEN.  
   
Because something was definitely rotten.    
   
JARVIS had given her the brief surveillance he had obtained from the special ops units that had taken down the Virginia Zombie House the night before.  They were definitely Shield trained.  They had Shield weapons on them.  And the voice JARVIS had captured.  She knew that voice.  She knew exactly who it belonged to and it did mean that Shield was essentially rotten from the inside out.  It was time to clean house.  
   
Maria had managed a message back to her.  
   
Need to get new eggs.  
   
Natasha had been pleased she didn't have to go any further.  Maria would handle things on her end.  Natasha's only concern had to be getting Darcy and Steve to a safe place.  If she could convince them to get married ahead of schedule, then all the better for it.  She was sure that Steve would be on board when he knew the extent of the duplicitous nature of Shield.  It was Darcy she was worried about.  The girl was blatantly defiant in the face of danger, and Natasha hoped that Darcy was smitten with Steve enough to at least behave a little at this point.  
   
   
She waited patiently until the she saw a tiny silvery gray car zooming down the straight, back country road.  She revved the engine on the Corvette immediately, waiting in the diner parking lot to follow Darcy's car at a safe distance.  She may have smirked when she saw Darcy happily chatting away while driving like a bat out of hell, and Steve and his bulk uncomfortably stuffed into the tiny passenger's seat, staring down at Darcy with rapt attention and complete and total adoration.  
   
They were painfully adorable together from the brief glimpse Natasha got before she peeled out of the diner parking lot, following the car back towards Washington DC.    
   
All deadly (although DEAD-ON) matchmaking organizations and secret Shield factions and danger aside, Natasha TOTALLY expected to be made both best man and maid of honor.  
 

   
   
“I think telling you that I'm disappointed is an understatement.”  
   
Brock Rumlow stood in front of Alexander Pierce's desk, his hands clenched together behind his back, every muscle in his body forcibly relaxed so that he didn't show any sign of distress or worry. He'd come back to the Triskellion empty handed. Failure was never an option when it came to Pierce.  
   
“With all due respect, Sir, you know what Captain Rogers is capable of,” Rumlow said evenly. “I could have used more firepower.”  
   
“You had twenty-eight men, plus another eighteen on perimeter,” Pierce reminded him. Rumlow simply nodded and Pierce gave a small chuckle. “You wanted me to bring the Asset in to handle the Captain while you grabbed the girl?”  
   
“The mission wouldn't have been a failure then,” Rumlow stopped himself from shrugging.  
   
“The Asset is not an option to contain Captain Rogers at this moment,” Pierce waved off the suggestion. The scientists feared what seeing Steve Rogers in the flesh would do to the programming. They had never programmed him to deal with Captain America, because Captain America was supposed to have died in 1945.  “Tell me you at least brought me something.”  
   
Rumlow nodded and picked up the bag that he had placed by his feet. Again, the STRIKE leader didn't ask questions, but if he did, he might wonder why Pierce needed a bag full of Darcy Lewis' personal effects. The team had gone through and cleared out anything that had been remotely female and now Pierce had a bag full of woman's clothing, both dirty and clean, toiletries and a hairbrush. And one crumbled up piece of sketch book paper with a half-finished sketch of Darcy Lewis draped with a sheet in the style of a 1940's pinup picture.  
   
“This will do,” Pierce nodded. “Drop it off with Garland in Asset management.”  
   
Rumlow's jaw ticked ever so slightly.  
   
“You have a problem with that?” Pierce wondered.  
   
Rumlow didn't ask questions. But if he did, he would wonder why the monkeys in Asset programming needed a used set of pajamas and underwear from an annoying, but otherwise harmless civilian girl.  
   
“No sir.”  
   
He walked out with the duffle bag, stalking down the hallway, intent on getting out of Shield headquarters and heading to the old bank where they were now keeping Hydra's most valuable weapon on ice. Deputy Director Hill was walking down the hall towards him and gave him a slight nod.  
   
She walked further down the hall and managed to give Sharon Carter one blink, never breaking her stride. Sharon continued walking, about fifty feet behind Rumlow, pulling out her phone and placing a quick text.  
   
Sorry Parakeet. Won't be be able to do lunch today. See you tomorrow.  
   
She had some surveillance to do.  
 

 

 

Chapter Nine: I'm Not Staring at Your Boobs, I'm Staring at Your Heart  
 

 

   
   
When they arrived in DC, Darcy made Steve pull out his sketch pad for Sam's address that she had used to send him cookies back at the first safe house weeks ago. The car they had stolen was old and didn't have a built in computer or GPS or helpful omnipotent AI butler, so they stopped for directions at a nearby gas station. Steve had reluctantly agreed that Darcy going in and asking for directions would be better than his bearded, but still recognizable face.  
   
She even indulged him and put on the baseball cap and the sunglasses.  
   
She came back with cold vitamin infused water, a couple of bottles of iced coffee and a bag full of anything hot the place had on the little hot dog roller.  
   
“She said it's on the opposite end of town, and it'll take us at least another hour to get there thanks to traffic,” Darcy relayed, handing him the receipt tape she had gotten the scribbled directions on. “And I promise, no crazy evasive driving through the city.”  
   
Steve smiled at her, at least she had addressed the issue before he could work up the courage to confront her about it. He reached over and put his hand on her knee as she pulled out of the parking lot and dove back into the busy city streets. She didn't have to tone down her driving too much. Washington DC was full of aggressive drivers, so she blended right in.  
   
“Steve?” Darcy was working on her bottom lip thoughtfully as she mulled over her theories.  
   
“Yes, sweetheart?” he squeezed her knee.  
   
“Do you think Hydra is a part of the WCHS? Or vice versa?” Darcy wondered. “I mean...Hydra was all about...what, order?”  
   
“Their idea of it, yes,” Steve nodded.  
   
“And the WCHS basically has the whole world lined up in their own little coupled order,” Darcy conjectured.  
   
“It seems like a possibility,” Steve nodded. “Darcy...I think we have to...well, I know I have to, but I think this is something you're going to want to help me on, babydoll...”  
   
“You want to tear down WCHS and Hydra, right?” Darcy wondered.  
   
“I think it's the only way we're both going to be left alone, and safe,” Steve nodded.  
   
“Okay,” Darcy agreed. She balled her hands into fists on the steering wheel and nodded confidently, “Let's take down a worldwide organization with more power than the US government and a Nazi organization who wants to probably enslave the world or kill half of it. We can totally do that.”  
   
“Well, I think we'd need a little help, but yeah, we can do this,” Steve smiled at her completely confident comment.  
   
“And then you and I will be free to do whatever we want,” Darcy gave him a wink.  
   
“I'd like to take you on a proper date, someday,” Steve admitted.  
   
You'd also like to marry her, but don't tell her that yet.  
   
“Ohhhhhh, after the afternoon we spent in the ball pit at the zombie shelter, I think you are going to have to really outdo yourself on the proper date,” Darcy laughed, honking her horn as the light turned green and no one moved. “Fuck you DC. I hate this place. Set up your streets proper in a grid, not a fucking circle, you douche canoe of a city!”  
   
Steve laughed as Darcy finally put her foot on the gas pedal, maneuvering through the crowded streets with more swears and steering wheel punching. It was just after lunch when they pulled up into Sam's neighborhood. They were the only car on the street, everyone else was at work or elsewhere. She pulled into a space covered in the shade of a giant tree and she turned off the car with a sigh of relief. Sam's small little row home was looking dark and empty. Steve had said he was probably at the VA, as he usually was at this time of day.  
   
“I'm glad we're here. I mean, that was my first time camping and I kinda liked it, really, but next time we go camping, we're going to have s'mores,” Darcy insisted. “And also, some place to swim.”  
   
“I'd like to see you in a bathing suit,” Steve grinned devilishly at her.  
   
“You've seen me naked, what's a swim suit got on that?” Darcy scoffed.  
   
She's got you there, punk. Kiss her and distract her before you put your foot in your mouth.  
   
Steve opened his mouth but realized that his innerBucky was right. He didn't see any response that wouldn't have his clever girl pointing out that he had essentially said he didn't want to see her naked. So he leaned over and kissed her, his hand cupping her face, lips slanting over hers as he tried to maneuver his too broad shoulders in the tiny compact car.  
   
“Are you wordlessly asking for car sex in broad daylight?” Darcy wondered when he pulled away and wiggled again to try and get at a better angle. “Cause, yeah, maybe in the Jeep, but there's no way we can manage doing the do in this shoebox.”  
   
“Nobody said anything about me needing room to get you there, babydoll,” Steve brought his eyebrows up in two quick little hikes.  
   
Darcy laughed and looked around the empty streets as Steve unbuttoned her shorts and worked his right hand down them and into her panties. He kissed her again, silencing any noises that she would normally let burst forth from that pouty mouth as rough fingers rubbed and circled her flesh. He grinned when he felt how wet she was getting. He would never get over being able to bring out such a beautiful response in her.  
   
She moaned into the kiss and it only got louder when she pulled away for air.  
   
“Shhhhh, what if the mailman hears you?” Steve teased, grinning when she moaned louder when he eased his middle finger inside of her. “Or Sam's retired neighbors?”  
   
“I can see the tabloid headlines now, Captain America, getting to third base with his gal pal in a stolen car,” Darcy panted. She let out a louder, pleasured gasp when he worked another finger in, stretching her panties out as his big hand worked at her.  
   
“Gal pal?” Steve repeated with a frown.  
   
“Lady friend?” Darcy murmured, her eyes closing as she felt him crooking his fingers inside of her, dragging decadently along her inner walls.  
   
“Darcy Marie Lewis, you're my best girl,” Steve's voice was a low rumble as he pushed his fingers in and out of her as quick and hard as the constraints of her shorts and panties would allow. “You're mine. Say it.”  
   
“I'm yours,” she squeaked out as he brought her to orgasm, getting her to shake and wiggle in the drivers seat, biting down on her lip to keep her voice as low as possible.  
   
“That's right, babydoll,” Steve smiled, kissing her lips, chaste and quick. When he pulled away he whispered, “I'm gonna marry you someday, you should know that.”  
   
Dammit, Steve! We just talked about keeping your trap shut about that!  
   
   
“Whaa?” Darcy blinked her way back to lucid pretty quickly. Steve had already withdrawn his hand and buttoned her up as he licked his fingers clean of her taste.  
   
“Just something to think about, sweetheart,” Steve smiled softly, as nonchalant as he pleased.  
   
“Wait---what?” Darcy whispered again, her eyes large and owlish, but not looking displeased at all by what he had said.  
   
A knock on Steve's window interrupted any further talking and Steve turned, tense and ready for a fight. Sam Wilson was staring down at them with his arms crossed.  
   
“You guys finished? Because I just got back to catch the end of whatever shenanigans you were just doing, thank God, because I'd like to take this moment to remind you that voyeurism isn't my thing,” Sam rolled his eyes indulgently. “Come on, last time I checked, the honeymoon phase meant you needed extra sustenance. I'll make you guys some lunch.”  
 

   
   
Once she had made sure that Steve and Darcy had been taken into the safety of Sam's house, Natasha was on her way to the nearest Shield quinjet landing pad, about a mile and a half from Sam's place. She waited as Clint landed, and hopped on the jet, walking in and going for the medical supply cabinet, pulling out boxes until she got to the bug she knew would be there.  
   
She crushed it under her heel before turning to Bruce, Tony and Clint.  
   
“They're safe, at the Falcon's place,” she revealed. She handed a pack of file folders to Bruce and said, “This is what I got from the vault in the WCHS, a hell of a lot of interesting stuff in there, Banner. It should keep you and Dr. Ross very busy over the next few months. And I wasn't the only one who wanted it. I think we dodged a bullet on that one.”  
   
“You think the baby bird can keep them safe, do you?” Tony furrowed his brow.  
   
“Just because he's new to you, doesn't mean he hasn't spent the last ten years fighting the good fight,” Clint reminded him, earning a smile from Natasha. “Besides, he's got his own competent woman keeping him in line and he doesn't actually know who we are and he doesn't know that they're matched. It'll be fine.”  
   
“So, next step?” Stark wondered, looking over Bruce's shoulder, his eyes widening at the information that Natasha had managed to obtain. “Comet buster won't be ready for another few years.  Foster is working on something for me, she doesn't know why, but she is anyhow.  But I can't press her to go faster, she wound up putting herself in the medbay, and that was with zero pressure from me.”  
   
“We don't have to go that big yet,” Natasha shook her head. “Our next step is figuring out what is rotten in the house of Shield. And doing our best to keep their hands off of Darcy and Steve.”  
   
“Who do we trust?” Bruce put the folder down for a moment. “Who can we trust?”  
   
“Well, I'd say Agent Agent but...you know,” Tony shrugged, his mouth down-turned into a frown.  
   
“I trust Hill and Carter,” Clint nodded.  
   
“Go figure, the Widow's cabana boy trusts the strong women who could shoot his balls off at a 100 paces away,” Tony teased.  
   
“How is Pepper doing?” Clint fired back with a knowing smirk. Strong women were an addiction, and Clint had seen the scrapbooks that Tony had compiled in Pepper Potts' honor.  
   
“Do we trust Fury?” Bruce asked, looking at Natasha curiously. “He's the highest Shield goes, he would know if there were a few bad eggs in the house, wouldn't he?”  
   
“I'm not sure,” Natasha said honestly. “My instincts say we should trust him.”  
   
“Hmm, we'll see,” Tony shook his head. “Okay...Pigeon face, why don't you go suss out the Strike people. Get me some recordings of their voices and we can weed some of them out with JARVIS' help.”  
   
   
“I've got Rumlow detail,” Natasha said, looking at her phone. “Carter is on his tail, but she got waylayed by Sitwell and didn't want to blow her cover.  I'll go and relieve her.”  
   
“You don't think you should go to Darcy and Steve?” Tony furrowed his brow. “He said they're in love. Now would be a good time to tell them the truth, don't you think?”  
   
“The truth can wait, it's more important to see why some of the most dangerous people in Shield went after them,” Natasha insisted. “Their safety matters above all else.”  
   
Tony looked like he wanted to disagree on Steve and Darcy's behalf, but he hated arguing with Natasha, so he shrugged.  
   
“I'll take this to Betty,” Bruce nodded, holding the files up in the air. “Seriously...thank you Natasha. If anyone not on the up and up got their hands on this research...”  
   
“I know,” Natasha nodded. The world was going to be changing. But at least this way, it would be changing for the better.  
   
“And I will go and check out the damage on my zombie shelter and fix up the power, and make sure the hazmat team cleans up all the perfect match bodily fluids,” Tony nodded. “I feel like we should have a big group hug, or a huddle or something. Should someone be saying break? It seems like someone should be saying break.”  
   
 

   
   
Sam directed the pair of them to the guest room and en suite bathroom to freshen up and told them he'd have some lunch ready for them in about an hour.  They saved some time by showering together, and  if Darcy had goaded Steve into crowding her into the shower wall and taking her from behind again, then Sam would have been none the wiser.  
   
"Never felt this way before," Steve said softly as he helped her to lather up her hair when they were finished with the very hard and fast shower sex.    
   
"Well, you know I haven't," Darcy joked.  
   
"If I didn't know I loved you so much, I'd think something was wrong," Steve admitted, his voice still tinged with concern.    
   
"Cause of the nymphomaniac thing?" Darcy leaned her head back to rinse the shampoo out of her hair.  Sam's guest bathroom had been stocked with a lot of female friendly items, including a little basket full of tampons and pads.  Darcy hoped she got a chance to meet the lady behind all of that during their stay with Sam.  
   
"I want you all the time," Steve nodded, soapy hands running down the length of her body to grip her hips.  Case in point, he'd just had a very satisfying orgasm less than ten minutes ago and he could already feel all of his blood rushing to his groin again.  "Can't stop wanting you."  
   
"I feel the same way," Darcy said honestly.  "I just thought it was normal when you were the best girl of all this."  
   
Her hands rubbed his pecs and down his stomach to rest on his already rock hard length.  She grinned as she stroked at him greedily.  
   
"It's not normal though?" she wondered.    
   
"Dunno, maybe?" Steve shrugged, too far gone in his hazy, desirous want of her to think clearly.  "Maybe it's just that we love each other?  You know, what Tony was saying...the honeymoon phase?"  
   
"You know, I don't really care at the moment," Darcy said honestly as the rest of the soapy bubbles rinsed off of them and went down the drain.  Her hands found his shoulders and she clung to him as she climbed up his body, grinning when his hands went to her ass, holding her to him.  She sunk down on his length easily, still wet and ready from their earlier round.    
   
"How much hot water do you think Sammy has left?" she wondered before nibbling at his earlobe.  
   
"We should go for fast, just in case," Steve suggested, his voice a low, pleasured rumble.  
   
"And hard," Darcy insisted.  
   
This dame, Stevie. Where do I find me a dame like this up in heaven?!?  
   
Steve ignored his innerBucky's continued badgering and commentary, even when it turned completely inappropriate as he waxed philosophical about just how perfect Darcy's ass felt in Steve's hand, or how she was even wetter than the shower, or worse, when he just started cursing a blue streak in time to the bounces Darcy's breasts were making as she rode him with enthusiasm.    
   
There were definitely times when Steve wished his innerBucky would just shut the hell up, but he was helpful too.    
   
Tell her you love her, dumbass. She likes hearing stuff like that when you're deep inside that perfect litt---  
   
"I love you," Steve whispered.  He kissed her when she started to moan loudly.  When he pulled away he reminded her, "Sam's right downstairs, babydoll, hush now."  
   
She took one of her hands from around his broad shoulders and clamped the back of it to her mouth, and if anything it just made the sounds of her pleasure even more lurid and dirty as they were barely muffled.  
   
Tell her she's ours. She likes that too.  
   
"You're mine, babydoll," Steve grunted as he stayed steady on his feet, his hands were on her waist, bringing her forcefully down on his cock.  "Nobody else is going to have you but me."  
   
And Bucky when she gets to heaven someday. I'll show her an even better time than you ever could.  
   
   
"Fuck," Steve groaned at the little shit that lived in his brain, in memory of his friend.  He turned his feet and Darcy's back hit the wall of the shower, her hand still attempting to quiet her noise.  He let loose, thrusting up and into her with speed and force and she put both hands over her mouth as she came around him, then went limp as he continued to pound into her at a punishing pace.    
   
   
C'MON PUNK.  Get off already, you're gonna wear her out.  Come already.  
   
   
"C'mon cutie, water's getting cold," Darcy slurred her words, but  had regained enough of her faculties to kiss his jaw repeatedly.    
   
Tell her to talk dirty to you, you could never handle that before.  
   
"Wanna feel you, Steve, please, just fucking let go," Darcy coaxed, fulfilling his unspoken need as his hips faltered.  "I love feeling you come inside me.  So warm and nice and sticky.  Let me feel it, Steve."  
   
Steve tried to choke back a growl as he slammed his hips home, going as deep as he could before spilling inside of her.  The sound of her pleasured hum in response to his offering made a smile cut through the fog of his euphoria.  
   
"There's my guy," Darcy kissed him when he blinked his eyes open.  "C'mon, we only have like fifteen more minutes and the hot water is totally running out."  
 

   
"So I heard it through the grapevine that you have visitors."  
   
"Yeah, how's the resistance gossip network hear that news?" Sam furrowed his brown on the phone as he determinedly put together sandwiches, trying to ignore all the muffled shenanigans he could hear from upstairs.  
   
"The pair of them are of great interest to us.  Much like the interesting research I just got an hour ago.  Falcon...we're so close.  The whole world is about to change."  
   
“That sounds awesome. Fascinating. But... yeah.  Something you may want to put in your file?  They're like...it's...I mean," Sam sighed as he tried to explain what was happening in his guest bedroom right now.  Voyeurism REALLY wasn't his thing. "Okay, actual facts for you right now, Doc?  I caught them in the car with their hands down each others pants.  I sent them to the bathroom to clean up and gave them an hour.  It's now been an hour and ten minutes and they are on round three up there and they are not getting tired or fatigued or QUIETER. Can the resistance please find them a sound proof hotel room?"  
   
   
"That's fascinating.  I'm going to owe someone dinner now, because it looks like he was right about their circumstances being different without outside stressful influences involved," the woman Sam only knew as Doc sighed on the other end of the line.  
   
"Stressful influences meaning a forced, arranged marriage?  Yeah, I can see how two young, attractive people might want to have nonstop crazy athletic sex if they weren't worried about getting married and filling an offspring quota for some shady global power," Sam rolled his eyes, hearing the creaking of what he assumed was the desk in his guestroom quicken.  He felt like there was something his allies weren't telling him though. Something important about Darcy and Steve. "I think they're almost done.  If I'm missing for a few hours later, it's because I went to go find high powered noise canceling headphones."  
   
   
"Falcon, I've been told that there is a possibility some nasty people could be coming your way..."  
   
"I know.  I've been told by my girl.  Don't worry.  I can handle it," Sam nodded. He heard the guest bedroom door open and he gave a breath of relief. "Oh, hell, they must be hungry, they're done for now, thank God.  I'll talk to you later Doc.  Buy that someone something nice for dinner."  
   
   
"Something smells amazing!" Darcy announced as she bounced into the kitchen, looking fresh faced and rejuvenated and not at all like she had just gone three rounds with a serum enhanced super soldier.  
   
"Yeah, thanks again, Sam," Steve nodded, and he happened to look a little less fresh-faced and rejuvenated.  He looked like he could use a nap.    
   
"It's not fancy cupcakes, but I promise, it's good," Sam sat down with the pair of them as they all tucked into the pile of sandwiches, chips and pickles he had put together.  "So...you guys want to tell me why you're both on the run, yet?"  
   
"It's....complicated," Steve sighed.  
   
"We both got matches a few weeks ago," Darcy revealed.  "We don't want to be matched to a bunch of strangers, so we ran. And you know, fell for each other instead."  
   
"And that's...yeah," Steve shrugged with a wry smirk.  "What she said."  
   
"Guys, that's dangerous business, running from the WCHS," Sam said seriously.  "You sure it wouldn't just be better to go home and get the procreating business out of the way?  Then...you know, come back together when all that's done."  
   
"EW," Darcy shivered. “Dude, I'm not sleeping with some asshole I've never met before to meet the offspring quota.”  
   
“You have to sleep with them?” Steve's hand broke the glass he had been drinking from. He looked at Darcy in angry horror.  
   
“Steve, how do you think babies are made? I mean, sex ed sucks nowadays, but I can't imagine it was worse before World War II,” Sam furrowed his brow as he handed Steve a towel to clean up before he took the shards of glass and threw them into the trash can.  
   
“I thought...science has come so far, I thought there would be a way,” Steve shook his head in disbelief.  He looked to Darcy with concern and realized just why she was so desperate to run away.  His blood boiled at the thought of another man touching Darcy.   
   
“Funny you should say that,” Sam muttered.  
   
“Cutie, don't worry, it's never going to happen,” Darcy promised him. “No one is going to make you or me do what we don't want to do. And you know, we have help. They're not getting either one of us for the matches.”  
   
"There's no way in hell that's happening," Steve said resolutely, his face the scariest thing that Sam had seen since Afghanistan.    
   
"Well...there are other ways," Sam said softly.  "If you know the right people."  
   
"Oh my god, please say you're the right people, Sammy," Darcy dropped her sandwich and scrutinized Sam's poker face.  
   
"Sam?" Steve questioned.  
   
"We're a resistance," Sam acknowledged with a sly smile. "We're underground.   We're working on the problems the WCHS said they were trying to fix decades ago. We've got a guy with robot skills who thinks he can blow the comet out of space before it gets anywhere near here. And we help people who want out of their matches.  We have a branch that can stop the matches from the beginning.  Computer savvy people who just scramble the results.  If you don't want a match, you don't get a match."  
   
“But it's too late for that, do you have people who could make matches disappear?” Darcy wondered.  
   
“Not yet, we're working on that,” Sam shrugged. “We also have some people looking into the biology of it. There's this thing that could wipe out the need for the procreating business. The WCHS has been burying the experiments for decades. It's called in-vitro fertilization, babies can happen, absolutely no sex necessary. And that's not all, there's all kinds of other things to fix the population decline.”  
   
“If the WCHS says it wants to save humanity, why would it hide stuff like that?” Darcy furrowed her brow.  
   
“Power,” Steve answered. “You said the WCHS has more power than the US government.”  
   
“They do. They're worldwide. They control the governments,” Sam nodded. "The Resistance wants that to end."  
   
“So, what could you do for us?” Darcy bit her lip anxiously, trying not to get her hopes up too high.  
   
“We can't make your matches disappear,” Sam admitted. “But we have some people who can mix up the match. Really good with faking identities. It's come in handy for people who are matched to someone dangerous or heavy handed, if you know what I mean. So instead of marrying someone you don't want to...you'd be marrying the person you do want to.”  
   
“I want to marry, Steve. Can that happen?” Darcy wondered.  
   
Steve felt the air rush from his lungs as a happy, slack-jawed expression took over his face. His hand reached for hers on top of the table and he squeezed, staring down at her with eyes full of wonder.  
   
“If it's possible, then I know the people that could do it,” Sam nodded. “Give me a day or two, and I'll get in touch with the person who can do it.”  
   
“Hold on---you have a guy working on blowing a comet out of space. Someone who can take you out of the match database before a match happens. A bunch of doctors working on the biology of human procreation. Someone or maybe a few someone's who can switch a person's identity,” Steve repeated, his eyes leaving Darcy and looking at Sam suspiciously.  
   
“You're working with the rest of the Avengers,” Darcy finished for Steve, her voice soft and quiet as she felt the harsh sting of betrayal run through her.  
   
“What? NO. I've been with the resistance on the street level for ten years, ever since I got my info erased from the system,” Sam laughed. “Believe me, I would know if I was working hand in hand with the Avengers. I mean, I'm working with Captain America with therapy but...Not the---”  
   
A moment of realization stole over Sam's face and he was lost in thought for a moment as he thought of the codenames and the roles people played. Sam had been working with these people for a long time, and he had no idea that most of the people he had come into contact with in the last few years were actually the people who had saved the world earlier in the Spring.  
   
“C'mon Darcy,” Steve rose from the seat. He gave Sam a cold look and nodded. “Thank you for your hospitality. We'll be leaving now.”  
   
“Wait, what?” Sam furrowed his brow. “What's the matter?”  
   
Darcy rose from the table and grabbed Steve's hand. He was so livid, he couldn't even talk so she did it for him.  
   
“Sammy, if the Avengers could have done all this stuff, why didn't they do it weeks ago for me?” Darcy wondered, trying to keep her own righteous indignation in check.  It wouldn't help for both she AND Steve to be so mad they couldn't talk.  “If Clint and Natasha or whoever could have switched my match's identity in the system, why didn't they? Instead, they let us run away...”  
   
“Guys, don't leave. Maybe they didn't have the resources, maybe your matches were too high profile that they couldn't get you out of them,” Sam countered as reasonably as he could.  He was having trouble believing it though.  He was getting pretty angry at the Avengers himself.  
   
“You have to understand, Steve just got really bad news about people we were supposed to trust,” Darcy said softly, squeezing Steve's hand as he simmered silently next to her. “And he was supposed to be able to trust his team. We don't...it's not like we don't trust you. But, you're working with the people who...we could have been hurt last night.”  
   
Steve took in a harsh breath as he tried to calm himself. Because Darcy had gotten it exactly right. He was so unbelievably angry at the people he had though he could trust. They had left them to twist in the wind, left Darcy vulnerable to Hydra, of all things.  He didn't want to offend Sam, who seemed to be truthful, but he couldn't risk staying.  
   
The front door opened and a tired voice called out, “Babe? You here? You wouldn't believe what happened at work. Feels like I have two bosses. Hill tells me to follow Rumlow, and then Sitwell tells me to track down Captain America and lure him away from the girl he took off with.”  
   
Sharon Carter walked through the house and looked down at her phone as she continued to talk, “Like I'm supposed to just point at myself and say Look I share genetics with Peggy Carter. Fall in love with me and stu---Shit.”  
   
“Agent 13,” Darcy nodded at her. She recognized the girl from her brief stay at the Triskellion. Agent 13 had been tasked with getting all the NDA's signed and not letting Darcy hack into any systems or Jane build new equipment out of spare parts lying around headquarters. It hadn't gone smoothly. Darcy turned to Steve and nodded. “Let's go, Cutie.”  
   
   
“Where are the two of you going to go?” Sam worried.  
   
“Not here,” Steve answered brusquely, and he and Darcy were rushing back up the stairs. They were back in moments, their stuff packed away, heading for the door.  
   
“Please don't go,” Sam shook his head. “We can make this right. I promise.”  
   
“This is me sending that carrier pigeon you requested,” Steve gave him an arched eyebrow. “Pass the message to Natasha and Stark while you're at it. I'm going to go find some place safe. Don't follow.”  
 

 

   
Chapter Ten: Can I Take a Picture of You to Prove to My Friends that Angels Exist?  
   
 

 

   
   
“So, you know how Clint taught me to drive?”  
   
Steve looked up from the car they were in the process of abandoning and covering before they would attempt to steal a different car. They had driven outside of the city limits, stopping in an outer lying Maryland town after leaving Sam's place.  
   
“Sure, you're great at it, you're officially the person in charge of driving,” Steve promised her.  
   
“Good. And duh,” Darcy gave him a little smirk before shrugging. “Well...other people taught me other things. And I think I understand why...you know, now.”  
   
“What kinds of other things?” Steve wondered as he helped her to consolidate their supplies into just two bookbags. Steve had concealed the shield in a large bag meant for canvases that they had purchased at a nearby art supply store.  
   
“Like, I was always pretty decent at hacking, getting in and around computer stuff that I wasn't supposed to be able to. Also, I sold fake ids in college, but don't tell my boyfriend. He's a stickler about the rules,” Darcy winked at him.  
   
“Your boyfriend hotwired that car earlier this morning and you called the act a panty dropper,” Steve reminded her with a roll of his eyes.  
   
“Everything you do is a panty dropper.  Stop talking about my panties dropping, we'll get distracted.  I-I think Natasha was grooming me for the Resistance,” Darcy admitted seriously. “I was good before with computers, but now I'm even better. I think----I think I could do what she does. I think I could fake the papers that would say we're a match.”  
   
“Sweetheart, are you saying what I think you're saying?” Steve smiled down at her in a dreamy, hazy way. The idea of it, of being hers, of belonging to each other made the anxiety surrounding their current precarious situation dissipate immediately and only a lovely, buzzing excitement remained.  
   
“I'm saying that if you wanted to, we could---”  
   
“Wait, wait, no, let me, please,” Steve shook his head, his smile so big and blinding as he eagerly got down on one knee and took her hands in his. “Darcy, babydoll, w-would you...will you marry me?”  
   
“Absolutely, yes, I will,” Darcy grinned, sitting down on his knee and kissing him repeatedly. She pulled away and licked at her lips, “This feels like a moment we should authentically celebrate.”  
   
“It'll have to wait,” Steve laughed. “You've got some computer work to do.”  
 

   
   
   
Sharon Carter opened the door to the house she and her boyfriend shared to see an unimpressed Black Widow standing on the other side.  
   
“Oh boy,” Sharon sighed, stepping back and letting Natasha come in. She had just managed to calm her boyfriend down after three and a half hours of him being absolutely and utterly distraught at the idea of disappointing and betraying Captain America. She knew that after he was done with the Black Widow, she was going to have to bring out the big guns to get his frown turned upside down.  
   
“Where are they?” Natasha wondered. Odds are they were up in the guest room if Wilson hadn't been exaggerating about Darcy and Steve's combined libidos.  
   
Natasha had tried to track down Rumlow all day after Sharon had been given another assignment by Sitwell. Sharon had done the right thing, they didn't need anyone in Shield that they didn't trust getting suspicious. But they'd lost their lead on Rumlow, which meant they lost their lead on possibly getting to the heart of whatever this different faction of Shield was doing.  
   
It was time to come clean. Natasha knew it was well past time to come clean. She hoped that Darcy and Steve would be taking a while up in the bedroom. The happier they were, the more likely they would be to forgive her more quickly. She furrowed her brow at Sharon as the blonde remained resolutely silent, her face as blank as Natasha had ever seen it.  
   
“Where are they?” Natasha asked again, a small chill running up her spine at Sharon's silence.  
   
“Aww hell,” Sam grumbled as he came into his hallway from his living room. “Look, lady, scary lady, I know I've never actually met you face to face, but I'm not that happy with you right now, so I might have to ask you to leave.”  
   
“Where are they?” Natasha demanded again.  
   
“They left. Pissed, because they figured out that this underground Resistance thing I've devoted my life to is actually a bunch of Avengers,” Sam revealed heatedly.  
   
“We weren't always Avengers, we became Avengers long after we started this uprising,” Natasha furrowed her brow. “What do you mean, they left?”  
   
“They were pissed. Steve looked like he could have crushed a tank with his bare hands,” Sam huffed out. “And you know what? He thinks I broke his trust. So pardon me, Black Widow, if I'm not a little pissed right now too.”  
   
“Apparently, Captain Rogers was pretty upset that his teammates didn't tell him they had solutions for the matching problem,” Sharon explained in her business-like, blunt way. “Sam also thinks that the people who drove them out of the last safehouse were...Shield. So my arrival at home exacerbated matters.”  
   
“We didn't have a solution for their matches,” Natasha said evenly. “Fury knew about them. He wasn't going to let it go, we couldn't exactly switch them out at that point.”  
   
“Why send them out on their own though?” Sam demanded. “They were in real trouble last night.”  
   
“I know that, Falcon!” Natasha let her voice rise as she realized the implications of Steve and Darcy thinking that they had been betrayed by the people they had trusted. The idea that she was a part of whatever Brock Rumlow was a part of made her stomach twist uncomfortably. “I sent them on their own so they could have time to get to know each other.”  
   
“To torture them? They have matches,” Sam reminded her, his features reflecting just how done he was with the entire conversation. “Matches that you couldn't get them out of. I don't want to see what Captain America would do to avoid having the woman he loves getting impregnated by another man.”  
   
“They are each others matches,” Natasha revealed. “99.98 percent compatible.”  
   
“Holy shit,” Sharon's eyes widened. 91 percent and above was considered matchworthy by the WCHS. No one had scored higher than 96 in a very long time.  
   
   
“Get out,” Sam pointed to the door, livid beyond all belief. He imagined how angry Steve had been before. Once he found out about this? Sam didn't need to be implicated at all.  
   
“I had my reasons, don't judge me,” Natasha narrowed her eyes at the man who had unwittingly been her ally for the last ten years. “They would have been happy with the results, but this Shield faction is a wild card that I couldn't have planned for.”  
   
“Whose idea was it having the Doc con me into reporting on how they were doing? I can't believe I told her---I feel...Jesus, I feel dirty. You know Darcy said she wanted to marry him? Why would you...” Sam shook his head. “Get out. And don't bother having anybody call me to do their dirty work for them anymore.”  
 

   
   
   
“Babydoll, I'm gonna ask you to do something, and I don't know if you'll say yes,” Steve said softly as they approached the bus station, ball caps perched low on their heads as they had to ditch the sunglasses after the sun sank into the sky.  
   
“Okay,” Darcy nodded. They were waiting for the bus to take them to the airport and she was going through his sketchbook page by page, admiring just how talented Steve....her fiance...was.  
   
“Your ipod,” Steve looked down at it. “Where did you get it from?”  
   
“I bought it with some money I had saved up from a summer job before Thor,” Darcy shrugged. “I was freaking distraught when Shield took it. But Coulson sent it back before the Chitauri---oh.”  
   
“I'll buy you a new one, sweetheart, I promise,” Steve smiled at her as reassuringly as possible as she handed it to him. He crushed it in his hand and sure enough, inside was a Shield issued tracker. He held it up and asked, “Where should we send Natasha and Fury for their wild goose chase?”  
   
“That one is going to Mexico. Seems fun,” Darcy shrugged, smiling when Steve managed to toss it in with the luggage. She turned the page on the sketchbook and felt her breath catch. Steve's art was always very very good. But the sketches she had perused so far had been unfocused, done to pass time or dispel boredom. This one was done with intent and care and love. Her finger traced the line of the man's face on the page. It was in black and white and was so perfectly shaded that Darcy was sure it was a photograph instead of a sketch. “Who is this?”  
   
Steve looked down at the page and a soft, sad smile bloomed on his face.  
   
“That's my best pal, Bucky,” Steve told her, his voice quiet as Darcy continued to stare at the sketch, her finger still going up and down the line of Bucky's jaw. “James Buchanan Barnes.”  
   
“Bucky,” Darcy whispered.  
   
Uh oh, punk. Be careful, you know the dames can't resist my face .  
   
“He...he uh, died during the war,” Steve looked down at his feet.  
   
“Yeah, I know,” Darcy nodded. She looked up from the sketch finally and gave him a commiserating smile. “You and your Howling Commandos had a whole page in my eighth grade US History book. Just a picture of you, though. Before and after. I liked you before. Something about the ears.”  
   
“Thanks, babydoll,” Steve laughed. “I would have loved to meet you back then.”  
   
“No, Cutie. We were meant to meet when we did,” Darcy shook her head. She looked back down at the page, her breath catching a little. The sketch was the kind of thing that belonged in a museum. It was obvious that Steve had spent countless hours on getting everything just right. Her finger went to the dimple in Bucky's chin. “I would have liked to meet your best pal, too though.”  
   
“He would have loved you,” Steve chuckled. “He would have tried to steal you right outta my arms.”  
   
“Well, he could have tried,” Darcy arched a wary eyebrow. “But I'm pretty stuck on you, Steve. It definitely wouldn't have been easy.”  
   
That's okay, Angel. Stevie wasn't the only persistent little shit when it came to the good things in life.  
 

   
“JARVIS, please tell me you have something for me,” Natasha questioned as she worked behind a screen on the quinjet.  
   
“Currently, there are no matches in public surveillance within a five hundred mile radius for Captain Rogers or Miss Lewis.'  
   
“You definitely played this one too hard,” Clint pursed his mouth. “Should have come clean with them when you realized they were in love with each other.”  
   
“I had planned on it after my mission,” Natasha gave Clint a blank look that actually translated into annoyed.  
   
“And then everything went to shit,” Clint nodded. “Still, they're going to be so pissed, especially since you know, Rumlow and his team of asshat traitors got close to them.”  
   
“Are you going to keep going over what we should have done, or are you going to help me find them to make it right?” Natasha demanded. Darcy's tracker had been a dead end. It had been found on the luggage compartment of a bus heading out of DC towards Mexico.  
   
Steve definitely did not trust Natasha at that point. Which meant that she had lost Darcy's trust too.  
   
And usually she would have been fine with regaining that trust. She could have explained her reasoning, and gotten them to see her logic after enough time. But now they had disappeared off the face of the planet, with no assistance from her or Stark.  
   
She trusted them to stay safe under normal circumstances.  
   
But the rotten egg stench within Shield was concerning. They were after Darcy. Just  Darcy.  
   
“Where are you, Darcy?” Natasha surveyed the data JARVIS was streaming to her.  
   
“Wherever she is, she's with Cap, so she's happy. And safe,” Clint assured her. “What did the Falcon kid say?”  
   
“That she wanted to marry him,” Natasha allowed a small smile to grace her face for brief seconds. It had been the end result she wanted. Her eyes widened ever so slightly and she looked to Clint. “She wants to marry him.”  
   
“Wheels up in five,” Clint nodded. “Vegas it is.”  
 

   
   
“It's bad luck to see the bride on her wedding day,” Darcy sighed.  
   
“Alright, I'll close my eyes then, you just tell me right or left,” Steve gave her his trolly smirk and then closed his eyes and groped blindly at her breasts in an exaggerated fashion, getting her to giggle and moan at the same time.  
   
Right...and then left....and then down down down...one of these days you should let me drive.  
   
They had managed to get a pretty little room off the strip after landing in Vegas in the wee hours of the morning. They'd been reassured of their safety in the back of the plane, knowing that no additional threats could get on board while they were 30,000 feet in the air, so they had managed a few solid hours of good sleep, cuddled up next to each other. So as soon as they hit their hotel room they had used Tony's cash for, they'd simultaneously stripped out of their clothes and had been at it ever since.  
   
“I can't believe you're going to be mine,” Darcy whispered as Steve's hands stopped jokingly groping her and began to grope her with better intent.  
   
“Believe it, sweetheart,” Steve waggled his eyebrows at her before bringing his mouth to her breasts.  
   
“I should probably have something nice to wear. I mean, I never fantasized about a big poofy gown, but a pretty dress isn't something I'm opposed to,” she admitted. “And we should probably get some kind of rings, maybe?”  
   
“We have plenty of time,” Steve turning them in the bed so that Darcy was in his lap. He groaned when she shimmied down on him, his hands clutching at her as he buried his face in her breasts.  
   
“We're getting married in an hour,” Darcy reminded him as she established a slow, lazy rhythm of her hips, feeling drunk off the feeling of him inside of her again. “We wasted the whole morning in bed.”  
   
Hey now, Angel. This has been a lovely way to waste a couple of hours.  
   
   
“Not wasted, never wasted,” Steve disputed amiably. “Any time I get to spend with you, babydoll, is not wasted time.”  
   
“Mrs. Babydoll,” Darcy breathed out. “Mrs. Babydoll Rogers.”  
   
“We only have an hour?” Steve questioned, as if her announcement had just made it to his ears through the fog of arousal permanently buzzing around him. He flipped them in the bed so that he was on top and said, “Sorry, Mrs. Babydoll Rogers, but we've got to finish this up faster now.”  
   
Darcy squealed as Steve went at her fast and hard. “Don't worry Mr. Babydoll Rogers, I'm definitely not complaining.”  
   
Me neither.  
 

   
   
“How many wedding chapels are in Vegas?” Clint asked over the comms.  
   
“Fifty,” Natasha said tersely.  
   
“And how many do you think they set up fake appointments at?” Clint wondered.  
   
“Knowing what a trolly asshole Steve is, and what a little troublemaker Darcy is, they probably booked all fifty. Twice.”  
   
“They aren't at Graceland,” Clint reported. “Appointment's been canceled. I can't believe they're using their real names.”  
   
“Darcy got into the system,” Natasha sighed, sounding downright proud. “She printed out the marriage papers with their real names on it to be legitimate. She's lucky they're a real match. The system didn't kick back at her.”  
   
“Dastardly little thing,” Clint said proudly. “So uh...you could totally get us a license, right? You could fake us a match in the system, yeah?”  
   
“Give me a few more years, and if I haven't killed you by then, I'll think about it.”  
 

   
   
Steve waited at the front of The Little Church of the West, breathless with anticipation as he waited for the ceremony to begin. They had arrived with just enough time for Darcy to rush to a changing room. Steve waited in the little room meant for the groom at the front of the chapel and was surprised when the officiant came in to talk with him.  
   
“Do you have any questions for me, son?” the middle-aged woman smiled down at him.  
   
   
“Oh, no, just...can't wait,” Steve admitted. “I'm really excited. Happy.”  
   
“Will your bride be using our implant removal service next door?” the officiant asked politely.  
   
“Impla---her birth control?” Steve tried to look as if he wasn't completely out of his depth. Darcy had explained to him in depth what the implant did so that she wouldn't get pregnant no matter how much they had sex when he had expressed concern about it during their road trip back to DC.  
   
“It's part of our package. Most of the matches that are married here are keen to start on their families, so the implants are removed.”  
   
Steve wanted to ask a lot of questions now. Did all women receive implants before their matches? It made sense to him, in a very disturbing way. Darcy had been born of an unmatched couple and she had been a wrench in the well oiled cogs of the WCHS matchmaking machine. It would make sense for the WCHS to want to keep unmatched people from creating more unmatched children. And of course, if the only children in the world came from matches they provided, they were offering a priceless service.  
   
“We're not ready for that yet,” Steve said quickly, seeing that the officiant was staring down at him curiously. “Darcy's only 23, and I'm 27. We have a few more years before we need to worry about it, really.”  
   
“Alright, if you're sure,” the officiant nodded.  
   
The music began playing and Steve shot to his feet and nearly rushed out of the little room to stand at the front of the little chapel. He looked to the doors and found that his mouth fell open as Darcy walked in, changed into a lovely little white dress that reminded him of something ladies would wear back in 1941. She had a tiny little cluster of daisies in her hands and she was beaming at him, her gap-toothed grin spread from ear to ear as she meandered her way down the aisle.  She was beautiful and lovely and adorable and she was going to marry him.  His hands trembled with the joy of it.  
   
“Hi,” she smiled up at him.  
   
“Hi,” he answered back, feeling like happiness was fairly leaking out of him.  
   
“Let's do this, Cutie,” Darcy nodded.  
   
“Absolutely,” Steve agreed before they both turned to the officiant. “We're ready.”  
   
   
 

   
   
   
“I think this is it,” Natasha said into the comms. JARVIS had given her a heads up that there had been a facial recognition match on Darcy at the Little Church of the West. And honestly, they had checked 43 other chapels that day.  
   
She walked into the chapel, hearing the officiant's voice lilting over the traditional words. If Steve and Darcy got married without knowing the truth about their match first, they would never forgive her. She had to make it right.  
   
“If anyone here should object to this union and this match, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”  
 

“WAIT!” Natasha called out, rushing into the small room used for ceremonies.  
   
Two shocked 18 year olds looked at her, along with their parents, who had obviously driven the barely legal babies to be married.  
   
“Oh...no, never mind. Carry on,” Natasha nodded, turning and walking out of the chapel and right onto the street. She stared across the street and saw a familiar pair of broad shoulders walking out of a burger place with his arm wrapped around a much smaller little figure dressed all in white.  
   
She was across the street as quick as she could, rushing towards them and standing in front of them as they finished off their burgers. She hid the wince well when she saw that they each wore wedding rings already.  
   
“Congratulations,” Natasha said softly, truly feeling sad. She knew she had just lost two people she inherently trusted. Those kinds of people were very few and far between.  
   
“Thank you,” Darcy said softly, because Steve was suddenly too angry and tense to speak.  
   
“Not only for the wedding,” Natasha shook her head. She felt her walls coming down and looked between the pair of them with genuine happiness blended perfectly with contrition. “Congratulations. You're matched. To each other.”  
 

 

 Chapter Eleven: Are you a parking ticket? Because you've got fine written all over you  
 

 

   
   
“What?” Darcy breathed. “What in the hell are you talking about, Romanoff?”  
   
“I wanted to get to you before you were married,” Natasha admitted. She looked like she had just sucked down on a bitter lemon. Darcy always reserved last names for when she was truly upset. Or when she was dealing with Stark or Barton. “You were matched with Steve, Darcy. 99.98 percent compatible.”  
   
“But---why did you---what?” Darcy asked again, her arm linking in Steve's, taking some solace from his touch as her world spun around in circles.  99.98 percent.  That was physically impossible.  That was the kind of number those old time movies from the late 50's used to use.   
   
“I thought the both of you would fight it,” Natasha gave a small shrug. “And you'd wind up running away from each other on principle alone. And that would have brought the WCHS on your heels. Please believe me when I say, you don't want that happening.”  
   
“So you let us run away?” Steve's jaw was set in a hard line as he looked at Natasha carefully.  
   
“I thought that once you cared for one another, the idea of a match would be less...terrifying,” Natasha nodded.  
   
“That was Clint back in Pennsylvania. He always fell for that chicken move,” Darcy furrowed her brow as she went over all of the obstacles they had faced so far. Her mind immediately went to Hydra.  
   
“Rumlow...” Steve began, his mind going there too.  
   
“That wasn't me, that was...there's a third party at work here, Steve,” Natasha said resolutely. “A dangerous third party.”  
   
“Yeah, I get that,” Steve growled..  His mouth was in a pinched, angry line as he spat out, “It's Hydra.”  
   
“What?” Natasha furrowed her brow. It was her turn for confusion.  
   
“I heard it over their comm units. They said Hail Hydra,” Steve said with no small amount of bitterness. Darcy squeezed his arm, it was her turn to provide comfort. “Are they a part of the WCHS?”  
   
“I don't...I don't think so,” Natasha shook her head. “Steve, are you sure?”  
   
   
“Nat, please,” Darcy sighed, feeling Steve coiled up and ready for a fight.  
   
“I don't trust you. I especially don't trust you now,” Steve said resolutely. “The same goes for the rest of your Resistance team.”  
   
“I am not Hydra,” Natasha spat out.  
   
“But you are a liar. And you were doing this for Fury, weren't you?” Steve demanded.  
   
“Getting Fury off your backs was a favor to you. He would have forced a relationship on you, I wanted to give you the time to find it yourselves,” Natasha insisted. “The two of you met on your own, without the matching service. You struck up a friendship without the matching service. You were well on your way to ---”  
   
   
“Nat, just stop, I get it,” Darcy nodded.  And she did, a little.  But she was still angry.  And she was worried about Steve, who was so far beyond angry at that point.   “Look...Steve and I have a lot to talk about. And...a wedding to consummate. So, no offense, but, we'll argue later.”  
   
“Like hell we will,” Steve grumbled. “I'm done with all of you. Learn some damned boundaries. You can't go around being a superspy on all of your friends and teammates, Romanoff. You've been putting your nose into my things since the moment we met. Back the hell off!”  
   
“I had your best interests at heart,” Natasha insisted. “And I still do, they want Darcy. Alone. You are inconsequential to them. How do you plan on protecting her from them?”  
   
“It's not your business, it's never been your business,” Steve practically shouted. He pointed an angry finger at Natasha, “I want no part of whatever you and your colleagues have going. Pass the message on to Fury.  I'm retired. And if you or Fury or whoever think that I can't protect my wife, then by all means. Test me.”  
   
“Steve,” Darcy shook her head. “Come on, Cutie, let's go.”  
   
Natasha watched as they walked away. 99.98 percent compatible. She watched as Steve's body language changed as they walked away, becoming more relaxed, melting into Darcy's touch. He stared down at her like she was the most important, precious thing on the face of the planet and Darcy stared up at him as if he were the answer to all of life's problems.  
   
99.98 percent.  
   
She could believe it.  
   
 

   
   
Darcy and Steve were on a plane less than an hour after leaving Natasha on the burning hot Las Vegas street. They sat with their hands clenched together, silent as the plane flew through the air back towards New York City.  
   
It had taken them ten seconds to come to a decision.  
   
“I refuse to hide,” Darcy had told him when they had gone back to their hotel room for a quickie and to pack.  
   
“I don't even know what the word hide means,” Steve joked.  
   
Fuck you, punk . Both of you should hide on an island somewhere away from all the trouble. If I wasn't already dead, you both would have driven me to my grave .  
   
“We're going home then?” Darcy nodded.  
   
“We have an apartment in Brooklyn,” Steve smiled. “We own it free and clear, too.”  
   
“Man, I married rich.”  
   
“I don't know about rich, but I know neither of us really need to be putting in extra shifts down at the docks,” Steve chuckled. “And I know that this is outdated, but my ma would kill me if I didn't offer. If you never wanted to work again at all, we could more than manage. Two days before we ran, I got my back pay.”  
   
“What does sixty-six years on ice pay?” Darcy arched an eyebrow. She giggled and shook her head, “Are you a secret millionaire?”  
   
“A couple times over,” Steve nodded, looking at her with an indulgent smile. “With the automatic promotions over the years, the pay grade raises, and the interest, yeah. I have plenty of money, babydoll. You never have to worry.”  
   
“Woah,” Darcy's eyes widened. “I have a sugar daddy.”  
   
Steve laughed loudly, causing a few people to turn in their seats to stare at the canoodling newlweds.  
   
They hadn't said a word about their match status yet. They were somewhere over America's midwest, miles and miles of green fields below fluffy white clouds. Steve squeezed Darcy's hand and dropped a kiss on top of her head.  
   
“I love you,” he whispered.  
   
“I love you, too,” she nodded.  
   
“Would you have run? Was Natasha right?” Steve wondered. Darcy had joked about it on the beginning of their adventure.  
   
“If I hadn't met you before hand, I would have done my best to run,” Darcy nodded. “After having met you that day...and then gotten to know you through the texts. I wouldn't have run, but I wouldn't have been likely to make it easy for you. You?”  
   
“Yeah, I could see me digging in my heels. I'd have come around pretty quick though, I think,” Steve nodded. “I still don't trust Natasha, babydoll. I know that you do. And that's okay. But I don't trust anybody but you now.”  
   
“You can trust Jane and Thor and Erik, too,” Darcy smiled up at him. “And...Steve, I don't think Sammy knew about the match.”  
   
   
“Yeah,” Steve nodded. “I still---I don't trust them. It's going to take me a while. And with Hydra...I can't. I don't know where to start. The only thing I know for sure is that I need to keep you safe.”  
   
“They'd be easier to fight with a team,” Darcy said quietly.  
   
“I'll build a new team,” Steve shook his head. “You're my new team.”  
   
“I'll always be on your side,” Darcy nodded. “And Jane and I will work on getting Thor to help. She thinks that she can communicate with him on Asgard. He can be on your team too.”  
   
“That sounds like a good start, sweetheart,” Steve smiled down at her. He shook his head in amazement. “You're my match. I---I have to say, it kind of makes sense.”  
   
“Yeah, it does,” Darcy nodded. “Kind of makes me think the WCHS isn't so bad after all.”  
   
“I wouldn't go that far, babydoll. Even the bad guys manage to get a few things right.”  
 

   
   
Alexander Pierce stared down at the WCHS Match Fulfillment Report.  
   
Steve Rogers and Darcy Lewis-Rogers, married.  
   
There wasn't a hit on the database for her implant removal yet, so there was still time.  
   
He picked up his phone when it rang, not even bothering to look at the caller id.  
   
“Give me some good news.”  
   
“The programming is nearly ready. The vocal samples are the last piece necessary, and you can begin your thaw.”  
   
“I'll get Sitwell on it,” Pierce nodded, hanging up immediately, without bothering to say goodbye. He was about to call Agent Sitwell when Nick Fury knocked on his door.  
   
“I see you've gotten the good news,” Fury gestured to the status report on Steve and Darcy. He was very aware that his organization was infested. Natasha had provided him with a coded message, using very old code. Hydra-infested. Nick wasn't naive enough to think that a man he'd known for decades couldn't be tainted.  
   
“Congratulations,” Pierce nodded, fingers tapping against his desk lightly. “She's not on the implant removal list, though.”  
   
“I'm content for now,” Fury shook his head nonchalantly. “It's only a matter of time. And you'd be amazed what a match like that will do to a person. Rogers might be safer in the field to make it home to the little woman. And you know...”  
   
Fury tapped his own fingers against Pierce's desk and arched an eyebrow.  
   
“Darcy Lewis is protected now. Whether she likes it or not. So, I'm feeling confident that in the end, everything will turn out the way it's supposed to be. There are times, where you just have to leave these things to fate.”  
   
Pierce nodded and gave his old friend a small smile. Fate. Hydra didn't need fate. It needed stability and world order. And Pierce would make absolutely certain that Darcy Lewis played her part in ensuring that stability and world order would be kept for some time to come.  
 

   
   
When they arrived back at Steve's apartment, and he had carried her over the threshold, he went straight to work on shoring up his defenses. He used the little perimeter alarm they had used in the woods around their bedroom, and he spent at least an hour moving furniture so that it obscured the windows and didn't provide any viable sniper line into the place.  
   
He was just finishing up on the front window when Darcy appeared in the door to hi--- their bedroom, her plush little body barely covered in a silky white negligee.  
   
“I mean, I know I'm not virginal anymore, but I figured, I didn't get to wear this when you originally defiled me, so...” Darcy winked at him.  
   
“So damned gorgeous,” Steve sighed, his thumb going to his new wedding ring, a simple silver band that matched Darcy's. He held up his finger quickly, before going towards his bookshelf, grabbing a dusty little old-fashioned jewelry box. He brought it to her and cracked it open with a sly smile.  
   
“STOLEN JEWELS!” Darcy gasped dramatically. She stared down at the locket in disbelief before looking back at Steve. “Is that really it?”  
   
“It really is,” Steve nodded, taking it out of the box and opening the clasp. He wound it around her neck and said, “It's been waiting a long time to be given to a special girl.”  
   
“It needs pictures,” Darcy opened up the little silver heart that was empty.  
   
“We'll get them in there, but first,” Steve smiled, his hands dropping to her waist, clutching at the silky fabric of her negligee. “I have husbandly duties to perform.”  
   
“Darn tootin',” Darcy grinned, hopping up on her tip toes and kissing his lips. She squealed into his mouth when he lifted her by essentially grabbing two handfuls of her rounded bottom, pulling her up and off of her feet and against his body as he walked them back into their bedroom.  
   
He lay her down on the bed, before whipping his shirt up and off and going for the belt on his pants. Darcy did her best do go through a dozen different pinup girl poses as she waited on the bed. His personal favorite was when she turned around and got up on her knees, turning to look at him with an over the top shocked expression as the negligee road up and exposed her absolutely panty-less bottom just barely.  
   
“I'm gonna paint you like that,” Steve promised.  
   
“Scandalous,” Darcy giggled as she situated herself on her back again. Steve made quick work of his pants before crawling on the bed with her, situating himself between her legs, pulling her legs to rest over his shoulders as he bent his head to take a taste of her. “Steve.”  
   
“Mrs. Rogers,” Steve grinned before laving his tongue against her already wet lips.  
   
“Is this the first action this bed has seen since the big thaw?” Darcy seriously wondered.  
   
“Sure, if you don't count me getting myself off to that picture you sent me the week after I met you,” Steve smirked.  
   
That had been a very special time for me. Don't cheapen it .  
   
“Naughty,” Darcy giggled, flexing and tensing as he worked her over so well, so quickly. His hands gripped at those thighs with that pressure she really did love and she sighed as she brought her hands down to his head, gripping at honey colored strands of hair. “Love you, Steve.”  
   
   
Steve only growled in response as he redoubled his efforts, sucking on her clit as she writhed against him. He downright chuckled when her hips started bucking and her strong little hands pushed his head hard against her so that he could only nuzzle against her and place little licks against her flesh as she came down from her high.  
   
“Can I taste you some more?” Steve wondered hopefully, the words muffled against her skin.  
   
“Later, come on, how do you feel about slow and romantic and deep?” Darcy sighed as she moved her legs from his shoulders.  
   
I love this, dame, Stevie.  
   
“That's why you're my perfect match, you know exactly what I want,” Steve nodded crawling up her body and placing a wet kiss against her lips. “Love you, babydoll.”  
   
“Hmmm,” Darcy hummed as he sank inside of her. Her feet were on his ass immediately, toes curling against his flesh as he slowly worked himself in and out of her wet warmth.  
   
“Feel so good,” Steve sighed. “My babydoll, always so good to me. Soft and warm and wet.”  
   
“Love the way you feel,” Darcy managed to huff out as his strokes within her were deep and off rhythm. She never knew when he was going to drag himself out or push back in and the anticipation was killing her in the best of ways. “I can feel you everywhere.”  
   
Her hands pulled at his torso, bringing his body down so that they were skin to skin, her mouth placing lazy, wet kisses up and down his neck as he worked his hips against her.  
   
“Fuck,” he cursed in a whisper as she began to clench around him every time he buried himself deep inside. “You're gonna finish me off too soon with that, Mrs. Rogers.”  
   
“S'okay, we have all day,” Darcy promised. “Come inside me, Steve, I want to feel it.”  
   
His arms wound around her back, pulling her to him as slow and deep became faster and harder very quickly. He could feel her getting close, and he knew he just had to hold out a little bit longer. Her toes on his ass had other ideas, running up and down the crack of his ass, tickling and teasing.  
   
“Babydoll, fuck, fuck,” he cursed again as he felt her rub against his entrance enticingly. He buried himself deep within her and came with a rumbling growl vibrating in his chest.  
   
“Hmmmm, that's going to be fun some day, I can tell,” Darcy smiled before he kissed her.  
   
You're telling me, kid.  
 

 

 Chapter Twelve: Is That an Airport Nearby or is that My Heart Taking Off?  
 

 

   
   
Despite Steve's misgivings for the Avengers and all things Shield, Darcy would still check in on Jane twice a day in her labs at the Tower. She was well aware that all of her former transcription and organizational services were handled by JARVIS. But it had been proven that JARVIS couldn't keep Jane alive, so Darcy felt it her duty to come by at lunch and then later in the evening to force her out of the lab and ply her with some kind of dinner.  
   
Steve, blissfully unoccupied, unemployed, still really angry at everyone Steve, spent his time escorting her back and forth from the tower, and shoring up the defenses of the apartment building in her absence. He'd ignored all calls from Natasha, Barton, Bruce and Tony. He'd kept Fury waiting on the stoop to the apartment building for hours until the Shield Director skulked off huffing expletives.  
   
Darcy had supported him in his anger, but had used some sort of newly found magical wife powers and calmly convinced him that Steve shouldn't burn all his bridges. And she had even managed to suggest that perhaps Sam had been ill-used by the people that Steve was very upset with.  
   
Steve had facetimed Sam at his normal appointment time, three weeks after arriving home, with a small, apologetic smile.  
   
“I'd like to apologize for my behavior,” Steve had said honestly. “I had just gotten some pretty terrible news. And I didn't know who I could trust.”  
   
“Steve, I know we haven't known each other very long, but I promise that you can always trust me,” Sam said with conviction. “I'm here for you and Darcy, for whatever you need.”  
   
“Darcy and I are matched, did you know that? When we were there?” Steve wondered, the answer to that question very important to him.  
   
“No, not until after you left, I had no idea,” Sam shook his head, full of honesty and earnestness. “I would have told you right away, Steve. I promise you that. No more secrets.”  
   
“We got married...three weeks ago,” Steve revealed. A big, happy grin broke out on his face. “It's been the greatest three weeks of my life, Sam. I can't explain it.”  
   
“You know, for all the bad that the WCHS has done, they manage to get a few things right,” Sam acknowledged. “Congratulations, man. I'm truly happy for you and Darcy. And I think it mattered that you found each other by your own choices, really.”  
   
“What kind of bad has the WCHS done?” Steve asked quietly. Although the science behind his and Darcy's match was solid, Steve knew that the WCHS was not a benevolent organization.  
   
“How much time do you have?” Sam asked seriously. “Arranged marriage isn't the correct term. I've seen 18 year old kids yanked away from their houses, restrained, crying, being led away by armed forces because they didn't want their match. I've seen kids coming back after two or three years, with a blankness in their eyes, because in order to gain their freedom, they had to meet the offspring quota. And Steve, sometimes, they don't come back. It's not arranged. It's forced.”  
   
“So...the Resistance was fighting the good fight,” Steve nodded. It was a pill he was willing to swallow. When thinking of the people who had betrayed him, the ragtag group of superheroes he had started to call his friends were the ones who hurt the most. Especially Natasha. But it gave him some kind of relief to know that they were doing what was right. He hadn't misjudged them so badly.  
   
“We were trying,” Sam nodded. “Barton was in contact with me the other day. They're still trying.”  
   
“You shouldn't stop, I overreacted, and even though I'm having problems trusting them, you shouldn't,” Steve insisted.  
   
“Maybe, but I think I'd prefer working with a different team.  A team I can trust.”  
   
"Well, I might be able to help you out there."  
 

   
   
“So...how's the little househusband doing?”  
   
Darcy rolled her eyes as she continued to compile her lasagna in the Stark Towers common room. Jane was being particularly obstinate about leaving the lab the last few nights, so she figured the best way to get her out of the lab was to prepare her favorite meal and tell her the only way she could eat it was to interact with other human beings.  
   
“He's been keeping himself occupied,” Darcy shrugged. “Our apartment building is like a fortress. Even better than your tower, except for JARVIS.”  
   
“Thank you, Miss Lewis,” JARVIS chimed in over Tony's indignant scoffing and spluttering. The AI had the hint of a flirt edging at his voice.  
   
“She's married now, JARVIS, you can't keep on pining for her. She wouldn't leave Grandpa Rogers for you even if I could build you that body she's always wanted for you,” Tony reminded his AI. He winked at Darcy and said, “Just so you know, I ran the numbers, you were an 83 percent match with JARVIS without the genetics. Just in case you ever want to leave the senior citizen.”  
   
“I'm pretty sure I'll never want to do that,” Darcy laughed. “We save so much money with the old people discounts. You know he pays less to get into the movie theater? It's pretty awesome.”  
   
Tony snorted and watched Darcy cook. There was something poetic and relaxing about watching her hands methodically layer the lasagnas in the pan. He liked seeing that silver band on her ring finger. It was nice. It gave him some kind of sympathy happiness instead of sympathy pain. He looked away from her hands and focused on her face. She looked happy. And it was a different happy than to what he had seen when she and Foster had first come into the Tower months ago. Then it had been a sugar high happiness of discovering new and fancy things.  
   
Now she looked ethereal in her happiness. Calm and content and the hint of anticipation in her eyes. Something that said, soon, I get to see him soon. He had never been morbid enough to run his match profile with Pepper, but he liked to imagine that they had a little of Darcy's look about them. Tony errantly wondered what stuffy old Grandpa Rogers looked like with that newlywed, perfect match, bliss on his face. Not like he could know. He hadn't been able to catch a glimpse of him.  
   
“That's a lot of lasagna,” Tony nodded, looking at the three large casserole pans. “We getting a super soldier and his amazingly talented wife as guests for the team dinner tonight?”  
   
Darcy sighed and shook her head.  
   
“He's...Tony, you can understand why he's upset,” Darcy said softly. “I won't force him on this. He deserves to be upset for as long as he wants. But---someday, I think he'll understand why you did the things you did and why you kept it a secret from us. But, with Hydra...”  
   
“I really wish he'd get over it and you two would move into the Tower,” Tony admitted, bluntly. “I mean, sure, I bet Steve has wired your apartment up with plenty of ingenious little traps, worthy of their own Home Alone movie. But you'd both be safer here. Natasha cleaned house two days after you were married. This tower is Hydra free.”  
   
“So is our apartment,” Darcy shrugged. “We're fine exactly where we are. Besides...no one needs to know how much sex we're actually having.”  
   
“And just how much sex are you having?” Tony laughed. “I mean...high five Lewis-Rogers...you finally gave up your chastity belt and got Cap to give up his too. It's like a dam has broken, right? Just loads of two virgins pawing ineptly at each other.”  
   
Darcy laughed, long and loud. She bent at the waist, a lasagna noddle in her hand.  
   
“You're nuts if you think Steve was a virgin,” Darcy shook her head when she regained the ability to speak a full two minutes later. “I mean...really Tony. The man is...he's...it's just. Wow.”  
   
“Ugh gross. Stop talking about it. I don't want to hear about it,” he wrinkled his nose. A beat later a contemplative look stole over his features and he shrugged, “---so...like, I'm assuming stamina for days, right?”  
   
 

   
   
   
Director Fury finally caught up with Steve at the grocery store of all places. Steve had a basket full of things that he and Darcy needed, including brown sugar, toothpaste, milk and eggs and a huge box of tampons. To his credit, Fury looked down a the full basket and smiled as Steve ignored him and went back to picking out a new type of salsa that wouldn't be so spicy that Darcy wouldn't touch it.  
   
“Fresh is better,” Fury said simply. “It's not that hard to do either.”  
   
“Darcy says that I'm not allowed back in the kitchen after I lit the stove on fire making her tea,” Steve shrugged.  
   
“You mean you lit the stove on fire when you were boiling water?” Fury bit back his chuckle.  
   
Steve shrugged and picked two new jars before going for two huge bags of tortilla chips. To his credit, he had forgotten he had put a pot of water on to boil, they really needed to go shopping and get a kettle. Darcy had joked that if they had done a wedding registry, someone could have bought them a kettle. Also to his credit, he had forgotten about the pot because Darcy had realized they had never had sex on the kitchen floor in their apartment. It was something that needed to be remedied immediately, because they were rapidly crossing every surface of the apartment off of an official list.  
   
“Would it make you feel better if you knew that I wanted to tell you right away?” Fury asked as he walked down the aisle with Steve.  
   
“About the match or about Hydra?” Steve countered nonchalantly.  
   
“Believe me when I tell you, if I had known about Hydra, I would have come to you,” Fury insisted. “I'm having trouble figuring out how infested my organization is, Cap. I could use some help.”  
   
“I'm retired,” Steve shrugged.  
   
“Steve. If the world needs you...”  
   
“If the world needs me, if aliens come out of the sky or doombots attack the city, the world and Shield will know where to find me,” Steve looked up at Fury with a determined resolution. “I will be at my wife's side, protecting her. You know her, Director Fury. She'll be in the thick of the action actually trying to save the planet.”  
   
   
“She would be,” Fury nodded. “When I first saw the match, I was a little thrown, to be quite honest. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. The man who freed 400 prisoners from a Hydra prison camp with no more than a prop shield and the girl who took down the Norse God of Thunder and stared down an alien attack in order to rescue a few puppies.”  
   
“We also both really like honesty,” Steve smirked.  
   
“Okay, here's my honesty,” Fury took a breath. “I'm worried that Hydra will come after Darcy. Just Darcy. Which means they want her for something. I'm also worried that Alexander Pierce is not who I thought he was. And I'm worried, Steve. I'm worried that you've isolated yourselves and that you've made it easy for Hydra to come and get her.”  
   
“You worry too much,” Steve said simply, reaching for the tea that Darcy liked from the top of the shelf. “And you shouldn't worry about my defenses. I've already stopped Natasha and Barton from breaking in three times in the last week. So, maybe you should worry about your own people before you worry about mine. Have a good day, Director.”  
 

   
   
“Darcy?”  
   
Bruce stood in front of the lab bench that Darcy was standing at, waving a plate of freshly baked cookies in front of a preoccupied Jane Foster. Darcy looked up and gave Bruce a small smile.  
   
“What's up Doc?” she smirked, giggling at her own brand of hilarity.  
   
“Heh, actually my code name was Goliath,” Bruce chuckled. “My---ah, friend and colleague, Doctor Betty Ross went by Doc.”  
   
“Oh, in your Resistance thing?” Darcy nodded. “How's that shaking, anyway?”  
   
“Well, I don't do much field work. But we got a lot of good information from Natasha's last visit to their headquarters,” Bruce explained.  
   
“Yeah, Sammy told us about that. Fascinating stuff, really,” Darcy said honestly. “Some of it would turn the world upside down.”  
   
“That's the point,” Bruce nodded. “So...uhm, Dr. Ross and I have been studying the implications of perfect matches. You know, there haven't been very many with ratings as high as yours and Steve's.”  
   
   
“I had heard that, yeah,” Darcy laughed. “99.98. I mean, really, what did we have to do to get that last point oh two? Seems arbitrary.”  
   
“You answered one of the questions differently, it indicates a different level of...believe it or not, being able to forgive easily,” Bruce laughed nervously. “I think you know which side of the question you fell on.”  
   
“Yeah. Don't worry. He'll come around,” Darcy nodded. “My guy has a great heart. He's just taking this time to process things and you know, protect us. And join me in our marital bed.”  
   
Bruce laughed at that, genuinely. “About that...Betty seems to think that the two of you might display a higher than normal uhm...sex drive?”  
   
“Too true friend,” Darcy nodded in earnest agreement. “I mean, you know me, I'm a sloth usually. But show me Steve Rogers and a semi-private spot and I just...I go to TOWN. And then while I'm in town, I start to think about when I can go to town again. I think it's affecting my metabolism. I burn a lot more calories now. Steve stopped buying me Diet Pepsi cause I was losing too much weight from all the doing it.”  
   
“What?” Jane looked up curiously all of a sudden. “What'd I miss?”  
   
“Have a cookie, Janie,” Darcy shoved a cookie in Jane's mouth. She looked back to see Bruce flushing and clearly uncomfortable. “So a by product of practically being made for each other is nonstop doing it?”  
   
“To put it bluntly,” Bruce squirmed, wishing with all his might that Betty had had this conversation instead of him. “It's mother nature's way of making sure you...procreate.”  
   
“Ha! Not getting knocked up for a long while!” Darcy laughed, slapping her upper arm happily. “I mean, we haven't discussed it yet. But I'm assuming my perfect match husband will totally be cool with waiting until I'm 27 to start thinking about making perfect mini-Rogers.”  
   
“You're pregnant?” Jane looked up in confusion, only to get a sip from a straw in a cold glass of milk and then another mouthful of cookie from Darcy. She still spoke around the mouthful of chocolate chip and asked,“I get to be godmother, right? Cause you screwed me out of maid of honor?”  
   
   
“Yes, dammit Jane, of course you get to be godmother to my non-existent supersoldier baby,” Darcy laughed. Jane had not been pleased to have missed the quickie wedding. “In exactly five years or so. I'll make sure you're out of the lab for the baby shower.”  
   
“Cool.”  
 

   
   
Alexander Pierce watched the surveillance feed of Steve Rogers and the little wife as she greeted him in front of Stark Towers, with no sense of each others personal space or propriety in public. The little woman actually just jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his body and kissing the daylights out of him after being out of his sight for less than three hours.  
   
Alexander Pierce was rapidly running out of time.  
   
Darcy Lewis didn't have just one match. She had matched Steve Rogers, but she had also matched another profile that was understandably buried and hidden from Nick Fury. Once she'd matched one super soldier from the 1940's, it had raised some red flags, and Pierce had run the numbers himself against the dusty old profile that had been matchless for nearly seventy years.  
   
99.96 percent compatibility with his supersoldier. Just slightly lower than Rogers.  
   
But she had married the match she knew about it, and it was probably only a matter of time before Fury would get the genetically viable offspring of Captain America from her. But Pierce had hope.  
   
The programming was ready. It was time. He picked up his phone and dialed a number.  
   
“Begin the thaw. Don't wipe him. It might help for him to have some of his old charm back when he meets his future wife.”  
 

 

   
 


	29. Rearranged (1/3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Rearranged
> 
> Summary:  
> Darcy and Steve are celebrating two whole months of wedded bliss. Hydra decides to send them a present.  
> Steve is not Darcy's only match. She's plenty happy being Steve's wife, and has no interest in getting ANOTHER super soldier match. The bad guys really don't care what she wants, though.  
> aka: Hydra Matchmaking is bad and they should feel bad about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating: Mature  
> Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings  
> Category: F/M, M/M  
> Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies), The  
> Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)  
> Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers,  
> James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy Lewis, James "Bucky" Barnes/Darcy  
> Lewis/Steve Rogers  
> Character: Darcy Lewis, Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Natasha  
> Romanov, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Jane Foster (Marvel), Tony Stark,  
> Pepper Potts, Clint Barton, Thor (Marvel), Alexander BagofDicks  
> Pierce, Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Peggy Carter, Nick Fury, James  
> Rhodes, Sharon Carter (Marvel)  
> Additional Tags: Canon Typical Violence, Threats of non-con, Implied/Referenced  
> Brainwashing, Natasha is a better matchmaker than Hydra, bisexual  
> supersoldiers, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Bucky Barnes,  
> Minor Character Death, Hydra and the WCHS are having a danceoff:  
> Who can be the bigger bag of dicks?, PTSD  
> Series: Part 2 of Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me a Match  
> Stats: Published

  
  


** Rearranged **

** Chapter One: I Was Going to Give You A Nasty Look, But I See You Already Have One **

* * *

* * *

“I know what you're doing, babydoll.”

Darcy grinned as she rose and fell on her husband's lap. Her husband of two whole months. Steven Grant Rogers. Captain _You Bet Your Sweet Ass_ America. The hottest ninety-something year old on the face of the planet. Her back was against his front, his hands wrapped around her, one groping at her breast, the other between her legs as she worked over him.

“Good to see you're not totally senile yet. I'm not ready to make myself a widow and run off with your money with a newer, hotter super soldier, just yet.”

“You and your smart mouth,” Steve's own smart mouth nipped at the soft skin at the point where her neck met her shoulder.

“What about me and my smart mouth?” Darcy goaded, letting out a filthy moan, glad for the extra soundproofing Steve had done by himself on the apartment. It had made him feel better, because it had made their walls completely bulletproof. It had made her feel great, because she was so sick of Esther, their awesome elderly neighbor, giving her knowing winks after a particularly loud love making session.

“I love you and your smart mouth,” Steve hummed. “My babydoll. My pretty little smart mouthed wife.”

Married life had suited the both of them pretty well. Amazingly well. So well, that it was downright unnatural but they were so unnaturally happy that they couldn't be bothered to care. Darcy had continued with her visits to Jane in Stark Tower once or twice a day. Steve would go so far as to wait in the lobby for her, perusing the little shops, or grabbing a snack before sitting down with a sketchbook.

All had been exceptionally quiet on the Hydra front. Fury had been trying to keep Steve in the loop as they were doing a top secret dive into all of their Shield personnel. So far, they suspected nearly a third of Shield's forces to be loyal to Hydra. Steve had complained to Darcy at length that instead of hiding the fact that they knew about Hydra, Shield should be round them up and snuffing out any traces of the awful organization. Darcy had called upon her new wife powers to state that while that would have been satisfying, they couldn't possibly get them all, and then they'd just have a fractured system in search of all the rest of the Hydra scattered around the world.

But the world was quiet. There had been no need to assemble the Avengers, so Steve hadn't even been tempted to reconnect with the teammates he felt had betrayed him. He may have even been assembling his own team.

And he and Darcy were deliriously happy. Obscenely so. They had settled into married life so easily. Every day was still an adventure, but it felt a lot less like a car chase and more like a happy little walk down a path, hand in hand. Darcy still enjoyed cooking enough to satiate his metabolism, and Steve would still reluctantly insist on cleaning up. They filled up their hours with little adventures around New York City, thousands of pounds worth of conversations that never felt stilted or boring or repetitive, and a ridiculous amount of love-making.

Case in point, this was round two for the day. Darcy had rushed him back to their apartment after her lunchtime visit with Jane, and had wasted no time in sinking to her knees in front of the couch she had pushed him down on. And now they were both rapidly rushing towards their endings, Steve's hands squeezing and tickling, Darcy's thighs tensing and trembling as she worked herself up and down. Steve's fingers were rubbing and pinching at her clit, ever eager to try to get her to where she needed to go before he exploded and became useless.

_ You always forget she loves a filthy mouth. I'd be a better match for this dame, punk. I remember the important things. _

“Fuck, Darcy, just come...please babydoll, I need to feel that pretty little pussy squeezing at me,” Steve begged in a raspy, needy whisper. He bit at her shoulder and felt her tense around him and break apart, going liquid and boneless and he gave a grunt of approval before pulling her down tight on his lap and spilling inside of her. “Love you, sweetheart.”

“Mmmhmmm,” Darcy nodded, letting her back fall against his chest, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. “Good stuff, Mr. Babydoll.”

“Just good?” Steve chuckled, feeling tired and heavy. He withdrew from her, and maneuvered on the couch so that he was flat on his back and she was cuddled against him. His fingers pet at sensitive flesh, pushing his release that had escaped back up and into her with a little smirk on his face.

“Fantastico,” Darcy nodded, swatting his hand away from his delighted perversion. “So...what was I trying to do with the not just good but fanastico boning?”

“ You wanna go with Jane on her stargazing trip,” Steve sighed. “And you didn't have to butter me up with the very fantastico  _ love making  _ in order to get me to say yes. But I'm going with you, babydoll.”

“Okay, first off, that wasn't buttering you up, that was a biological need for super soldier loving,” Darcy insisted. “Second off, are you sure you want to go on a weekend getaway with me and Janie? Cause...she snores. And is messy. And non-verbal when she's busy. And we sing along to musicals as we work. And also...Jane said we'd get Stark security if necessary.”

Steve huffed out an indignant scoff.

“I like singing along to musicals,” he reminded her. And he did. They had made it through a lot of musical soundtracks during their last two months of wedded bliss. He particularly liked the funny ones with the more risque songs. Like the puppet musical. “You snore too, it's adorable. And finally, Stark security isn't good enough for the world's most important astrophysicist and lady friend of a Norse God. And it's definitely not good enough for my wife.”

“Alright,” Darcy nodded. “But only because you put the whole astrophysicist description before any of the romantical relationships in terms of importance. You're sexy when your feminism is showing. We leave next Thursday. Maybe you can get a little face time in with Sammy, we'll only be about a half an hour away.”

“Or fifteen minutes away if you're driving.”

* * *

“The programming is in place. It has been a remarkable success. The Asset has never taken so well to a particular set of programming before.”

Alexander Pierce rolled his eyes. Of course the Asset had embraced this particular programming. Most of Pierce's contemporaries, associates and underlings forgot that the Asset used to be a person. He couldn't blame them for it. It was easier to pretend that the man they poked, prodded, tortured and brainwashed on a regular basis was simply a tool to be brought out of storage and used when the time was right.

But Pierce knew everything about the Asset. It was his job to understand how to use the greatest weapon in Hydra's arsenal.

The Asset used to be James Buchanan Barnes. He had a life, a family and friendships. It was good to know what the Asset used to be and what he used to have.

Because then it could be used against him. It could be used to control him.

Pierce's predecessor had understood that. He had understood that the Asset would respond to a handler who looked a certain way. Tall, blond, and blue-eyed. Broader in the shoulders than most men and with a deeper voice. And since Pierce fit that particular physical bill, he had seen his worth skyrocket amongst the Hydra higher ups at a very young age. He had been the chief handler for the Asset since he had turned thirty.

The Asset would calm when Pierce was in the room. His physical outbursts and attacks would be less likely to happen when Pierce was there. It wasn't all good results. Towards the end of missions, when the memory wipes started to fade thanks to the bastardized serum running through the Asset's veins, Pierce would avoid contact with the Asset at all costs. It had only taken one instance in 1973 of the Asset looking at him in confusion and saying  _ Stevie _ ? for new Asset handling protocol to be put into place.

For this particular mission, all Hydra personnel that may be seen by the Asset were chosen due to the fact that they were the exact physical opposite of Steve Rogers.

The mission would take at least a month, the longest time they could go without wiping him. They didn't need to tempt fate.

“ He used to be a charmer,” Pierce admitted, watching as the programming department worked on the Asset. Programming was the least painful of all the Asset conditioning. And he would imagine, this particular round of programming, filled with images of a pretty young woman, her laughs and soft words, softness and lightness and beauty, was a special treat for his Asset. And he hoped the programming held and the Asset would  _ want  _ to charm her.

The charming would have to happen.

Every ten years, the Hydra superiors would demand that their Asset program get...insurance policies. But with every thaw, every attempt to match a girl to their Asset, the Asset would refuse.

Apparently, the charming Bucky Barnes still needed some form of consent, and refused to bed the girls that had been matched to him who were not exactly willing. They had never found a girl to match higher than 75 percent though. So perhaps the biological need wasn't there. Pierce had been privy to some stolen work from one Doctor Betty Ross, where she theorized that the higher the match percentage, the higher the sex drive.

Darcy Lewis-Rogers was a 99.96 percent match to James Buchanan Barnes.

Pierce hoped that consent wouldn't be an issue, because Mrs. Lewis-Rogers wasn't likely to give it. He hoped, that his Asset would be overwhelmed with the biological need and do what he needed them to do. But just in case, he was taking every precaution.

Darcy Lewis-Rogers would bring the Asset program new life.

Literally.

* * *

“Hey man, uhm, Sharon wants to talk to you,” Sam admitted. “Don't worry, it's not shop talk, at all. Nothing Shield related, I promise.”

“Ahh—okay?” Steve furrowed his brow. “Hold on, let me go out into the kitchen. I'd feel better if Darcy could hear this.”

Steve and Sam had mended their fences quite nicely. Sam was looking forward to Steve coming down to his neck of the woods with Darcy and Jane at the end of the week. Sam had regained Steve's trust, and they were still doing therapy three times a week together, but they had also built a very stable friendship as well.

“She's not going to try anything sneaky,” Sam assured him.

“Still,” Steve shrugged. The last interaction he and Darcy had had with Sharon had been the Shield agent saying she had been ordered to steal Steve away from Darcy. He wasn't going to take any kind of chance at crossed signals or miscommunication. And he didn't keep any secrets from his wife.

“Cap, you should give classes or write a book or something about being the perfect husband,” Sam laughed.

“It's easy work if you have the perfect wife,” Steve assured him.

“Flattery will get you a smooshed face, Steve,” Darcy reminded him as he walked into the room with the phone in hand. She waved at the video of Sam and held up a frosted cupcake. “Guess who is finally getting some of these this weekend?”

“So awesome,” Sam gave a little victorious fist pump.

“Sharon wants to talk to us,” Steve said quietly.

“Oh. Okay,” Darcy shrugged, putting the cupcake down and looking down at herself. She was a mess of flour and confectioners sugar. But the kiss Steve dropped on her neck, licking at a little dusting of sugar eased her worries about her appearance.

Sharon appeared on the screen next to Sam and she gave a friendly smile and a small wave.

“Uhm, congratulations?” she started off with. “We wanted to send you guys a gift or something, but....”

“No gifts necessary. We appreciate the well wishes though,” Darcy gave her a small smile.

“So...I needed to talk to you because....” Sharon faltered and took a small breath. She shook her head and squared her shoulders. “It's my Aunt. Peggy Carter. She's...she's not well, Captain Rogers. And she's been moved to a facility in DC for better care and to be closer to her family.”

“What's wrong with her?” Darcy wondered softly, her hand going for the small of Steve's back, rubbing gentle circles there to soothe him. He had tensed as soon as he heard Peggy's name.

“Alzheimer's Disease. But...also, she's 91,” Sharon admitted. “She's fading. Fast. And Steve, on good days, she knows that you were found. And she's asked to see you.”

“We'll be there,” Darcy answered. “Steve and I will come down a day early, ahead of Jane, and Steve will go and see her.”

Steve managed a nod in agreement.

“Great, good,” Sharon smiled. “We'll see you then.”

* * *

“Who do you have on Jane and Darcy this weekend?”

Tony looked up from his workbench to see Natasha Romanoff standing in front of him, looking to be all business despite the casual, non-catsuit clothing that she was wearing. He put down his tools and picked up his greenish smoothie, taking a long pull off of the straw and shivering. Lewis had replaced that smoothie...that morning? Yesterday. No...yesterday morning. He took another sip anyway and shivered a little less that time.

“Hi, how are you, I haven't seen you in two months. What have you been up to? Oh, you know, spy stuff, how about you? Well, you know, just trying to keep things a little together around the homestead even though Big Daddy has gone off the range and Auntie Nat and Uncle Clint are MIA,” Tony nodded. “Where have you been?”

“Busy,” Natasha shrugged. “Are you the mother in this family scenario?”

“I'm the weird next door neighbor with no boundaries. I'm the Kimmy Gibbler. C'mon Natalia, secrets secrets are no fun, secrets secrets are what got the Avengers into this broken home to begin with,” Tony reminded her.

“Hydra has an Asset,” Natasha revealed. “Clint and I have been trying to figure out what...or who it is.”

“What's an asset?” Tony wondered. “Was there a capital letter there? I feel like there should be a capital letter.”

“A weapon of mass destruction, for lack of a better term,” Natasha shrugged, taking Tony's smoothie before he could take another dangerous sip. She threw it away and went to the mini-fridge that Darcy kept stocked, pulling out a new drink for Tony and setting it down in front of him. “It's not a part of Shield. But from the chatter I'm getting from the Hydra operatives in Shield, it's dangerous. And it's about to be made active.”

“Yikers,” Tony nodded, taking another drink of his smoothie.

“So I ask again, Jane and Darcy have a trip to Washington DC this weekend. Who have you provided for security?” Natasha asked.

“Big Daddy is going along for the ride,” Tony shrugged. Darcy had assured him that Steve had readily volunteered to keep an eye on her. And probably two hands on her. And probably his mouth on her too with the way they did things.

“And who else do you have?” Natasha asked again.

“Happy is driving Jane down Thursday night. He's going to have Rodriguez and Thompson with him,” Stark assured her.

“And you think that's enough?” Natasha furrowed her brow.

“Well, I assumed you and Pigeon Face were going as well,” Tony smirked. “Secretively of course. Because you know, secrets work out so well for our little dysfunctional family.”

“I'll be taking my corvette back,” Natasha rolled her eyes.

“Ugh...plebeian.”

* * *

“I'll...I'll stay out here,” Darcy said softly, rubbing at Steve's thigh as they waited outside of Peggy's room.

“Sweetheart, no, I---want, I want to introduce you to her,” Steve admitted softly. “I think you'll really like her.”

“If you want, but you should go in first by yourself. I'll wait,” Darcy promised.

“Alright, if that's what you want,” Steve nodded.

Clint Barton walked out of the room, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He startled a fraction at seeing Steve and Darcy sitting outside of Peggy's room. It was the startle that put Steve's mind at ease. For a fraction of a second, he had been worried that Clint and therefore Natasha had been following them. Clint didn't startle. Ever. Unless it was Natasha.

“Hey guys...I didn't know you'd be here,” Clint gave them a tentative smile. “Uhm...Old Ironsides will be...she'll be pleased. She's, you know, having a good day today.”

“Old Ironsides?” Darcy questioned.

“It's what the newer Shield recruits called her when I joined up. It kind of stuck. Steve would tell you that it was probably accurate from even earlier,” Clint shrugged. “She's tough and stubborn and will just plow right over you if you give her the chance.”

“Okay, that's only vaguely terrifying,” Darcy muttered, getting a squeeze on her knee from Steve.

“Are you and Peggy...are you close?” Steve furrowed his brow.

“She recruited me. And then you know, supported me when I brought Natasha in,” Clint nodded. “She's a good person to have on your side. 91 or not.”

“Yeah,” Steve nodded. He kissed Darcy's forehead and stood up. He gave Clint a nod and said, “It's good to see you, Barton.”

“Same to you, Cap,” Clint nodded. “And hey, you know, congratulations. Two months now?”

“Yeah,” Darcy smiled. “Two whole months.”

Steve gave her a wink before walking into the room with a determined expression on his face. Clint stared down at Darcy with an appraising look.

“Being married suits you. You seem...calmer than usual,” Clint nodded. “I mean...there's gauze over there on that cart and you haven't tried to make me a mummy yet.”

“I'm a little preoccupied at the moment, Clint, but if you want me to, I will build you a set of wings out of those tongue depressors,” Darcy rolled her eyes.

“Why on Earth wouldn't you bring your wife, Steve! I want to meet her! Bring her in immediately!” Peggy's shout could be heard from the hallway and Darcy's eyes widened.

“Don't look so scared, Kiddo,” Clint patted her on the shoulder, then left his hand there to steer her to Peggy's door. “She's not half as bad as you think she is.”

“You call her Old Ironsides,” Darcy hissed at him.

“Have fun!” Clint pushed her into the room with a mostly silent cackle of glee.

She stumbled in, before giving an awkward wave and standing by the door.

“Howdy, I'm Darcy,” she introduced herself. “I wasn't going to use all of the tongue depressors. I was just sort of going to figure out how to use them to to bind Barton's arms together. Just, you know, for shits and giggles.”

  
  


Steve snorted with laughter as Darcy rolled her eyes at herself.

“Fuck, I always swear when I'm nervous. Sorry.”

Peggy watched as Steve got up from his seat and walked towards the small young woman who had stumbled into her room. She was a pretty little thing. Curvy and soft, with big blue eyes set in a lovely and expressive face. He reached for her hand and it was a beautiful thing to see, the two tense young people relax simultaneously. She'd seen good matches before. She had been a part of a 95 percent match herself. But there was something about a near perfect match that just made a person want to stare at the couple unabashedly.

“I'm Peggy Carter, and it is absolutely wonderful to meet you,” Peggy smiled. “I'm sure if you are matched with Steve, you and I will get along quite well, hardheadedness and ridiculous, foolish bravery aside.”

“I am a little less hardheaded,” Darcy promised. “Legitimately, that's where our point oh two percent difference comes in.”

“Well then, it is lovely to meet you,” Peggy grinned. “I will give you all my best tips on dealing with hardheadedness.”

“Mostly I just use sex to battle against it,” Darcy shrugged. She winced at her non-existent brain to mouth filter, but Peggy just laughed.

“I like her very much, Steve. Excellent job on not mucking it up,” Peggy commended him. “I'm glad the match made it possible for you to work around your complete inability to communicate with beautiful women.”

“I had to badger him in to our first date. Well I badgered him and so did a table full of World War Two veterans,” Darcy revealed.

And that started a half hour conversation between Darcy and Peggy where they exchanged amusing Steve stories. Steve sat there with a smile on his face, cringing whenever the stories got to be embarrassing regarding his brazen foolishness (Peggy) or when they bordered on downright pornographic (Darcy).

“Well, before my brain stops working entirely for the day,” Peggy sighed as she could feel the tiredness settling into her bones. She always lost time when she was extra tired. She pointed to a box on the bureau by the doors. “I brought along some snapshots I've saved from the War. The Smithsonian wanted them for their exhibit, but these are more personal in nature.”

“Don't tell me you have the one of me in the English Channel, holding a box of pastries over my head,” Steve sighed. He had really just wanted to make Bucky's birthday a little special, and he had been met with a chorus of no's from everyone around him, so he took matters into his own hands. Bucky had liked the eclairs and the tarte tatin had been a big hit with the other Howling Commandos.

“In triplicate,” Peggy promised.

“Oh, I am going to make so many fun scrapbooks,” Darcy rubbed her hands together in delight.

Peggy smiled at the interaction between the two of them. Steve poking at Darcy's midsection and her teasing and taunting him without words, but only facial expressions. When it had been revealed to her that Steve had been found, 66 years after he had gone missing, un-aged and unchanged, she had felt an incredible amount of worry for him. She had lived her life. She had found her match and made her family. She worried that Steve would never find such happiness. That the only chance he had for it had fallen out of his reach so long ago, due to her own error in judgment.

But he had found his happiness, and it was complete and total. But she was no fool. She was nearing her death and she had one last sin to confess.

“Steve, I need to tell you something,” Peggy said softly, getting both of the young people's attention back on her. “Your information was never entered into the database in the 40's, when it should have been.”

“I know, Deputy Director Hill told me as much. But I can't be upset about an oversight,” Steve shook his head. He nodded his head towards Darcy. “Everything worked out just fine in the end, Peg.”

“Yes, but there was a specific reason you were not entered into the database,” Peggy revealed. “Colonel Phillips had a team in the SSR running match calculations on the side during the war. To make sure that no mission would be compromised. As you both know, a paired match with high compatibility is a dangerously powerful thing.”

“A beautiful, powerful thing,” Steve nodded shooting a soft smile to Darcy.

“You were matched, Steve,” Peggy whispered, looking down at her hands. “Not quite as high as your match with Darcy. 98 percent if we fudged the genetics.”

“With---with who?” Steve furrowed his brow. Surely if he had been matched that high with any woman in the SSR, he would have felt a pull. An attraction. Something. His pull to Darcy was so strong that surely 98 percent would have made something happen.

“Was it you?” Darcy wondered softly.

“Oh no, Steven and I barely managed to scrape together a 72 percent,” Peggy shook her head resolutely.

“That's still a passing grade,” Darcy assured her.

“Not according to the WCHS,” Peggy sighed. “When I got the results, I destroyed them. I didn't want Phillips to find them.”

“Peggy...why?” Steve wondered.

“Because I didn't want to break up the Howling Commandos,” Peggy admitted. “If Phillips had found out, he would have surely demanded a replacement. Steve...your match was Bucky.”

_ Well, I'll be damned. _

Steve's hand dropped from Darcy's knee, his mouth going open. Darcy's reflection mirroring his own. Peggy sighed and continued on with her usual no nonsense attitude.

“We didn't understand same sex matches in those early days. Our world didn't accept them until much later,” she reminded them. “If Phillips had known, Bucky would have been sent back to the regulars. I couldn't have that happen. You would have walked away from the whole operation if I had let that happen, Steve.”

“I would have,” Steve whispered in agreement, looking down at his shoes. He could feel Darcy's eyes staring at him in curiosity. He forced that show smile on his face and nodded at Peggy. “Thank you for telling me, Peggy. And thank you for protecting my team. I appreciate it.”

“You're welcome, Steve,” Peggy nodded, sighing at the sight of him. He had on that smile that hid everything he was feeling. She looked to Darcy and saw that the young woman was doing something similar. Her face was tight and purposefully mirthful, as if she were trying to project the feeling of happiness and mischief, when all she was feeling was downright confusion. “It was lovely to meet you, Darcy. Please, don't be a stranger.”

* * *

Darcy sat on the edge of the sink in the hotel bathroom, her head against the mirror as she looked down at the pictures Peggy had given them. She had retreated to the bathroom immediately after they had returned from Peggy's, and Steve had not tried to stop her, too wrapped up in his own heavy thoughts from Peggy's revelation.

The small box was filled with approximately one hundred and fifty candid snapshots of Steve and the Howling Commandos. She had smiled over the ones with the guys horsing around, laughing and smiling as they prepared for dangerous work. There were a lot of pictures taken at the same bar, obviously their bar. She really liked the one of Dum-Dum Dugan swing dancing with Morita, swinging him so quick that he was a blur with a laughing face on the picture.

And then there were the pictures of Bucky and Steve.

She knew that affection was different for male friends before the WCHS took over the world. There had been a controversial picture exhibit that came through Culver during her time there, showing pictures of men with their arms wrapped around each other, or sitting in each others laps from before 1950. Male friendship had been considerably more demonstrative before the WCHS had brainwashed the world into thinking that the only acceptable physical affection was affection shown between a matched set. It was decades before the WCHS admitted that same-sex matches were something that actually occurred.

The pictures of Steve and Bucky were full of affection. It was usually just an arm slung around each other. Or with Bucky leaning against Steve's shoulder. Or with the pair of them sitting thigh to thigh, bodies leaned in to each other intimately. It wasn't the body language that gave her pause.

It was the way they looked at one another. Like the other had hung the moon.

Steve looked at her that way all the time.

“Babydoll?” Steve said softly from the other side of the door, knocking gently. “I ordered us some pizzas. They're here...are—are you alright?”

“Come in, Steve,” Darcy called out, not bothering to change her posture or position. She gave him a small, gentle smile, one that told him he wasn't in any kind of trouble.

He looked guilty anyway, his hands shoved in his pockets as he came in and stood in front of her perch on the sink counter. He looked down at the box full of pictures she had looked through at least three times already. He picked one up, a picture of him and Bucky at the bar, Steve's hand on Bucky's shoulder as both men laughed at something one of the other Commandos had done.

“ I'm not upset,” Darcy promised. “Just...I'm  _ sad _ , Steve.”

“Why's that, sweetheart?” Steve looked up to her in concern.

“You and Bucky could have been so much to each other. And life was just...cruel and awful,” Darcy shrugged. “But I'm not upset at all.”

“I'm not....me and Bucky were...we weren't homosexuals,” Steve whispered.

“Steve, I'm very aware that both you and Bucky really liked women, too,” Darcy smiled.

“We'd never done much together,” Steve admitted. “Just...we grew up together. Shared a bed most nights at either of our houses. Boys...we may have been curious. Practicing kissing and other stuff...”

“And that's just fine,” Darcy nodded, her cheeks flushing at the idea. She licked at her lips absently and wondered, “What kind of stuff?”

“Just...seeing what felt nice,” Steve shrugged.

“Like stuff we do?” Darcy prodded.

“ Babydoll, it doesn't---making love to you is one of the things I love most in this world,” Steve insisted. He looked at her face and saw her flushed cheeks, saw her pupils blown in the bright light of the hotel bathroom. She wasn't upset. She was  _ curious _ , in a very good way. “Some of the stuff that we do...it's similar.”

_ Such a naughty little thing. Look at how she's pinking up, punk. She likes it. _

“Like when I take you in my mouth?” Darcy whispered. Steve flushed and nodded. She reached for his belt and pulled him to stand flush against the counter, her arms going around to fall on his bottom. “And when I touch you here when you're deep inside of me?”

“Yes, babydoll,” Steve nodded. “We tried some of those things, just a few times.”

“Just with Bucky?” Darcy wondered.

“I wasn't attracted to other men,” Steve shrugged. “Just...just Bucky. And really, when I think about it, I've not been attracted to a lot of women out there, either. Just...just the special ones. Like you.”

_ And tell her about the plan, punk. _

“We have a term for that nowadays,” Darcy gave him a bigger smile.

“You have a term for everything nowadays,” Steve smiled at her. He pulled the box of pictures from her and placed it on the bathroom counter. He leaned his head down and kissed her lips before resting his forehead against hers. “Babydoll, we're okay, right?”

“Of course we are,” Darcy smiled, giving his ass a squeeze. “I can't be jealous of a ghost. I really am just...heartbroken for all the things you two missed out on. You should have been able to come home and live a happy life together.”

“We had a plan,” Steve whispered.

“Yeah? Tell me about it.”

“We were going to come home, and use our saved up hazard pay to buy a little place in the suburbs. We were both unmatched...or you know, that's what we thought. So we were going to find a nice girl, someone else who maybe didn't have a match. Someone who didn't---,” Steve faltered and shrugged, his cheeks turning a little red.

“Who didn't mind sharing?” Darcy finished for him.

“Not in a perverted way. Though it always sounded nice to have a soft little lady in the bed too. We tried it once...with a gal before Bucky went out to basic training. It was nice,” Steve insisted softly. “We wanted to find the right girl that would understand. What we meant to each other. One that wouldn't make us pick and wouldn't get upset that we---we needed each other too. Not for sex necessarily, but because we needed each other.”

“Well...I can't say that would be an easy position to fill,” Darcy said softly. “You and Bucky had a really strong bond, and even stronger compatibility rating. That would be pretty tough to compete with, not even taking the decades you two spent together. That's intimidating for any girl.”

_ Yeah, Angel, but you're not just any girl, are you? _

“Some times I hear him in my head, you know?” Steve whispered. “He's always got a smartass comment. Telling me to do this or that. He's like a little ghost in my brain.”

“You poor thing,” Darcy giggled. “What an awful Jimminy Cricket to have!”

_ Hey now, I'm nothing like that little bug. _

“I understand that reference, babydoll,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“What's Bucky Cricket have to say about me?” Darcy wondered.

“He adores you,” Steve promised.

_ And I'd like to get my ghost hands all over those glorious breasts. _

“He likes the girls, doesn't he?” Darcy preened, arching her back a little to put her breasts on display.

_ I just want to bury my face in them... _

“He really, really does,” Steve rolled his eyes. “And I really love you.”

“Aww, Cutie. I love you too. And the little pervert Sergeant that's rattling around in your brain.”

_ That's swell, Angel. Now let me at her, Stevie... _

* * *

The Asset woke up from his latest round of programming and saw that his normal handler was not there. Instead, a younger, darker skinned man was giving him a nod and a clinical once over.

“Asset.”

“Where's my girl?” the Asset questioned, looking around for her with cold calculation.

Alexander Pierce watched from the other side of the two way mirror and smiled. Usually when the Asset woke up from programming, he simply said  _ Mission?  _ The Programming Department had certainly outdone themselves this time.

“Your girl?” the new handler asked.

“Darcy...where...where is she? Where's Darcy?” the Asset questioned, his voice rising with every word as he looked around at the empty room. She should have been right there. She was always there when he woke up. He rose from his chair and his metal hand was around the new handler's neck with just enough pressure not to snap his spine in half. “Where is Darcy?”

“There's been...there's been...”

“Asset,” Pierce said over the intercom. “Drop your handler.”

“Where is Darcy?” the Asset questioned, not dropping the handler at all.

“There's been a complication. Darcy has been compromised. Taken from you. It is your mission to bring her back.”

The Asset growled and threw the new handler into the two way mirror, shattering it to pieces. His bare chest rose and fell heavily and he glared at the other set of handlers behind the window. He was burning rage poured into a deadly weapon. His eyes were pure gray, focused and angry at the idea that someone had taken Darcy away, had spirited off the woman that he loved.

Programming had really outdone themselves this time.

“Mission accepted.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Two: Why Don't You Slip Into Something a Little More Comfortable, Like a Coma? **

* * *

* * *

“Did you two just have sex in my pantry? Aw, come on man! I keep my food in there!”

“Sorry, Sammy,” Darcy's mouth was twisted with contrition as she and Steve stood in the kitchen of Sam's house, where they had been invited for a lunchtime cookout before they would all leave with Jane to go forty miles out of the city to stargaze. Or do science. Jane would be doing the science. Steve and Darcy would be doing the stargazing, and probably running off to the back of the van to put their hands in each others pants.

“You were out on your patio, we didn't think you'd notice,” Steve shrugged, red faced. “And we wanted to make sure you couldn't hear.”

“Because boundaries are important,” Darcy nodded in exaggerated agreement.

“I keep my food in there!” Sam repeated in annoyance.

“Oh, yeah,” Darcy reached into the pantry and pulled out a can of whipped cream she had pilfered from the fridge. “I'll run to the store and get you more of that.”

“The only reason I'm not really freaking out right now, is because I know that this isn't actually your faults,” Sam huffed out, taking a deep, put upon sigh. “It's the match's fault. It's too damned high. You can't control what your bodies want.”

“We can control our own bodies, Wilson,” Steve disputed. Darcy let her elbow hit his midsection and Steve shook his head and said, “No, you're right. We're an uncontrollable pile of hormones. It's the match's fault.”

“Burgers done yet?” Darcy wondered, peering around Sam and his crossed arms and righteous indignation to see Jane and Happy manning the grill with Sharon chatting with the pair of them.

“There was a mishap with lighting the grill. Your boss is a little fire happy,” Sam arched a brow. “We got another half hour until grub is on.”

“Oh good, can we borrow your guest shower?” Darcy wondered. She smirked at Sam's splutter of incredulity. “We're sticky from the whipped cream.”

“I'm so fucking glad the two of you got a hotel room on the other side of the city,” Sam rolled his eyes. “Go. Let me get outside and turn on some music before you start anything. And please, try to keep it down a little?”

_ If he makes the music loud enough, you can get her to do that high moan I like so much. Get her to do it as loud as you can. _

Darcy looked at Steve's face, the tell tale slow blink of amusement revealing that his Bucky Crickett in his head had made some smart ass comment. She had categorized the look before, but never knew what was going on in Steve's brain at the time. Now that she knew about the 1940's era Bucky Barnes running color commentary in Steve's brain, a lot of those lazy, amused blinks made more sense. He did it it an awful lot when they were in bed.

“What's he saying?” she wondered as they hustled up to the guest bedroom.

“Babydoll, come on,” Steve huffed out in embarrassment.

_ Tell her, punk. Tell her I want you to make her to do that thing with her mouth on your--- _

“Just...typical Bucky stuff. He used to whisper stuff in my ear when we were out on a double with a girl he was seeing and a very disappointed friend of the girl's,” Steve chuckled in fond remembrance. “He'd get me all embarrassed and tongue tied.”

_ You were adorable when you stuttered and did your aw shucks face. _

“I want to hear what he's saying,” Darcy pouted.

_ Tell her that I love her just as much as you do and that half of your moves that make her coo are moves that you learned from me. _

“No, absolutely not,” Steve said, not knowing if he was talking to the rogue faction of his brain or Darcy. “If I tell you what he's saying, then you'll want to talk back at him and then all of a sudden you'll be having a conversation with my dead best friend's memory and we'll look crazy. And then you'll leave me for him.”

_ Damn right she would. I'm a catch. _

“ Aww, Cutie! I would  _ never _ ,” Darcy promised him, kissing Steve fiercely. “Besides, I heard all about those kinky boys from Brooklyn wanting to share and stuff.”

_ Please, Stevie, let's share. _

“You'da been so pretty together,” Steve sighed, taking another kiss from those perfect pouty lips.

“Sorry I was born too late,” Darcy sighed as his hands went for her pants again.

“No, babydoll. You were born at just the right time.”

* * *

“Man, I want burgers,” Clint sighed from the Corvette two blocks over. “They smell so good. So juicy smelling. So burger-y.”

“How can you even smell them?” Natasha demanded.

“When one sense is taken away, the others become stronger,” Clint gestured to his hearing aid. “I can smell red meat cooking from two football fields away.”

“You are so lucky that you are fantastic in bed,” Natasha muttered.

“I am, aren't I?” Clint nodded in giddy agreement. “You know, Cap was nice to me yesterday. I bet if I strolled up to the barbeque, I'd get a burger.”

“We are not here to socialize, we are here to do a specific job,” Natasha reminded him. “We are perimeter security for Rogers and Lewis.”

“If anything bad is going to happen to those two kids, it's going to happen right on top of them,” Clint scoffed. “Perimeter guards...that's ridiculous. Maybe for the president, but for Captain _Fight Me_ America and Darcy _Arrest Me I Dare You_ Lewis? The bad stuff doesn't wait around on the perimeter. It materializes out of thin air in front of their foolishly brave faces.”

“Darcy Lewis-Rogers,” Natasha corrected. “She hyphenated, and I think it's absolutely adorable.”

“Yeah, yeah, you're their number one fan,” Clint rolled his eyes. “You should start trying to build bridges again, Tash. They're stubborn and won't do it themselves. You know that Darce will be quick to forgive.”

“I'd rather protect them right now,” Natasha said softly.

“I get it,” Clint nodded. He put his arm around the stiff woman and smiled when she melted against him a little. “You're big on penance.”

“What can I say? It was conditioned into me.”

* * *

The Asset could not remember having ever been so angry.

Someone had dared to try to take the one thing in the world that gave him happiness and love. He could hear her voice in his head. Soft, lovely words of love. Silly little giggles and great big peals of laughter. He could feel her touch, little hands stroking his face, pouting lips against his. He knew her smell. Soft and clean and delicious. She was the only thing that made his otherwise horrific life worth living.

And someone had ripped her away from him.

He watched the field clearing in silence as a car arrived. His handlers had provided him with where she was going to be taken and had offered support by means of a distraction. It had said something to his level of desperation that he was willing to take that assistance. He watched as a group of people exited a large van, and he watched as a small brunette woman pulled out a set of equipment with the assistance of two larger men.

The back of the van opened and he could barely make out a tall man with honey colored hair and a beard pulling at more equipment.

Darcy was not visible though.

_Go down there and start punching until they give you answers_ .

The Asset shook his head in confusion. He'd been on missions before where an unknown voice gave an unwarranted opinion in the confines of his brain. Most of the time it was heedless and reckless, and the Asset took special care to do the exact opposite of whatever the voice told him to do.

It worked. The Asset never succumbed to the dangerous man who would yell in his brain at him, and he had never failed a mission yet. He ignored the voice this time as well, but it was no easy task. It was the first time the Asset wanted to follow the advice and rush to the people who had Darcy and start killing, saving questions for later.

A call came through to one of the large men, he was older and looked panicked when he heard what was on the other end of the call.

The Asset's handlers had come through. The dark skinned man and the one with the honey colored hair grabbed weapons and were off at a tear to the distraction that was a mile down the road.

Now, he only had to wait.

* * *

“Babydoll, stay here with Happy and Sharon, Rodriguez is in trouble around the perimeter, it might be nothing, but we have to check,” Steve gave her a quick kiss as she sat on the floor in the back of the van, setting up the portable power supply for Jane's machines. He grabbed his shield from behind her and gave her another lingering kiss. “Love you.”

“Hmm, love you too, be careful,” Darcy insisted.

“If something comes your way, get in this car and drive like a bat out of hell until you're safe,” Steve ordered her gently. “I'll find you when it's all over.”

“Alright,” Darcy smiled, jingling the car keys at him, watching as he and Sam took off. Sam had put on a mysterious backpack he had brought along and Darcy wondered if it was full of some kind of dangerous weapon.

She went back to work at the power, making quick work of it before hopping out of the van and walking towards Jane, who was blissfully unaware of any potential danger as she continued to work.

“What are we looking for here, again?” Darcy wondered.

“Potential rainbow bridge portal area,” Jane mumbled. She rolled her eyes. “Steve knows more about my work than you do, Darce.”

“Well Steve is terrifically thoughtful and has a photographic memory. Oh...Rainbow bridge...like...Thor?” Darcy grinned. “I miss Thor.”

“Shut up, you don't get to miss Thor. You're filled to the brim with super soldier bodily fluids,” Jane grumbled at her. “And this is just as much for you and Steve as it is for me and my lady parts, so fuck off Darcy Marie Lewis-Rogers.”

“ True, and  _ yikers _ , Janie,” Darcy gave her a light punch to her bicep. “You are so grouchy when you're hard up.”

“You are the opposite of hard up,” Jane taunted. She went to return the playful punch to Darcy's bicep when the bullet hit, going straight through her shoulder and causing her to crumple to the ground.

“Shit,” Sharon hissed, going straight for the comm. “Foster's down, get Cap and Falcon back here, it was a distr---”

A small explosion rocked the van, throwing Sharon, Happy and Darcy to the ground as well, knocking all three of them unconscious. The Asset was like a shadow, dropping into the field and making it quickly to Darcy's side.

“Angel,” he whispered, picking her up off the ground and cradling her against his chest. There was a spot of silver glinting in the firelight of the explosion on her chest and he stared at it, the plain, silver heartshaped locket overwhelmingly familiar to him.

_ Get the hell out of here with her, jerk! _

For once, the Asset listened to the voice in his head. He was back to his nest in no time, out of sight moments before Natasha Romanoff ran onto the scene, looking around at the horrifying images of the burning van, the wounded Jane and the unconscious Happy and Agent 13.

“Darcy!” Natasha shouted, sharp eyes looking out into the darkening twilight. “Darcy!”

The Asset set off the secondary set of explosives, and the familiar red head's shouts into the night disappeared in the din of fire and metal crunching and breaking apart. He watched the old enemy crumple to the ground, a back full of shrapnel. He looked down at the unconscious girl in his arms, his metal thumb tenderly stroking at her soot covered cheek.

“Darcy,” he said softly. “It's going to be okay. I'm here now.”

* * *

The explosion coming from where they had left Darcy and the others behind had both Sam and Steve skidding to a halt on the pathway, sending gravel flying everywhere. Steve immediately turned and began sprinting back to where his wife was.

“Cap!” Barton dropped out of a nearby tree. “Foster's been shot, and there's been an explosion. Nat's heading there from the other end of the path, she's closer and---”

Steve looked at Barton as he held a hand to his ear, listening in on the comm. Barton's comm was turned up so high though, that Steve and Sam could hear Natasha calling out for Darcy. And then the second explosion went off, this one bigger and more powerful. They could see the column of fire through the trees.

Steve took off at a sprint again, but he swore he couldn't feel his heart beating.

_Darcy_ .

He'd left her back at the van, assuming that he was going to go and stop whatever threat there was. Of course it had been a distraction. Hydra didn't do things in a straight-forward manner. His entire brain was consumed with plotting out how to deal with whatever had happened. How would they get medics to them in this remote area? Was Darcy hurt? Had Jane been hurt in an effort to protect her?

_What if she was gone_ ?

Steve was so far into his brain that being lifted off of his feet was a surprise.

“I got you Cap,” Sam grunted. The pack he had put on his back had been unfurled, and metal wings and a propulsion pack that looked like it might have come from Stark's workshops were giving Sam the gift of flight. _Fast_ flight. They were back at the exploded van in moments when Sam put Steve on the ground. He went straight to Sharon, who was trying to sit up.

Steve rushed to the smoldering remains of the van, where he had left his wife and felt a breath of relief go through him when he didn't see any sign of her in the exploded vehicle. She might have run off to find him, to find help.

“ Go, go, someone has Darcy,” Sharon waved off his concern. Steve had gone to Jane, anxious to help her, but had been frozen in fear at Sharon's words. She struggled to her feet and went to Jane, taking over for Steve and pressing against the wound in Jane's shoulder. She looked to Sam and said, “I got a glimpse of metal...the arm, maybe? Or he was wearing metal? I don't know... _** GO ** _ .”

Sam nodded and took off into the sky, looking down and trying to get any view of Darcy or enemies. He circled the sky in ever widening arcs, increasing the radius of his search. Barton had arrived on the scene on the ground, and between barking at JARVIS over the comms to bring some kind of medical assistance, and looking over Natasha's absolutely ruined back, he was scanning the sky to give Wilson some kind of cover.

He saw the small missile in enough time to grab his bow and an arrow, sending a shot off into the sky. He definitely saved Sam's life when the missile exploded fifty feet away from Sam, but the after effects and fiery shrapnel still took Sam out of the sky, wrecking his left wing entirely.

“Shit,” Sam cursed as he fell slowly with hardly any control.

Steve looked to Clint, “What was the origin point of that missile?”

“A mile due East,” Clint pointed, not a bit surprised when Steve took off at a sprint, hands gripping his shield tight. “Dammit, Cap, at least take the comm unit!”

Steve ran in the direction that Clint had pointed, going a mile in about three and a half minutes. He knew he was in the right place, because there were fresh tire tracks and the smell of car exhaust. He followed the tracks and saw that they met with the main road, disappearing on concrete with no sign of a car anywhere. It was pitch-black now, no light, not even the stars that Dr. Foster was so keen on watching were twinkling in the sky.

Steve fell to his knees, the shield dropping and clattering on the ground next to him.

Darcy was well and truly gone.

* * *

The Asset held Darcy close, his metal hand on her wrist, feeling the steady, healthy strumming of her pulse. He surveyed her injuries closely. There had been a cut on her forearm that had concerned him when he had retrieved her from the clutches of the enemy, but to his relief it had already begun to heal, scabbed over and looking much less serious than it had fifteen minutes ago.

His eyes were drawn to the locket once more, his flesh hand going to it and unclasping it from her neck. He knew the locket. He wondered if he had given it to her in the past, but had forgotten. That didn't seem likely, but he looked down on it happily anyway. It was a nice feeling to have something so innocuous as a locket bring back a ghost of a feeling. Not quite a memory, but it was good anyway.

The locket was humorous to him and he didn't understand why. There were times when things like that happened to the Asset. A wisp of a sense memory would give him pause, but it was usually quickly shrugged off.

He smiled down at her left hand, seeing the silver ring there that he had gotten her. He had a matching one on a chain around his neck. He never bothered wearing it on his left ring finger, as it would have blended in with the metal regardless. So he kept it by his heart, which belonged to the unconscious woman in his arms.

They arrived at a facility in a short amount of time, heading underground through a tunnel, and arriving in a garage where a full team of handlers and medics were waiting.

“Asset, report,” the new handler asked him, his neck in some kind of brace from the attack earlier.

“My girl is hurt,” the Asset nodded, exiting the vehicle carefully, cradling Darcy delicately in his arms. A gurney arrived for Darcy and the Asset shook his head, clearly wanting to take her to get help by himself.

“She needs medical attention,” the new handler said softly. “And you need to debrief. When you are finished, she will be brought to you.”

“This is not a request, Asset,” Pierce's voice echoed from down the hall, seeing that his assassin was in no way convinced to give up the girl in his arms. “Don't put her safety at risk.”

The Asset flinched at that. There was something there, in the programming. Compliance to the handlers would ensure Darcy's safety. He placed her gently on the gurney, bending and pressing his lips to her forehead, ignorant of the way that small sign of affection had most of the Hydra staff around him shifting uncomfortably.

They had never seen the Asset show any emotion besides pain.

Pierce watched as Darcy was wheeled away and the Asset marched off to be debriefed with a scowl on his face. Pierce nodded at the new handler, before following the gurney, watching as Darcy Lewis, the answer to all of his problems was wheeled into a medical room. He watched as her scrapes were cleaned and bandaged. He watched as a mild sedative was administered after she had almost regained consciousness when a piece of shrapnel was pulled out of her calf.

And he watched avidly as the medical unit removed her birth control implant. His eyes twitching just slightly as he watched the small incision barely bleed, the cut healing at a very fast pace. That healing factor was very familiar to him. He gestured to a medical tech.

“Test her blood for traces of the serum,” he ordered. They had never known if the effects of the serum were transmitted through sexual contact. His Asset had never wanted to test the theory.

  
  


He would have to.

Darcy Lewis would be the answer to all of his problems. She would provide Hydra with new Assets, so that world order could be kept for the foreseeable future.

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Three: I Can't Help But Notice that Awesome Ends with Me and Ugly Starts with You **

* * *

* * *

“ Capsicle... _ Steve _ . C'mon, man, STEVE!”

Steve felt strong hands on his shoulder, shaking him out of his stupor. He blinked and looked around in startled confusion, feeling the panic starting.

“Darcy,” he whispered.

His knees were burning and he could feel the gravel of the road biting into his skin through his jeans. He didn't know how long he had been kneeling by the road, how much time had passed since he spiraled into a blank, terrible shock. Sam had warned him that the trauma wouldn't only come through nightmares, that there would be times when he was wide awake and just numb or terrified or trapped. This was one of those times.

“Yeah, Cap, we're going to find her,” Tony was standing in front of him, the visor on the Iron Man suit flipped up. His suit covered hand was still on Steve's shoulder as the taller man rose to his feet. “Foster and Natasha are at a local hospital already. Rhodey and I flew them there. Let's go...we'll head to somewhere we can regroup.”

Steve gently nudged Tony's hand off his shoulder and shook his head.

“C'mon, Cap, this isn't the time to stick to your guns about being upset with us,” Tony sighed. “I won't rest until we find her for you, I promise.”

“It's Hydra,” Steve shook his head. “I know where Hydra is.”

“Steve!” Tony called out to him as Steve began running down the road, intent on getting to a vehicle and presumably rushing to the Triskellion to knock some heads together. Tony sighed and said, “Barton? Steve's gone rogue.  And he's fucking pissed.  Rightfully so.  You may want to warn your boss.”

* * *

The Asset had been ushered into living quarters that he was not familiar with. This was not entirely concerning. He didn't think he had ever been in this facility, so there is no way he would have been familiar with any living quarters.

What was concerning was that he didn't remember having living quarters before Darcy. He knew that at Hydra headquarters, they had a very nice set of quarters that they shared. The picture of it was clear in his head. A lovely bed, just firm enough with a ridiculous amount of blankets that Darcy liked to wrap herself up in when he was on missions. There was a kitchen, and the Asset knew he had spent countless hours just watching his girl put together all sorts of nice things to eat. There were books everywhere, dog eared books full of stories they would read aloud to one another, and sketchbooks full of---

No, that wasn't right. He didn't draw and neither did Darcy. Darcy liked to cook and listen to music. The Asset liked to eat whatever Darcy cooked and make love to Darcy and do whatever Darcy wanted him to do.

He liked to dance.

_ You're a great dancer, pal. _

No. That wasn't right either.

The door to their temporary quarters opened, and Darcy was carried in on a small stretcher by two medics. They took her straight into the bedroom and deposited her on the bed.

“She'll be fine,” Pierce assured him from the door. “She's tired, and her body is recuperating from the stress of being taken away from you. Go to her. Make her feel safe.”

The Asset nodded and watched as Pierce and the medics left. He waited until the door was closed before looking around the room, wondering what he could do to ensure that it would stay closed and kept them out. He would have to think about it more, he was sure there was a way to jam Hydra's lock system, but he had more pressing matters.

He walked back to their bedroom and found his face stretching to accommodate the fond smile that spread across his lips. It felt foreign on his face, but not in a bad way. It felt like an expression that he used to do a lot, but had not done recently. She was changed into a set of her pajamas. Little shorts and an oversized t-shirt, soft and gray and emblazoned with a cartoon picture of that hammer she liked so much.  _ Thor..  _ He'd never met the man, but Darcy knew him and Darcy liked him and trusted him.  _ Doctor Jane Foster _ . Darcy's closest friend and who she had worked for before she married him. He remembered all sorts of little details about Darcy's life that she had told him, but he couldn't remember that light and airy feeling of joy at seeing her safe and sleeping in their bed.

He removed his own shirt and boots and eased down on the bed. He furrowed his brow in concern as she wriggled in her sleep, bandaged arms going out to reach for something that wasn't there. Whatever dream she was having took a turn when she couldn't grasp what she wanted, and she got sad and frustrated, small little whimpers of discontent falling from her lips.

_ She wants...oh...she needs you. You know. To hold her. Don't do it. You don't know how to hold a dame proper anymore. _

The Asset furrowed his brow at the sheepish, embarrassed, timid voice in his head. It sounded like a blushing, stammering virgin was running a commentary in his brain. The voice was ignored in the field and any other situation, so the Asset would continue to ignore the voice now. He lay back on the bed, inching closer to her and reaching for Darcy to hold her close.

_ Oh! That feels real nice. She's soft all over. _

She was small in his arms, so fragile and delicate. But as soon as she grasped his solid, flesh arm, she was on top of him, her legs straddling his waist, her head buried in the crook of his neck. Her arms went around him, little hands squeezing between his back and the mattress, one hand on flesh, the other on ridges of metal. She didn't seem to mind the metal, burrowing into his body as his arms banded around her and held her close.  He thought about retrieving the locket he had taken off of her earlier on the journey to the facility.  It was safe in his pocket and would look so pretty around her neck, but he didn't really feel like moving his arms as the weight of her settled onto his chest, bringing him so much warmth and bone crushing contentment.

“ _ Steee _ ”  she murmured in her trauma and painkiller infused sleep. “Lo'you.”

“Hush now, Angel. Sleep,” he whispered soothingly against the dark curls that smelled like her shampoo. He looked down at her, taking inventory of her bandages to the injuries he had previously inspected on her. There was a bandage he didn't expect on her upper right arm. A small one, and he didn't see any bruising as he saw on her calf or on her forearm.

Any further inspection was cut off as pouting lips hit his collarbone and she wiggled against him.

_ Oh god, she wants you to---to make time with her...you can't. She's not in her right mind! _

“No, Darcy, you're hurt,” the Asset held her tighter, stopping her from wriggling against him in her sleep. “Sleep.”

“Love you...love you,” she babbled.

“I love you too, Angel,” the Asset whispered, pressing his lips to her temple, and taking a deep breath of satisfaction as this seemed to finally calm her. She snored lightly on every exhale and he felt his skin getting wet by her mouth as she drooled. He felt another unfamiliar feeling on his face as his mouth stretched into a grin.

With the woman he loved pressed tight against him, cuddled to his chest, her light snore providing a lovely lullaby, the Asset had the best night of sleep that he could ever remember.

* * *

"Please tell me you have eyes on him."

Sam huffed out a sigh as he looked out over the rooftop about five miles away from the Triskellion.  He knew that Clint was on the opposite end of the building, keeping a marginally better watch.  A man doesn't get the codename Hawkeye for nothing.  It was now early morning after the night that Darcy had been taken. She'd been gone less than ten hours.

"Falcon, report, now."

"Look Widow, you are supposed to be blissed out on painkillers right now.  Heads up?  I don't report to you," Sam reminded her, fiddling with the wing pack that Tony had repaired on the fly.  "Now hit the button on the IV and pass the fuck out already."

"I'm not leaving this to the high fliers and Clint to mess up," Natasha said resolutely.  She was confined to a hospital bed, flat out on her stomach due to the already healing lacerations and burns on her back, a laptop and Starkpad in front of her as she ran the ops on Steve retrieval and kept her eye on what JARVIS was sending her regarding surveillance on the suspected Hydra bases they had in the system.  

"I just don't understand how a man who is physically as broad as a barn and drives for absolute shit can hide from us," Tony grumbled, flying along the roadways, trying to spot the last car that Steve had stolen from a roadside diner.  He was smart about the grand theft auto, switching out the cars every fifty miles or so, all the better to shake his numerous followers. “JARVIS, how have you not found him yet?”

“Still searching, Sir.”

"I don't understand why we're not helping Steve shake down everyone in that building," Jane chimed in.

"Who gave you a access to the comm units, Foster?" Tony squawked.  "You and Darcy aren't allowed access to the comm units after that time you made Barton fall off a building laughing."

"She's my best friend, you moron, and I'm the only one Steve trusts besides Sam, remember?" Jane sneered at him haughtily.  "Besides, I'm high on vicodin and bored out of my skull and the only person who could possibly amuse me in such a state got stolen right out from under me.  I demand entertainment, peasants."

"Yikes," Clint laughed.  "Future queen of Asgard, everybody."

Jane's gunshot wound had been clean through the top of her right shoulder and she had been deemed stable moments after arriving at the hospital.  Sharon had a dislocated shoulder, but had escaped any other injury.  Happy had a concussion the size of Montana.  Natasha had had the worst injuries, but her own slightly super healing was already taking care of it and she had no use for the painkillers that Jane obviously was enjoying.

"Someone needs to take me back out to that field," Jane ordered.

"Ye--ouch, Foster," Tony cringed.  "Your best friend just got taken by Hydra and her husband is on a hopefully not too murderous rampage.  I'm all for rubbing the lovely lady that is Science all over my face at all hours of the day, but have some compassion."

"Fuck you, Stark," Jane grumbled at him.  "I need to get back out there so that I can call Thor down here.  Steve is going to need help from someone he TRUSTS. And no offense, Sam, you're going to help Steve plenty, but I don't think you're going to be enough to take down the evil Nazis."

"I'm not offended.  I'm eager to get your tall, blond, studly Norse God down here," Sam agreed.  "But you should recuperate, because if he sees you hurting, we're going to have two tall, blond and studlies trying to burn the world down."

"Hey Carter, you sure you're dating Wilson?" Clint wondered.  "I mean, you've got the blonde part down, but you're not exactly tall and studly.  Maybe you're just not his type."

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD."

"Shit, Foster? What?" Tony demanded, stopping in mid-air and rushing off in reverse to the hospital.  The astrophysicist was screaming her head off, as if she were under attack.  

Natasha was out of her bed with speed that belied the wounds on her back and ran towards the other end of the hospital, thinking that Hydra had come back for Jane now that they had Darcy.  Tony wasn't too far away, flying by the windows of the building, on the same path towards Jane's room.  

When they got there, they were surprised to see that she was just looking down at her phone calmly.  

"What in the hell?" Tony demanded from outside her window.  

"Oh, Steve said he needed a distraction," Jane waved her phone. Sam snorted over the comms. "I gave him one."

"SHIT," Clint shouted over the comms.  "Guys,  _ guys _ , spotted him."

* * *

The Triskellion never saw that eighteen-wheeler coming.

Thankfully, it was very early in the morning at that point, and the lobby was clear of pedestrian traffic.  Steve drove the super large vehicle through the security gates and was through the windows of the lobby in the blink of an eye.  He couldn't have possibly planned the trailer of the vehicle toppling as he forcibly stopped the vehicle against solid wall.  But he had hoped for some kind of explosion, and had not been disappointed as he jumped from the vehicle, shield in hand, the engine sparked, igniting a puddle of gas from the crumpled truck.

"Damn," the security guard hissed from where he had ducked for cover.  He got on the walkie talkie and said, "You may want to send Strike down here, we have a very pissed off Captain America in the lobby and I don't think he has an appointment."

Steve didn't have an appointment, but he stalked through Shield's halls anyway, giving one look of simmering anger towards the night guard who held up his hands and backed away.  He made it to the floor that Fury's office was on and saw that the man was already there, or had never left from the night before.

"I'm going to ask you this once, Director Fury," Steve said with surprising softness.  "Who do you suspect in your organization is the highest on Hydra's food chain?"

"Alexander Pierce," Fury answered easily.  He held his hands up in the air and admitted, "Captain Rogers, Pierce has had an unhealthy level of interest in your match with Darcy Lewis since we learned of it.  Especially Darcy.  I am almost certain he's made a play for her tonight."

"For what?" Steve growled.

"That I don't know, but Cap...you know it's not good," Fury let out a heavy breath as he watched the worry play over Steve's face, stealing away from his anger for brief moments.

"Where's Pierce?" Steve demanded.

"My best guess is that he's wherever Darcy is," Fury nodded.  "I'm willing to forgive you destroying my lobby downstairs, I realize that you're very upset and have every right to be.  But let's calm down and figure out a way to get Darcy Lewis back to you."

Steve sent the shield flying, and Fury barely ducked before it shattered the glass of his office walls behind him.  By the time Fury had stood upright again, Steve was on top of him gripping him by the lapels of his coat and glaring down at him.

"Her name is Darcy Lewis-Rogers and she is my wife.  Don't think for a second I trust you, because I don't," Steve snarled.  "The fact that you'd rather sit in this building and work with someone you know is doing something wrong is disgusting to me.  You and Natasha and all of Shield are playing your spy games all the while Hydra is getting stronger and doing whatever it pleases right under your noses.  You've had two months to do something about them and you did nothing, Fury."

"And you built a damned wall around you and your wife thinking it would keep you safe, but all it did was keep the people who could help you away," Fury nodded.  "We all do things a little differently when our world has crumbled, Cap.  I was trying to salvage mine without burning Shield to the ground."

"And my wife is paying the price for you trying to salvage your spy sandbox," Steve accused, he pushed Fury backwards, then bent to pick up his Shield.  "I want Pierce's address.  Now."

"Rogers, you can't go running in and smacking your shield against people's heads," Fury sighed.  "Especially not Pierce."

"You'd be amazed at what smacking the shield upside a person's head will result in," Steve promised.  "Would you like a demonstration, Director?"

"Steve!" Sam's voice echoed down the hallway.  "Come on man, time to go collect the rest of your team."

"You have a team?" Fury blinked once as Steve only glared at him in response.

"Yeah, full of people I can actually trust this time," Steve nodded.  And they would help him bring the most important member of the team back. His wife.

* * *

The Asset could not remember having ever woken up to such a warm, lovely feeling.  Which was odd, because he knew that he had spent many nights with Darcy in bed.  But she was clutched to his chest, her hands under his back, one hand on flesh, one hand on metal.  His own arms were wrapped around her, his hands spread out over her back.  She was straddling his body and she had inched her way up his body through the night, her mouth was against his jaw, her eyelashes kissing his cheek.

_ Is this always going to feel so nice? She's so soft and warm. How'd a jerk like you convince her to be yours? _

He should be able to remember this feeling.  This bone crushing contentment that made everything that was dark and harsh and violent melt away and just leave him with the feeling of lovely breasts smashed into his chest, a soft splash of skin between her shirt and her shorts under his fingertips and the feel of her breath against his skin, the little vibration of her snore on every inhale.

How could he ever forget such a feeling?

He would remember the feeling of her waking up, wriggling ever so slightly against his hold, the way in which she was laying pressing her lovely heat against his hard length.  He couldn't help a groan escaping his throat.  He should be able to remember this feeling.  This desire and want and need for her.  It was overwhelming and all consuming.  He looked down at her, wondering if she was healed enough from her injuries to indulge him a little.  He felt like he needed her so badly.

"Mmmphh," she moaned in her sleep, her lips moving against his neck.  "...bad dream. G'morning, Cutie."

He smiled as she brought her lips clumsily and messily towards his, her eyes still shut and encrusted with sleep.  He was suddenly experiencing a malfunction.  His heart was hammering as those pouty lips pressed against his.  His arms tightened around her and he flipped her on the bed, hovering above her and licking into her mouth and pressing himself into the warmth at the apex of her thighs.  She giggled into the kiss and returned it with fervor, her hips rolling and making his entire body shudder.

"Angel," he groaned against her lips before kissing her again.

Darcy furrowed her brow.  That was a new cutsie pet name.  And Steve sounded different.  And he just did something very different and new with his tongue in her mouth that she was far from complaining about, but still.  Different.  The entire kiss felt different, just a little off, like it was the mirror image of the way Steve usually kissed.  The same, but inverted.  Her hands went for the beard on his jaw, intent on scratching it until he was twitching with need and she froze at the feeling of stubble instead of the lovely beard Steve had grown over the last few months.

Bucky watched as her eyes blinked open, a confused look on her face.  He took one quick sip of her lips and gave her a soft smile.

"Good morning, Angel."

Darcy's eyes went wide and she stiffened underneath him. He could feel her panic radiating off of her and see the sudden fear in her eyes.

"What's the matter, Darcy?  Are you hurting?  I'll ask the handlers for medication for you."

Darcy got a better view of his face as he pulled up on his elbows to look down at her in genuine concern.  His left arm was entirely comprised of metal, and it looked like it was rooted into his body at the shoulder, angry scars slashed across his skin. Yeah, that wasn't her husband, but it was a familiar face.  An impossibly familiar face.  

"Angel?" he questioned.

"... _ Bucky _ ?"

* * *

* * *

  **Chapter Four: I Would Love to Insult You, But I'm Afraid I Won't Do As Well As Nature Did**

* * *

* * *

“Bucky...how are you, what are you...” Darcy was gasping for breath, staring up at Bucky's look of genuine concern with nothing short of bone crushing fear and panic. She reached out and touched the metal of his arm with gentle fingertips, blinking as the metal seemed to shift and hum at the touch. “Am I dead? Is this---is this heaven?”

“Darcy, no, you're not dead,” the Asset shook his head. The idea that she thought he was an angel made the voice in his head crack up in laughter and he had to admit he agreed with it. He was no angel. He leaned down to brush his lips against hers again and frowned when she tensed so hard she might as well have been stone beneath him. “Angel? What's wrong?”

“Bucky, what's going on?” Darcy whispered, shifting and cringing when she felt Bucky's erection hard against her. Tears fell out of her eyes, uncontrollable and unending. Steve would forgive her for kissing Bucky, she knew that. He would hold her in his arms and soothe her and tell her there was nothing to forgive. She hadn't done anything wrong. She was dizzy and hurting and the last thing she could remember was Jane crumpling to the ground and then being thrown off of her own feet. Her voice was small and full of pain as she asked, “Where am I?”

The Asset eased off of her and sat on the bed, never breaking his stare away from her. She was  _ terrified _ . All he wanted to do was soothe her, but he had the feeling that he was making things worse.

_ Do something. Anything. I can't stand to see such a sweetheart crying like that. _

He held out his metal hand and quickly pulled her off the bed, cradling her in his arms, pushing her head against his neck. The physical contact was innocent and meant for comfort, and the tensing of her body eased after a few minutes of gently rocking her.

“Why are you calling me that?” he asked quietly, his flesh hand stroking at her hair.

“Bucky? That—that's your name,” Darcy sniffled. Something was seriously wrong if he couldn't remember his own name. “Where are we?”

“Living quarters at an undisclosed facility. Someone took you, I retrieved you,” he reported brusquely. His eyes melted into confusion and his lips pouted before he asked, “What the hell kind of a name is Bucky?”

“It's a nickname. Your full name is James Buchanan Barnes,” Darcy informed him. Her hand went to her chest and she frowned when she didn't find the locket right there. Her wedding ring was still on her finger, but the locket was gone. “My...my locket. Someone took my locket.”

“ Right here, Angel,” Bucky said softly, shifting on the bed and pulling her locket from his pocket. He smiled as she went nearly boneless with relief in his arms. “I know this locket. It's... _ funny _ . Why is it funny?”

“Steve stole it by accident,” Darcy nodded, taking it from his hands with her own trembling fingers. She managed to open the locket and showed him the picture inside of Steve. It was newer, and he had a beard, but he was still recognizable. “This is Steve Rogers. Do you remember him?”

_ Hey. That's me. I'm handsome now. Wow. I bet the girls come chasing me instead of you, jerk. _

Bucky shook his head no, and then stopped, furrowing his brow.

“He used to be smaller,” Bucky whispered. Suddenly the voice inside his head had a form, a slight, small form, shoulders slumped, with a handsome face where the nose was slightly too big in an appealing and interesting way. He could see big blue eyes, expressive and so often exhibiting shyness and defiance in a single glare.

“He did,” Darcy nodded, her eyes lighting up in immediate relief. Bucky clearly didn't remember a lot of what happened in the past. She looked to the metal arm again and reached out and touched it, wondering when it had happened, who had given it to him. “We have to find Steve. Let's...let's go find him together.”

“Can't, Angel,” Bucky shook his head. “We're...that's not a part of the mission. The handlers won't allow it.”

“Handlers?” Darcy wrinkled her nose in distaste. “Why won't they let us go? Who has us here? Is it---is it Hydra?”

Bucky nodded stiffly, looking around the room, wondering if it had bugs in it. He should have taken the time to check the night before, but the call of his girl in a comfortable warm bed had been more powerful.

“Bucky, we have to get out of here,” Darcy whispered, her words wouldn't have been heard if not for the serum enhanced hearing. “We have to go find Steve.”

Bucky's arms gripped her a little tighter and a muscle in his jaw ticked as he looked down at the familiar, but not familiar man in the locket.

“Why?” he asked gruffly.

“Because, Steve's...Steve's your best friend. He'll be worried, he...he's been missing you a long time,” Darcy revealed.

“Why's he in your locket?” Bucky demanded, his voice a hollow sound.

“Because...because he's my husband.”

_ I'm her what now? _

* * *

“Jane, are you sure you're okay to be out here? Darcy'll smack me if you wind up hurt,” Steve said softly as the astrophysicist directed Sharon and Sam around with her equipment. Yes, it was incredibly important to have the rest of his team assembled, but Darcy really would put the hurt on him if Jane was not standing when he brought her back to them.

  
  


Because he would bring her back. His transportation was being delivered to their spot in the fields were Darcy was taken. His teammates had really come through.

“JARVIS?” Jane questioned.

“Your preloaded calculations indicate that you will be able to try to open the bridge in approximately ten hours,” JARVIS relayed over the comm units that Steve's team was using.

He really had assembled a hell of a team.

Jane was brilliant and was avidly working at getting Thor back on Earth so that he could assist. She would then go immediately to work on developing her perfect weapon. She had stolen the idea from Black Widow's effective little widow bites and she was nearly sixty-percent complete and ready to test. The little discs could be thrown to land around an offensive object or person and a vocal command through JARVIS would activate Jane's portal computers, if she could get the bridge up and running, and the offensive object or person would wind up in Hel. Literally.

“As soon as everything is set up, I'll take more vicodin and nap in the van,” Jane promised.

“No need,” Rhodey announced over the comm units. He pulled a nice looking RV camper that was towing a small, serviceable nondescript sedan and was followed by a large pickup. “Pepper had a really great bed installed in the back of Team Freedom's camper.”

“Great,” Steve took a steadying breath as Pepper stepped out of the pickup truck, giving him a sympathetic smile and nodding at him.

Rhodey and Pepper hadn't been involved in the Resistance faction according to Sam. And they had approached him about wanting to help six weeks ago, swearing that they weren't reporting back to Tony. It was all agreed upon that Tony might have even suggested to them to go to Steve and offer help that the stubborn man was unwilling to take from him.

“The coordinates that Director Fury provided are downloaded into the truck, Captain Rogers. I would suggest the truck due to some rocky terrain in getting to Pierce's residence,” JARVIS announced over the comms.

“Thanks JARVIS,” Steve huffed, walking towards Pepper, who held out the keys.

JARVIS had been Darcy's idea and all of her hard work. She had spent days rewriting code, breaking into Tony's servers with Tony none the wiser. JARVIS himself had proven to be easier to crack and had even helped her to rewrite some of the code. JARVIS would always provide Steve with cover and smoke screens, allowing him to move about and not have Tony and Natasha watching his every move. His girl had given him the most important team member so far in the Artificial Intelligence system. And Jane would be bringing the next most important piece. A connection to the Asgardians who could bring the firepower. Firepower that they would undoubtedly need in order to get Darcy back.

Steve wasn't waiting ten hours though. He has plenty of other things to do.

“Steve. I want you to know that I'm here for you,” Pepper insisted as Steve took the keys. “But please, consider using Tony and Natasha. They only want what is best for Darcy.”

“I know, Pepper,” Steve nodded. He gave her a small smile and said, “They are helping and they don't even know it. They're giving Hydra an awfully good distraction. And I'm sure Tony will figure out where we are in no time. Just...if he's here when Jane's working, and annoys her, it's going to set the timetable back.  JARVIS will lead Tony back here when Jane needs him.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that you're kind of a troll?” Pepper wondered as Steve got into the car.

“Darcy says I'm her favorite troll,” Steve's lips folded inward in an aborted smile as he started the engine.

“Go and bring her home,” Pepper smiled. “We need her.”

“Yeah. We do.”

* * *

“He's not here, Tash,” Clint grumbled as they stood outside in the shadows surrounding Alexander Pierce's ridiculous suburban home. “Neither of them are here, and you're not fully healed. You should be back at the hospital.”

Natasha gave the archer a glare before she went back to watching the darkened house of Alexander Pierce like a hawk.

“Steve knows better than to come here, honestly,” Clint shook his head. “If I were an asshole Nazi that got my hands on Captain America's wife, I wouldn't go back home at the end of the day. Or...the very early morning. I'd be you know, locked up in my secret lair, torturing Captain America's wife.”

“ Shut your mouth, Barton,” Natasha growled. The idea that Darcy was being tortured was unbearable. She wished that Steve would drop the whole trust issue and just let her  _ help  _ him bring her back. This was a worst case scenario, and they needed to stop being so fractured in order to get Darcy back before Hydra could do whatever it was they needed Darcy so badly for.

“Captain Rogers is approaching the house from the other side,” JARVIS announced over the comms.

The security alarms started blaring and the sound of gun fire came through. Natasha and Clint were off at a tear, rushing toward the house. Clint had an arrow and let it fly on the run, busting through the large plate glass windows framing Pierce's kitchen. Natasha was up and over the stone patio, as if she had not just been in an explosion ten hours earlier.

When they arrived inside the house, it was still decidedly Steve-less and Pierce-less. What there was, was a small bot, with a large speaker, filtering gunshots through it.

“JARVIS?” Natasha demanded through her comm unit.

“Yes, Agent Romanoff?” JARVIS answered.

“Who are you working for?” she asked.

“Tony Stark of course,” JARVIS replied.

Clint huffed an amused laugh. “JARVIS, where do your loyalties lie?”

“With Darcy Marie Lewis-Rogers, Surpreme Ruler of All,” JARVIS answered, just as he was programmed to. The sarcastic but clearly adoring tone was his own inflection though. “But in the event of her absence, my loyalties lie with her next of kin, Captain Rogers.”

“Fucking kid,” Clint shook his head in amusement. He picked up the bot and turned off the speaker. He looked at Natasha and said, “So he's not coming here. Where is he going?”

Natasha took a deep breath, wondering what indeed Steve was up to. She looked out into the night and saw a glimpse of a movement, stealthy and practiced and definitely  _ not  _ Steve. She nodded to Clint and he had an arrow notched and flying through the air in the span of two heartbeats.

They didn't run to the target, pinned fifty yards into the dense growth of trees surrounding Pierce's home. They meandered there at a leisurely pace, so that when they finally got there, the figure dressed in dark tactical gear was breathing heavy and struggling against the arrow pinning his thigh to a tree trunk.

“Fisher,” Clint nodded at the Strike team member who he had never trusted even before the Hydra reveal. Barton never trusted a man who ate his pizza crust first. “We can totally do this the easy way, if you want. You can give us what we need or...”

Clint shrugged and jerked his head to Natasha. The Black Widow was on the enemy in a flash, her hands prying at his mouth, going for the false tooth and the cyanide capsule that Fisher was trying to get to.

“Don't worry, traitor. You'll die,” Natasha promised. “But not until I've gotten what I need.”

Clint took a step back, his eyes on the perimeter, in case the Hydra operative wasn't alone. And he knew Natasha, inside and out. The tone in her voice was unfamiliar to him. He hadn't heard it in so many years. Not since he had brought her in from the cold. This was going to get ugly.

“Where.”

Clint took a deep breath as she punctuated each word with a ruthless twist of the arrow in the man's leg.

“Is.”

Fisher growled out in pain.

“Darcy?”

* * *

+

Steve looked down at the computer, typing ineptly with too big hands. He really missed his wife. She was so much better at computers. Case in point, she had created this program that was suddenly so necessary. Sharon was sitting next to him, peering over at the laptop, her eyes wide with muted amazement at what Darcy had managed to create.

“She really learned from the best,” Sharon shook her head in disbelief.

“Yeah, she knows her stuff,” Steve agreed.

“She's ready to see you now,” the nurse announced.

Steve nodded his thanks and carried the laptop into Peggy's room, followed by Sharon.

“Hi Aunt Peg. How are you today?” Sharon asked warily. She gestured to Steve, “Do you remember Steve?”

“Oh hush, girl, of course I remember Steve,” Peggy waved away Sharon's earnest thoughtfulness and pointed a finger at Steve. “Where is your lovely wife?”

“Peg, I need your help,” Steve said softly. “Darcy was taken from me last night. By Hydra operatives. Alexander Pierce. We think. I don't know where she is, and I don't know how to look for her. But I have a plan, and I need your help.”

“Get me a change of clothes,” Peggy demanded of Sharon as she began to inch her way out of bed. “Bring my file-o-fax and a telephone, and I'll need my guns.”

“Peg, no, you don't need to---to leave,” Steve shook his head. He held up the computer and said, “Darcy made me this program a month ago, in case...in case we ever got into the worst case scenario.”

“I would imagine that her being taken by Nazis is the worst case scenario,” Peggy arched a brow. She gave an impatient look to Sharon again and snapped, “Really, girl, go and get me my files. I have contacts that could help. Also, I'll need a change of clothing that isn't a nightgown.”

Steve nodded at Sharon and then looked to a fretting Peggy, who was clearly rattled and concerned.

“Peggy, I don't know how to tell you this...but. Better to just get it out, I know. Hydra...they've infiltrated Shield, from the very beginning,” Steve revealed. “At last count, Fury thinks that a third of the Shield operatives were Hydra. My guess would be that it's higher.”

“Steve,” Peggy's eyes widened. She shook her head, feeling somehow responsible. She had built Shield with Howard after all. How could they have missed such an infestation?” “I'm so sorry.”

“Don't be, you know as well as I do what those people are capable of,” Steve nodded. “But---they have my wife, Peg...”

Peggy nodded as Steve struggled with his emotions, her hand reaching out for his.  He quickly gave up, his tears quickly gathering in his eyes as his jaw clenched. If he couldn't be transparent and honest in front of his oldest living friend, who could he be honest with?

“I don't---I have to get her back. I don't know what they're going to do her,” Steve took a harsh breath through his nose, his right hand going to his eyes and rubbing as the tears continued to leak out. “I understand why Phillips wouldn't want any of us to be matched now. I---I want to burn the whole damned world down to get her back. I can't...I'll do anything to have her safe in my arms again. I don't care about Shield, or the safety of anyone besides my wife.”

“Steve, what can I do to help you?” Peggy whispered. “I'll light the fuse if you would only ask.”

“They've been hiding. I want to put them in plain sight,” Steve revealed. “The whole world...it's going to be upended...chaos. They won't know what to do with all the spotlights on them. And it'll give me a chance to find her. It means...it means that Shield may not survive though, Peg.”

“Alright,” Peggy nodded. “Tell me what I need to do, Captain.”

* * *

“Bucky?” Darcy whispered, as he stiffened with her still in his arms. She could see the hammering of his pulse in his neck as he looked angrier than she thought any human could look.

“I'm your husband,” Bucky said gruffly.

“What? What---did they tell you that?” Darcy whispered. “Did Hydra tell you that?”

“No....it's...I remember. Don't you remember?” Bucky demanded, his hand going to her face and stroking her cheek. “Did they take that from you? They---they take memories from me too, but they promised they'd never do it to you if I did what they wanted. That they wouldn't hurt you so long as I did what they asked.”

“Bucky...” Darcy shook her head. They had taken memories from him. Her insides twisted at the idea of it. She prayed they wouldn't do that to her.

“Don't you remember?” he repeated desperately. “We got married in that nice little chapel in Vegas. You had daisies and you looked so beautiful in that pretty little white dress. And you promised...you promised you'd be mine and I'd be yours forever. Angel, please, tell me you remember.”

He looked so sad. So desperate. So close to  _ breaking _ .

“ I---I think I do? I'm not sure,” Darcy said softly. He had just described her wedding with Steve. Someone had put the images and the memories into his brain. “Why... _ how  _ did they make me forget?”

“I'm so sorry, Angel, I'm sorry,” Bucky shook his head, his voice cracking with the weight of the pain and the tears. “They said if I did what they want, then they'd never hurt you.”

“Does forgetting hurt?” Darcy whispered, her heart breaking for him. Bucky was impossibly alive and apparently doing Hydra's bidding. The arm that held her was strong and unyielding and shiny silver metal. And obviously, they had made him _forget_ everything too.

“Yes, Darcy, it hurts,” Bucky said miserably. “Worst kind of pain you can imagine, I'm glad you can't remember it.”

“Bucky, please, we have to get out of here,” Darcy begged, her hand going to his right hand that was stroking her cheek. She squeezed gently and swallowed before saying, “I---I don't want to forget anymore, and I don't want them to hurt either of us. We have to get away from Hydra. Can we...how do we get out of here?”

“ I don't know, I've never tried,” Bucky furrowed his brow. Why hadn't he tried? Hydra was bad, he  _ knew  _ that. Why hadn't he tried to get away with Darcy before? “I've failed you, Angel, I'm so sorry.”

“No, no, don't be sorry,” Darcy shook her head. “But let's think okay...we can do this, we can get out of here together.”

“I can't let them hurt you anymore,” Bucky nodded. “I won't. I swear to you, Angel, I'll keep you safe.”

He kissed her then, and Darcy did her very best not to freeze up. It was important to keep him focused and grounded. Steve would understand that kissing may have to happen. And it really was a little like kissing her husband, but inverted. A little itchy thought in the back of her brain came to the forefront and she realized it was because Steve and Bucky learned how to kiss and practiced with  _ each other _ . Her hands went to his face, thumbs running up and down on stubble and he gave a low groan in response.

“Touching.”

Bucky's grip tightened on Darcy again and he looked up, all enjoyment and love and peace leaving his eyes, replaced with anger and hatred and the promise of violence. Darcy looked up and recognized the man as a Shield agent. One of the Shield agents on the lists of possible Hydra agents that Fury insisted on sending Steve bi-weekly. Well, cross Brock Rumlow off the maybe list, here he was, fully Hydra-ing.

_ Get up and punch this guy in the face with your shiny metal fist. Punch him till he can't talk anymore. _

“Before your _man_ starts growling and spitting,” Rumlow shrugged. “He needs to report to programming. And the little wife needs to come with me.”

“No,” Darcy said simply. “I'm not leaving him.”

“Eh, you'll change your mind. Women, am I right?” Rumlow arched a brow at Bucky, who was downright feral at that point. He held up his gun, aimed it straight for Darcy and said, “We could do this the easy way or the bloody way. Your choice.”

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Five: I Know You Are But What Am I? **

* * *

* * *

Bucky went from Darcy's hand stroking gently along the scars on his bare shoulder to having Darcy on the floor on the other side of the bed in a flash, providing her with cover before he pounced, jumping through the air with all the grace and power of a very murderous jungle cat. A strong swipe of his metal arm across Rumlow's jaw and his right going for the gun, pushing it down and out of the man's hands.

He recognized the fear in Rumlow's eyes before the metal fist collided with his face, with more strength than Bucky even knew he had, shattering his jaw and sending him to the floor in a heap of unconsciousness. But he wasn't the only Hydra operative. Three more pressed towards the bedroom door and Bucky did something he couldn't remember doing.

He fought, savagely, bodies crumpling as more and more came pouring into the small apartment and headed with unsteady steps towards the bedroom. He had known violence before, he had enacted it, he remembered that. But there had always been standard orders to follow. He had been given a mission and completed it efficiently.

For the first time, he was fighting without orders now, without a mission plan. It was a foreign sort of feeling. It had been a very long time since he'd done something like that. Fought to protect. Fought without an end goal. Fought only with one person's safety in mind. It was a deadly beautiful dance and Darcy watched in horrified fascination as his hands gripped the head of one of the attackers and definitely _twisted_ it in such a way that the body that fell to the ground wasn't just unconscious. She was used to watching Steve spar and practice and pretend fight during his workouts. He had always been defensive and protective, she'd never seen him going on the attack.

Bucky was poetic and potent in his violence. He didn't wait for the next attacker to come to him, he bounded to the next opportunity taking each one out with cruel and impressive efficiency.  His fighting reminded her of dancing, if dancing were done to the accompanying soundtrack of breaking bones and grunts of pain and distress.  Every muscle in his torso was on display, and they worked in beautiful harmony as he fought to protect her.

She was so transfixed that she didn't realize that a panel in the wall behind her had opened up. She did recognize the firm grip on her shoulder and didn't hesitate in screaming.

The sound of her distress had Bucky looking back at her, giving one of the Hydra thugs the opportunity to let the charge of an electric baton loose against his chest. He stumbled, and sent the offender sailing to the other side of the room in response before he began staggering back to Darcy, who was now wriggling and kicking to get out of their clutches. She slammed her head back into the nose of one of the men trying to wrangle her, dropping to her feet and spinning to send her fist flying into the throat of the closest man.

_Wow. She's a tough little dame. I think I'm in love_ .

“Darcy!” Bucky called out as one of the men trying to take her pulled out a baton and brought it up, setting off an electrical charge against her neck and having her crumple to the floor, she was stunned, but not unconscious, twitching with pain. “DARCY!”

He fought with even more fervor, knocking off the men who were filtering in from behind him, trying to get back to the secret door in the bedroom that Darcy was being dragged through, wounded and unprotected. He was so caught up in trying to recover her that he didn't notice the three tranquilizer darts imbedded into his back, full of such high doses that his steps slowed as he went to the rapidly closing secret panel.

Her muffled scream was the last thing he heard.

“ _** Bucky! ** _ ”

* * *

Darcy was gone for nearly twenty-four hours before Steve got a small window of hope. He had returned to Jane's field and was not surprised to see Bruce and Tony helping her as she started to warm up the equipment that would hopefully bring Thor back down to Earth.

“Look, Capsicle, I'm sorry, alright. Please just...trust me. And give me my Pepper back. And my Rhodey,” Tony said earnestly. “And please for the love of crap, give me back my JARVIS. I know that Darcy did something to get him to follow your orders. And I know I broke your trust, but you know I'm not Shield and I'm sure as shit not Hydra. Just...forgive me and we can bring your wife back. And she can fix my AI.”

“Alright Tony,” Steve gave him the closest thing he could to a smile at the moment. He nodded at Bruce. “Dr. Banner.”

“I really feel like you're punishing me beyond my crime, I mean, when you look at it closely, me not stopping you from going into the system got you this lovely wife we're trying so hard to track down,” Tony continued his argument. “And stealing my entire support team out from under me? Such a low blow Cap.”

“Sorry about that, Tony,” Steve nodded. “But they offered to help. I didn't seek them out.”

“Wait---did you just apologize? What's going on? Am I dying?” Tony looked to Bruce in a panic.

“I realize that I can hold a grudge, far too long,” Steve nodded. “And really, towards the end, I kept it up because Darcy said it made you pretty amusing in your efforts to make things right. She said you were actually behaving at work.”

“ That sneaky little devil,” Tony huffed. He  _ had  _ been on his best behavior for at least two weeks now. He'd even built her a tiny bot that would massage her feet whenever she was in the Tower. He cleared his throat and asked, “What about...Romanoff and Barton?”

“I won't say no to help when it comes to finding her,” Steve said truthfully. “And I realize now that there are bigger enemies than a couple of spies who can't stop themselves from bending the truth to their needs.  They've been helping without knowing it, keeping unfriendly eyes off my tail.”

“Good,” Stark nodded. “If it makes you feel better, I feel the same way about them.”

“It doesn't,” Steve shook his head. “You're supposed to trust the people who have your back.”

“Turning on the machine, if Stark will stop humping Steve's leg and wire that power source up for me,” Jane announced loudly, obviously still a little hopped up on the vicodin she had taken a few hours ago when she woke up from her nap.

Tony hustled to do his work, and ten minutes later, he gave Jane the thumbs up. It was another half hour before the portal device was fully powered and it shot a beam of bright light into the sky. Steve clutched his shield, wishing that Darcy was there to see it. She had always said how amazing the lights in New Mexico had been when Thor had left. She had been eagerly looking forward to his return.

A man in golden armor appeared like a vision in the middle of the beam of light and stared at Jane with a knowing look in his golden eyes. He gave Jane a proud smile and nodded at her.

“You are well, Doctor Jane Foster. Thor will be pleased that you have not been gravely injured in this battle. I am Heimdall, Guard of the Bi-Frost Bridge.”

“Hi,” Jane said breathlessly, a little shell-shocked that it had actually worked. “I can't believe it actually worked.”

“Of course, it did. You are brilliant,” Heimdall assured her.

“Sir...we need assistance,” Steve put in. “I'm Captain Steve Rogers, a friend of Thor's.”

“Aye, Captain. Thor has told a rousing tale of his battles along your side,” Heimdall nodded. “What assistance can I give?”

“My wife, Darcy, has been taken from me against her will,” Steve admitted, not without an internal wince. She was taken and hurt and gone and he was doing everything in his power to get her back, but it was nearly twenty-four hours now and it felt like he was fighting a losing battle. “We'd like to speak to Thor, to see if he would assist in finding her.”

“The Lady Darcy?” Heimdall furrowed his brow. “The young and pure warrior maiden of Midgard who felled Prince Thor with her own ingenious magic lightning?”

“Yes, Lady Darcy,” Steve nodded, a fine tremor going through his hands. It seemed that Thor had told the story as often as Darcy had. “Please, she's in dangerous hands.”

“Nay, she is in friendly hands,” Heimdall shook his head. “Thor has me keep watch over all of his Midgardian friends. I would alert him if something were wrong. My last look at her was a few of your hours ago and she was safe.”

“You've got to be mistaken, Heimdall,” Jane shook her head, as confusion stole over Steve's features. “Please, can you let Thor come to us?”

“Prince Thor is on a quest with the Warriors Three,” Heimdall reported. “He would not be pleased to interrupt it as it is a quest to prove himself worthy of you in the eyes of his people, Doctor Jane Foster.”

“Oh,” Jane's eyes widened. “Well---no, he's got to come help. The quest will have to wait. Steve is about to make life on Earth very difficult for a lot of people, and we'd all feel better if Thor were here to help.”

“Wait---hold on, what do you mean, Darcy is in _friendly_ hands?” Tony demanded, shaking off his shock and amazement at the portal to another world before their eyes. “Darcy has been taken by Hydra. They're _not_ friendly.”

“This is true, I could not obtain her location, she is hidden well, with tricks and ruses that are older than I,” Heimdall nodded. “But even within their grasp, she is protected. By the dearest of friends. A true shield mate to the Captain.”

“Please, could you...just, just tell me where she is!” Steve begged, his desperation sounding angry and sharp as he was very quickly losing his self control. The Asgardian gatekeeper spoke in riddles and it was frustrating.

“Take heed of how you speak to me, Midgardian warrior,” Heimdall warned. “Your shield maiden is safe when last I looked for her, but that is all I can detect. I cannot see her. You ask for miracles that are not possible.”

  
  


“Heimdall, please send Thor as quickly as you could. _Please_ ,” Jane begged. She gestured to her bandaged shoulder and reasoned, “I've been hurt. And if things continue on here as they are, I'll be hurt again.”

“I will have Sif retrieve him,” Heimdall nodded. He turned his golden gaze to Steve again and shook his head. “She is safe, Captain. She is with your shield mate and hers, as the Norns have intended for you all. There is no name to be found, it has been burned from him, but she is safe in his care.”

The mirage dissipated and only the white column of light remained. Steve fell to his knees, the great hope of Asgard, the last remaining piece to being able to enact the rest of his plan seemed impossibly out of reach. Which made Darcy impossibly out of reach.

“Please don't take this the wrong way, Cap, but,” Tony hedged, feeling a little twang of some sort of social nicety hitting him, and wondering where it came from. “You have dear friends? That are alive? That aren't...Peggy Carter?”

“I---I don't know,” Steve breathed heavily, feeling his emotions running rampantly out of control.

“Hey, hey, back off, Stark,” Sam ushered him away, seeing the signs of a panic attack descending on Steve. He waited until Steve got his breathing under control and asked, “Steve. Are you alright?”

“Gotta find her,” Steve barely whispered, his voice small and scared and heartbroken. “They're going to hurt her and it's gonna be my fault, it's cause of me.”

“No, Steve, no,” Sam shook his head, crouching to look Steve in the eye. “This isn't about you.”

“He's right, Steve.”

Steve didn't look up to see the arrival of Clint and Natasha. Not because he was mad at them anymore. His old anger didn't matter any more. The only thing that mattered was finding Darcy. When the Black Widow stood in front of him, staring down at him, he finally looked up at her with such heartbreak that even Natasha took a sharper breath.

“This has never been about you,” Natasha promised him. “Hydra needs Darcy. There's something about an Asset, a human weapon. They need her for him.”

Steve was on his feet in a split second, staring down at Natasha with renewed anger on his face. He didn't have to touch her to be threatening. Clint stood behind Natasha, his fingers itching for his bow.

“What do you know? And how long have you known this?”

“We intercepted a Hydra operative heading to Pierce's house on the way out,” Natasha revealed. “He's been interrogated.”

Clint's jaw ticked at that. Natasha had done the interrogation. She had not followed Shield guidelines to get the answers she needed.

“There's a weapon, Hydra's ultimate weapon. It's a person,” Natasha said. “An assassin that everyone thought was legend. A metal armed man who could kill anyone. They call him the Winter Soldier. Apparently they keep the Asset in cryofreeze. He's been around for decades, since the start of the Cold War. I've had my own run-ins with the man, he's deadly.”

“What---why would they want Darcy?” Steve asked, his blood running cold through his veins, bile rising in his throat. Clint looked sick behind Natasha, and Natasha...behind her hard veneer of professionalism and competence...Natasha was trembling.  Neither of them wanted to tell Steve, but they knew they had to.

“Darcy is the Asset's match. And it's a high percentage. Almost as high as yours with Darcy.  I didn't get the number before the guy...passed out. Steve...”

His entire body shuddered and he turned away from Natasha, choking and gagging as his body bent in half. Darcy was not only taken from him. She was not only in the hands of the enemy. But he knew. He _knew_ what they would want her for. What anyone in this new world of forced marriages and required childbearing he had woken up in would want from a matched man and woman. They would want her to bear this mysterious Asset's children. She would be forced to---she would be raped until she was pregnant and her torture would continue without end as her children would be taken and turned into Hydra's monsters.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hands and turned back to Natasha and Clint.

“Please, I need your help.”

* * *

Darcy's eyes blinked open to a bright, sterile room, strapped to a gurney, gasping for air. She had screamed for Bucky long after being dragged away, long after she had seen him hit the ground, at the mercy of their captors. She had continued screaming until another electrical charge had hit her body and she had succumbed to dark unconsciousness. She struggled against the straps around her wrists and ankles and sent some kind of thank you to the universe that she wasn't gagged.

“Bucky?” she whispered into the room, hoping against hope that they had drug him there to her.

“Interesting.”

She looked to the far right corner of the room and furrowed her brow at the older man, dressed in a smart suit, looking out of place when compared to the Hydra goons that Bucky had fought earlier.

“You must be the asshole in charge,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “Your hair looks like a bad toupee.”

“You called for _Bucky_ before Steve,” Toupee guy smiled at her benevolently. “Matches are a fascinating thing.”

“Logic is a fascinating thing,” Darcy scoffed. “Steve isn't here. Bucky is. Therefore, I called out for the person most likely able to help me by snapping your neck while I watch and desperately wish for popcorn and M&M's.”

“Miss Lewis,” he began.

  
  


“Mrs. Lewis-Rogers,” Darcy corrected him.

“Oh, no, I think we'll stick with Miss Lewis. I can make your marriage to Steve Rogers disappear in the blink of an eye. The officiant and the staff at the wedding chapel were very obliging in giving my team all the information about your wedding,” he shrugged. “It wouldn't take much coercion for them to invalidate your nuptials.”

“Why are you doing this to us?” Darcy demanded angrily.

“Do you feel the pull to Bucky? I've heard that with circumstances such as yours, there is an inexplicable attraction. A draw to each other. I saw the surveillance,” Pierce smiled benevolently. “The affection you freely gave our Asset was probably the only affection the man has received since 1945.”

Darcy took deep, even breaths through her mouth, her eyes clouding over with tears. She knew what this awful asshole was hinting at. She could feel it in her bones.

“Bucky and I are matched,” she whispered.

“99.96 percent,” he looked delighted.

Darcy struggled against her bonds and looked down at her arm. Sure enough, there was a bandage where her implant had been. Her stomach twisted as she realized what Hydra's plan was. Tears slid out of the corners of her eyes and internally she yelled out for Steve. They'd tortured Bucky, probably from the moment he had fallen off of the train in 1945. They'd programmed him to think that she was  _ his  _ wife. God only knows what they were programming him for now.

“There's no use fighting it, Miss Lewis,” he gave her a sympathetic look. She was a stubborn little thing, and he knew it would be much easier to wipe her. Unfortunately, the tests to reveal whether she was under the influence of the serum would take longer than twenty-four hours to come back. If she didn't have it, the wipe could kill her and he'd be back at square one. So the hard way it was. “Think of the torture poor Bucky would feel if you fought it.”

“Fuck you,” Darcy whispered, fighting against her tears.

“It will be easier for all of us if you just do what the match and mother nature want you to do,” he assured her, walking towards the door. He paused and looked back at her. “The Asset is Hydra's greatest resource. You will give birth to its future legacies.”

* * *

* * *

 


	30. Rearranged (2/3)

** Chapter Six: You Bring a Lot of Joy When You Leave the Room **

* * *

* * *

~~The Asset~~ Bucky woke up with a harsh breath and Darcy's name on his lips. He looked around and realized he was in the wipe chair, but the people that were usually witness to the memory wipes weren't there this time. He looked down at his arms, he was strapped in, but it felt looser than normal. The metal wasn't as unyielding. He flexed and his arms were free. He bent over and wrenched the leg restraints off as well and was on his feet, looking around wildly.

Darcy's screams were still echoing in his ears. His heart was hammering in his chest as he wondered how long he had been knocked out for. He hadn't been wiped, that was a definite. The pain of it would have woken him and he doubted after the carnage he caused in their quarters that the handlers would have let him keep Darcy in his brain. She'd be wiped out just like...

_ Me. Just like me, Buck _ .

Bucky shook his head and took two steps away from the chair. He had barely finished the thought in his brain that this was turning out a lot easier than he thought it was going to be when the men started storming in, ready to subdue him.

“Where's my wife?” he demanded angrily.

He got no answers, to his question, so he saw no reason not to start physically incapacitating any and all people that got between him and the door. He didn't care if he was killing them or not. They were obstacles in getting to Darcy, and getting to Darcy, protecting her was the only thing that would ever matter for the rest of his life. He was through with the wipes, the compliance, the servitude to Hydra.

For once he was listening to that reckless voice in his brain and was surprised to find that aside from demanding that he fight, it was surprisingly good at telling him the best way to incapacitate the most amount of people with the least amount of work.

_ I was always good at strategy, Buck. It just took a little while for me to get good at execution. _

He fought endlessly, with no care or worry about the violence or bodies piling around him as he made his way from the wipe room. He stalked angrily down the hall, stopping at the open armory, not caring that the hallways were empty. He quickly grabbed a set of knifes and shirt with kevlar coating the torso of it, throwing it on. He grabbed one of the protective black shirts for Darcy as well and tucked it into the waistband of his pants. Handguns were put in the designated holders of his pants and he had shouldered a rifle when he heard the movement behind him.

He turned and shot without warning, the Hydra agent falling dead at his feet.

“Darcy!” Bucky called out as he stalked further down the halls, kicking in doors along the way. He saw a tall, darkened figure down the endless hall, escaping a room hastily. He took aim and the bullet lodged in the side of the man's skull. He sprinted to the room, kicking the dead body out of the way and forcing the door open with the heavy blow of his metal shoulder.

She was strapped to a gurney, still in her pajamas, still bandaged and bruised, but not looking any worse than when he had last seen her. She whimpered and struggled and gave him big tear filled, blue eyes that were saturated with relief.

“Bucky!' she called out, as he rushed towards her, putting the rifle down and making quick and easy work of her restraints. She looked him over and demanded, “Are you alright?”

“ Angel,” Bucky couldn't help the smile on his face. This beautiful girl was knee deep in trouble with the people who had managed to break him and control him and she was asking him if  _ he  _ was alright. “I'm fine, are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

“No, I'm okay,” Darcy assured him. She looked down at the rifle and to the dead body he had left at the door. “We have to get out of here.”

“I know, I'm ready,” Bucky helped her off of the gurney and to her wobbly feet as the blood flow rushed back into her extremities. He pulled the shirt from his waistband and popped it over her head, patiently waiting for her to bring her arms up before pulling it down her body. His lips landed on hers quickly and all too briefly before he pulled away and took a deep breath. His right hand picked up his rifle and his left hand gripped her right one as he began walking for the door, keeping her close and angling his body protectively in front of her.

“Wait,” Darcy whispered at the door, looking down disdainfully at the man who had been in her room moments before. She kicked him so he rolled on his back and she bent down to pick up the electric baton in his hand. “How's this thing work?”

A pack of six Hydra operatives came from one side of the hallway and Bucky began picking them off one by one with the rifle. From the other side, much closer, another operative came rushing at Bucky's blind side, the side Darcy was on. She held out the baton and pressed the button on the bottom and the man fell, twitching to the ground.

“So that's how it works,” she smiled up at Bucky reassuringly. “I can work with this.”

_ I seriously think that I'm in love with your wife, Buck. Sorry _ .

They made their way down the hall once more, heading away from the wipe room and the room Darcy had been in hand in hand. Bucky's eyes were constantly scanning, waiting for the next attack to come and unable to be disappointed when it did not appear. The end of the hallway was a steep ramp down, about one full story and the end of the hallway was a set of double doors with a flat glass access panel next to it.

Bucky pulled up the rifle, intent on shooting it when Darcy squeezed his hand.

“No, wait, I can...let me try something, please?” Darcy wondered.

Bucky smiled down at her and nodded. Darcy was excellent with computers. He knew that. He gestured towards the access panel and turned his body to provide her cover.

“This is easier than I thought it would be,” Darcy furrowed her brow before shrugging, not bothering to look a gift horse in the mouth. She made quick work of the security program, getting into the operating system and scoffing when she saw how archaic it was. “Seriously, bargain basement programming.”

She squeaked when Bucky let a rifle shot go, hitting a lone Hydra agent heading their way from far down the hall.

“How's it going there, Angel?” Bucky wondered. “You about finished there?”

_ Don't be an ass and rush the lady, Buck. She's doing her best. _

“Don't rush me, Bucky. I'm doing my fucking best here,” Darcy mumbled. “This operating system is a lot slower than Stark's.”

_ She knows Howard? _

Bucky furrowed his brow, wondering who Howard was, but Darcy's delighted cackle stopped his thought process as the big metal doors began to open behind him. He spun to survey what was beyond the doors, thankful that it was a large room, full of vehicles, but blissfully empty of the enemy. He turned back to the long hallway and sure enough, more men were rushing towards them, these were armed with firearms and not just the baton that Darcy picked up from the floor and clutched in her hand.

“We're going to get out of here,” Darcy breathed out, looking into the garage full of cars, looking at the row closest to the garage door, picking out a small armored jeep, not unlike the one she and Steve had used to escape New York City at the beginning of their adventure a few months ago.

“Darcy, how quick can you get that door open?” Bucky asked, taking aim and picking off the advancing enemy one by one. He felt a strong sense memory, the recoil of the rifle making him think of another time he had done this. Giving someone else valuable time and safety while they worked to defeat Hydra.

_ Me, Buck. You protected me. Remember? _

“Three minutes,” Darcy promised, going to the other side of the door and working at the panel there. She began to close the door that left them exposed to all the people that desperately wanted to keep them there, managing to get it almost completely closed before someone else tried to take control, leaving the door open less than eight inches.

It was enough to be dangerous and Bucky positioned himself carefully so that he could keep taking out those that kept advancing while Darcy went to work on the door leading to their freedom. The sound of the rusting metal of the outer door began creaking and groaning as it slowly opened.

“Yes!” she squealed in excitement, looking to Bucky with a big grin and holding up her hand for a high five. He only looked at her in bemused puzzlement so she shrugged and patted her hand on his shoulder. “Okay, keys...if I were an evil asshole Nazi, where would I leave keys to a fleet of hopefully bulletproof vehicles?”

“Angel, we gotta hurry,” Bucky let off a few shots and stepped away from the door. “They ain't gonna let us leave easy.”

Darcy smiled at the old slant of his words. He sounded like Steve did when Steve got super tired, usually right after they had gone a couple of rounds and he was feeling extra sluggish. She frowned and looked at Bucky curiously.

“You're not sleepy, are you?”

“Not even a little bit,” Bucky looked at her with slight confusion. His adrenaline was spiked so high, he didn't know how to deal with it. No mission had felt like this before. He was _excited_ and _happy_ as freedom seemed so close. He didn't know why his mouth had formed the words the way they did, but it felt familiar and right, like pulling on a comfortable jacket and going for a stroll. He felt _good_.

He followed her to the car she had chosen and she looked in and jumped up and down in an excited little dance that had him grinning from ear to ear.

“Of course they have the keys in the car. All the better to save time when they have to run out and be heinous dickboxes,” Darcy cackled. She opened the drivers side door and Bucky shrugged, walking to the passenger side to climb in.

He hadn't been programmed to drive. He didn't think he knew how.

_ Why drive when you can grab a trolley for a nickel? _

A volley of gunfire burst into the garage as Darcy brought the car to life and immediately went about adjusting the seat and the steering wheel and the mirrors with patience and care. Bucky returned fire with a healthy amount of annoyed anger until Darcy yelled at him from the car,

“Come on slowpoke! Get in the fucking car! It's vroomvroom Darcy driving time!”

Bucky laughed even as he felt a sting hit his right bicep. He hopped into the car and slammed his door shut and Darcy pointed at his seatbelt patiently. The moment he had himself strapped in, Darcy was off like a rocket, her barefoot slamming down on the gas pedal and pushing the car to a ridiculous speed as soon as it cleared the garage doors. She was off at a tear into the night, following the gravel road to a set of security gates about two miles away from the facility.

“Man, I wish I had my ipod,” Darcy sighed. Steve had gotten her a new one shortly after they had returned home, but it had been plugged into the van's auxiliary cord the night it had exploded. “This moment deserves a soundtrack. In my head, I'm going to go with _Tick Tick Boom_ from the Hives. And like, when we hit those gates is when the music really kicks.”

Bucky gave her a confused, but still delightfully enraptured look at her as she effortlessly handled the vehicle down the road.

“Aaaaand you have no idea what I'm talking about,” Darcy giggled. “Seriously, how do these matches work? I mean neither of you have any idea about anything related to music and that's like...number one in my book dude.”

“I'll learn about music for you, Angel,” Bucky promised with an old, easy, charming grin.

_ You just made her blush. How do you do stuff like that? _

“Oh, they're on their way,” Darcy looked in the rearview, seeing five cars rushing out of the facility they had just escaped from. She pushed the vehicle impossibly faster even as Bucky turned in his seat and took aim with his rifle. “Bucky, honey, the windows are bulletproof, I'm sure. Just let me handle this.”

“Hold on,” Darcy warned as she neared the gates, honking the horn at the Hydra agents lined up with gun pointed at them. She grinned a little, the expression making her whole face light up as she pushed the car faster still, thousands of pounds of metal and horsepower in her control as she careened towards their captors, no sign of slowing or mercy.

_ Gosh, she's so beautiful. _

Bucky had to agree with the voice in his head... _ Steve _ . Steve was in his head. A small, beguiled, shy Steve, who jumped head first into dangerous situations and let his smart mouth write checks that his body couldn't cash. He had loved Steve. He was sure of it suddenly.

_Geez, Buck. You know I loved you too. Shut up about it already_ _and pay attention to the looker saving you right now_.

The smart Hydra agents scattered from their path as Darcy laid on the horn. They were going over 100 miles per hour, hitting any of the idiots that remained would have surely killed them. Bucky could see those pretty eyes squinting with anxiety as she continued to honk the horn. His metal arm punched his window and he aimed the rifle quickly and efficiently, taking down the handful that had been stupid enough to stay standing, sparing their blood from Darcy's hands.

She made a thankful sound before jerking the wheel to avoid the bodies and sending the car into a tight spin, breaking through the metal and chain link of the fence and spinning out into the darkened night. She quickly regained control of the car again taking the concrete path leading away from the facility. The path began to wind and curve, dip and fall, and Darcy handled the car beautifully, tapping the brakes before a wide curve and accelerating straight through the turns.

Only two cars had caught up to her at that point and she nodded at Bucky.

“Hold on,” she smiled softly.

The car directly behind her, a small, sporty little vehicle, was going faster than her. She waited until she was right up on a curve before slamming on the brakes and twisting the wheel. Suddenly they were spinning, the fast car zooming past them and veering off the road uncontrollably, crashing against a large tree in a terrifying din of crushed metal and splintering wood.

Darcy and Bucky's car was facing the opposite direction now, driving straight back towards the facility and the other car that had caught up to them.

“Angel?” Bucky questioned as Darcy drove straight at the other car, picking up speed quickly. “Darcy?”

She hit the brakes just as the other car swerved and Bucky let out an explosive laugh as the other car toppled end over end. She took the Jeep easily off road then, rushing through the sparse forest, dodging trees with ease.

“We have to ditch the car,” Darcy told him. “They probably have a tracker in it.”

“Sounds about right,” Bucky nodded. He was certain that he could navigate them through the wilderness towards civilization. Towards safety.

_ Towards me. I'm big and strong and scary now, apparently _ .

Darcy drove into the forest as far as she could, before the trees became so dense that further movement became impossible. She put the car in park and took a deep, happy breath.

“I'm a great driver, feel free to heap praise upon me,” Darcy encouraged him with a smile.

_ You're so pretty and smart and really good at punching and there should be picture shows about how good you are at driving... _

“Praise isn't the only thing I want to give you, Angel,” Bucky looked at her with suddenly desirous eyes. “That was the sexiest damned thing I ever saw.”

“Oh...I hear that from all the Brooklyn boys,” Darcy winked at him before hopping out of the car. “Let's go, honey. Onward to civilization!”

They walked through the night for two solid hours, before suddenly Bucky stumbled. Darcy looked back at him in concern and realized that she was outpacing him.

“You okay?” she wondered.

“Dizzy,” Bucky nodded. He looked down at his right hand and noticed the blood dripping down it. Further inspection showed that he had been shot, and from what he could tell, the slug was still imbedded in the muscle.

“Jesus Fucking H Christ!” Darcy yelped upon seeing the blood and the bullet wound that Bucky was calmly inspecting. “Why didn't you tell me you were hurt you stupid fucking moron?!”

_ The mouth on this dame. Your ma woulda washed her mouth out with soap. I kinda wanna kiss it. _

“Didn't hurt,” Bucky shrugged. “Nothing hurts but the wipes.”

“Oh, honey,” Darcy sighed, all of her righteous anger flying out of her. She grabbed him by his metal hand and walked onward, pointing in the distance. “Does that look like moonlight off of glass to you?”

“Yeah...does,” Bucky nodded.

“We'll stop for the night. Find some kind of water, try to get you bandaged up,” Darcy said, her statement sounding like a question.

“Sounds good, Angel,” Bucky managed another nod.

They made it the extra mile to find a small log cabin in the middle of a clearing, looking old and empty and forgotten. Bucky pushed the door with his metal shoulder and Darcy pulled him inside. She flicked on a light and was disappointed to see the sorry state the one room cabin was in. It definitely didn't look like a Stark funded safehouse. But there was a spartan bed, covered in dusty sheets, and a tiny kitchen with a running refrigerator.

No phones though. No electronics of any kind.

“Come on, Bucky, let's find some kind of first aid kit and see if we can't get you patched up. We need to be ready to move on and find more help.”

* * *

Pierce watched from the safety of a surveillance room back at the facility. Brock Rumlow came into the room, his face bandaged and swollen from the broken jaw.

He handed Pierce an initial report. 54 wounded. 23 dead.

“An acceptable number,” Pierce nodded.

Rumlow hid his disapproval well. Twenty-three dead was a high number to be paid for such a silly ruse. All to give the Asset and his match some semblance of freedom. But he didn't ask questions.

“It's really about setting the proper environment,” Pierce sighed as he watched Darcy fret over Bucky through the surveillance feed. “And then letting Mother Nature take over.”

* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  


** Chapter Seven: Remember When I Asked You For Your Opinion? Me Neither. **

* * *

* * *

“Her programming here is truly amazing. Beyond anything Tony or I taught her,” Natasha murmured as she stared at the laptop that Rhodey had given her as he drove her and Steve back towards Virginia through the night.

“She's a quick study,” Rhodey smiled. He shrugged, “You know I taught her to use the Iron Man guantlets? Just for fun. Second day she came to the Tower. Just to drive Tony a little nuts. And it totally worked.”

A smile struggled to find its way to Steve's lips and died valiantly in the attempt. He felt like he had just gone ten or twelve dozen rounds with the Red Skull. Once security provisions were provided for Jane, namely Clint and Bruce watching their encampment while they waited for Heimdall to return with Thor, the rest of the team had dispersed. Tony had zoomed himself back to the tower to prepare. Sam was heading towards Capitol Hill. Pepper was on a jet, halfway to Silicon Valley to play her own part. And Steve, Natasha and Rhodey were on their way back to the Triskellion.

They couldn't wait for Thor. That much was obvious. Every hour that ticked by was another hour that Darcy did not have.

“Steve, I promise you,” Rhodey stole a glance in the rearview mirror, his eyes meeting Steve's. “We will bring her back.”

Steve managed a nod, staring out the window.

“I knew him,” Natasha said softly, closing the laptop. She had wanted to look over Darcy's work, but of course it was flawless. She gave Steve her best reassuring smile when his attention snapped from the dark scenery flashing by them to her face. “He was used in the Red Room when I first arrived. He's excellent with a knife in close combat.”

“Not exactly reassuring here, Romanoff,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“They tried to match me to him,” Natasha gave Steve the truly helpful information. Information she had waited to give him until Clint was miles and miles away from her.

“Natasha,” Steve breathed. “Did---did...”

“No,” Natasha shook her head. “I was very young still. I had been in the Red Room for only a short period of time. I was seventeen.”

“And that was how long ago?” Rhodey wondered nonchalantly. For curiosity's sake. Not because he had a long standing wager with Tony about how old the Black Widow actually was.

“We were not a high match. Only 75 percent,” Natasha revealed, ignoring Rhodey entirely.

“Still a passing grade,” Steve mumbled, smiling when he thought of Darcy's soft words to Peggy.

“They told me I was the highest match they'd ever found,” Natasha nodded. “But...he...you can understand, Steve, that I didn't want to do what they wanted.”

“Who would?” Rhodey demanded irritably. He was thankful to Tony for removing his own profile from the system when they were teenagers still, but he was still upset that Tony had never included him on the Resistance's efforts to take the WCHS down.

“He was a very handsome man, metal arm aside,” Natasha shrugged nonchalantly. “But I was so young. Terrified. They drugged me, put me in a bed and threw him in the room with me.”

“Jesus,” Rhodey exclaimed.

_ I'll fucking say. Stevie, we gotta find our girl. Now. _

“ Nothing happened,” Natasha explained quickly, feeling how tense Steve was right beside her, how sick he suddenly looked. She looked at him, her face more open and honest than it had ever been. “ _ Nothing  _ happened, Steve. He...he's terrifying in the field. In training. He'll put a bullet through anyone. He put a bullet through me a few years ago. But that day, when I was a scared, shaking seventeen year old, naked in a bed,  _ given to him  _ by his handlers, he did not touch me.”

“Every person has a code,” Rhodey said hopefully. “Darcy will be safe, Cap.”

“Natasha, thank you for telling me that,” Steve said softly. “But I know...I know _personally_ there is a big difference between seventy-five percent and ninety-nine percent.”

“She'll stay loyal to you,” Natasha disputed, offended at the thought that Darcy would willingly entertain another man in bed.

“ It's not her that I'm worried about,” Steve snapped. “I will tell you that from the moment I met Darcy, that it took every ounce of my self-control not to put my hands on her. We've been married two months and I can't physically stop myself from wanting her all the damned time. And I'm not an assassin that requires  _ handlers _ .”

Steve's body bent in half as his head hit his hands, a shaky, violent breath ripping through him.

_ It's gonna be okay, pal. Take a deep breath. _

“ Towards the end of his stay in the Red Room, it was clear that some conditioning was breaking down,” Natasha continued, intent on getting her story out fully. “He was...flirtatious and charming. His Russian became awful, tinged with some sort of American accent. And they tried one more time. And when faced with a naked and unwilling girl, he said  _ Sorry fellas. I'm not making time with a girl who ain't willing. My guy would be pretty upset if I ever thought about it. There's plenty of dames that think I'm handsome enough, metal arm and all. _ ”

_Huh. Sounds like me_ .

“The world's greatest assassin is gay?” Rhodey questioned. “Or bisexual? Not that there's anything wrong with that.”

“There are times, Rhodes, when I think you've been spending far too much time with Stark,” Natasha rolled her eyes at him.

“I feel that way too,” Rhodey shrugged.

“My point is, if Darcy is unwilling, he will not touch her,” Natasha promised. “We will bring her back safe and unharmed.”

* * *

“Ugh. I could never be a nurse,” Darcy grumbled as she wiped around Bucky's bullet wound with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol.

_ She'd be pretty as a picture in the outfit though. _

“Angel, it won't get infected,” Bucky promised. “My body...it's, they gave me something. I don't malfunction.”

“ You don't get  _ sick _ ,” Darcy corrected. “Malfunctioning is for machines. You are a man.”

“Glad you noticed,” Bucky flirted as he touched his outer thigh to hers as she continued to sanitize the break in his flesh. “You gotta get the bullet out. I can't heal right with it in.”

“Fine...okay,” Darcy cringed, going for the tweezers. She looked at him and asked, “Do you need something to bite down on or something?”

“If you're offering,” he winked at her.

_ Stop teasing her so much, she's gonna slap you. _

Darcy slapped him on his bare pec and gave him a good natured glare before she tried to refocus, shaking hands holding the tweezer high above his wound. He reached over with his metal hand and placed it on her hip, squeezing her reassuringly.

“You're not gonna hurt me, Angel,” Bucky promised. “You could never hurt me.”

“That's romantic and all, but entirely impractical,” Darcy gave him an unimpressed eyebrow crinkle. She shook her head, then nodded, then descended with the tweezers, reaching into the quarter inch hole with a wince until metal tweezers hit metal bullet. “It's just a hair...you're pulling out a hair, it's just a hair...”

Bucky barely winced as she yanked the bullet out with a staggered step backwards. His hand was firm on her hip, steadying her as she dropped the tweezers and the bullet right away, going to stop the fresh bleeding with another clean cloth.

_ Helluva dame we got here, Buck. _

“Jesus H Fucking Christ,” Darcy squealed, shuffling her feet back and forth quickly in a little dance in front of him. He gave her hip another squeeze before bringing his metal hand to the cloth, taking over 3for her in applying pressure as she walked away, shaking her hands as she calmed down from the emergency surgery and went to the sink to wash her hands.

“Thank you, Darcy,” Bucky smiled at her. “My sweet little wife.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Darcy mumbled at the sink, looking out into the dark night and taking a nervous swallow.

“Angel, are you alright?” Bucky wondered, getting up and walking towards her.

  
  


“ Just...I'm just tired,” Darcy gave him a small smile. She was definitely tired. And she didn't want to lie to him anymore, but she was honestly scared how he would react if she tried to tell him that she  _ wasn't  _ actually his sweet little wife. She was Steve's sweet little wife. Well. Steve's wife at the very least. But Bucky was so sure that she was his, and she had a feeling that those thoughts were the only  _ good  _ feelings that he had. She didn't want to take that comfort away from him.

And she was physically tired as well. She'd been in an explosion, kidnapped, drugged, electrocuted, knocked out, and then had performed a daring escape with a metal armed man who happened to be her husband's bestest boy pal with plenty of benefits from the 1940's. All the adrenaline was out of her system now that they were relatively safe. She wanted to crash to the floor and fall asleep for ten solid hours. She realized that she and Bucky hadn't even eaten anything in their entire time together, but she was so tired she couldn't even be hungry at that point. She felt like she had just run ten marathons and while her wounds hadn't hurt when they were in the facility, some sort of painkiller must have worn out because now she felt tired and hurt and just so over everything.

“C'mere, Darcy, let me hold you,” Bucky pulled the cloth away from his arm and looked at her handiwork. The bleeding had stopped and the hole was almost closed.

“Wow,” Darcy's eyes widened. “Super serum...”

“I guess so,” Bucky furrowed his brow. “Is that---isn't that what made ---made...”

_ Steve. My name is Steve and I'm your best guy. _

“Steve,” Darcy supplied him.

“Steve,” Bucky nodded. “That's what made him...not small.”

“Right,” Darcy smiled softly at him.

“He's still alive?” Bucky wondered.

“He is,” Darcy promised him. “And we're going to find him, and he's going to be so happy to see you.”

_Fair warning, Buck, I'll probably cry a little. Try not to tease me in front of the pretty dame_ .

“Did I---” he faltered and gave Darcy his most winsome smile. “Steve and I. We loved each other.”

“Very, very much,” Darcy nodded.

“But...now I love you,” Bucky said resolutely. He wanted to make sure she believed him, “I love you, Darcy.”

_ Tell her about the plan. _

“It's okay. We'll figure out all of this stuff when we get back to Steve,” Darcy promised with a brightness that was not in any way believable.

“You need rest,” Bucky said softly, he reached out for her hand and felt a calm run through him when she took it. All thoughts of Steve, and Darcy's honesty or dishonesty flew from the window and he walked them to the bed, throwing the dusty sheet off and climbing in, pulling her with him. He lay flat on his back and pulled her to him, smiling when she repeated the position from the night before, her head against his chest, her legs straddling his waist. “Sleep, Angel. I'll keep watch.”

* * *

“Peg...what are you doing here?” Steve wondered.

Because Peggy Carter, age 91, was in the ruined lobby of Shield headquarters, hair perfectly put up, red lipstick slicked on her mouth, looking very smart in a gray business suit, sitting in a wheelchair pushed by Sharon. She looked like she owned the place, and considering she built it, that was very true.

“You honestly didn't think I was going to let you light the fuse from the boredom and safety of my nursing home, Steven?” Peggy gave him an incredulous look. “Besides, you may need a firm hand to get Nicholas to agree.”

“So you're our trump card,” Natasha nodded, giving the former Shield director a soft smile.

“Natalia, it's been too long,” Peggy smiled at her.

“I'm going to go get into the suit and get to my position,” Rhodey gave Steve a nod. He saluted Peggy with a flirty wink. “Director Carter.”

“Jimmy,” Peggy smiled at him as he walked away.

Sharon rolled her eyes as her 91 year old great Aunt blatantly stared at Rhodey's ass as he walked back out of the building. She gave Natasha a commiserating look before stating, “We're wasting time. The program will take four hours to finish? Let's go before Aunt Peggy gets gun happy.”

They walked towards the only functioning elevator, Natasha hitting the button for Fury's office. The Shield elevator musack was playing a clarinet version of _Hit Me Baby One More Time_ . Steve couldn't help but smile.

“ Yeah, Fury's IT guys still haven't figured out a way to undo Darcy's music selections,” Sharon shook her head. Ever since Darcy and Steve had returned from their adventures happily married, the usually silent elevators had begun playing increasingly strange music. It was a good thing it wasn't a Tuesday. On Tuesday, highly energetic Japanese pop music played. Today it was only highly ironic soft jazz versions of iconic pop songs. “It's better than having my watch read  _ FACE PUNCHING TIME!” _

“I really like her quite a lot,” Peggy shrugged. “She's got a lot of spunk.”

Steve found the smile hitting his lips a little easier this time.

Fury was waiting for them outside the elevator, flanked by Maria Hill.

“Really? You didn't feel the need to crash a helicopter into my building this time?” Fury wondered dryly.

“Shut up, Nicholas,” Peggy rolled her eyes. “We have business to finish.”

“Peggy, I don't know what you're doing here, but we told you after you interfered with our operations eighteen months ago, you are retired,” Fury reminded her. He looked down at the knitted holster hanging off her wheel chair and sighed. “Who signed off on you packing heat?”

“Tony Stark. And I will not have something I built and fought for and bled for continue to house the very filth that I spent my life trying to eradicate,” Peggy glared at him. ''You've waited too long, as you always do, Nicholas.”

“We couldn't just jump in, pointing fingers, shields or guns at people. It would have been reckless and wound up exacerbating the problem,” Fury insisted.

“Better to wait until Hydra has fixed the problem for you?” Steve challenged.

“ Men,” Peggy huffed out. “Can either of you admit that too fast or too slow has a solution? Taking care of the problem at the right time? Which is about a month too late at this point... _ really _ .”

Sharon, Natasha and Maria exchanged an amused look. It was something they had all tried to impress upon the either too heedless or too cautious men.

“Are you ready?” Peggy asked impatiently. “Because it's movie night at my facility and I'm quite looking forward to watching that new Sherlock Holmes movie.”

* * *

_Bucky woke up with a start, finding that it was difficult to breathe properly. He felt like Stevie during an asthma attack, burning air out, and not enough air back in. It had been a nightmare featuring a giant tank. He and the rest of the boys of the 107_ _th_ _had done their best, but they were no match for the people who would take them hostage._

_ He'd been singled out quickly. He was strong, young, healthy. He stood just as tall as any other man in the unit, if not even taller than most. The little rat-faced doctor had pointed to him immediately and Dugan had tried to figure out a way to stop the Germans from taking him, but had failed and gotten a split lip for his troubles. _

_ What had followed next was pain. Pain and fear and then more pain. He was so disoriented he had started just repeating his name, his rank, his number. _

_ The nightmare tonight had been them testing out how one of the vials of crap they had injected him with had worked. Testing how quickly cuts would heal. This involved small cuts, shallow cuts, deeper cuts, slices in his skin right down to the muscle. _

_ They healed. Quickly. But the pain was still there. _

“ _ Buck...Buck, breathe for me, pal.” _

_ Bucky blinked and his eyes focused on the concerned, sapphire blue gaze of his best friend. His best guy. He took a deep breath, holding it in before exhaling it slowly. He was no longer a prisoner of Hydra and the vile rat-faced doctor. He was safe, in the room he shared with Steve at SSR headquarters in London. He closed his eyes as Steve rubbed soothing circles into his shoulders, his weight on the bed next to him comfortable but foreign. _

_ He wasn't used to him being so big. _

“ _ What'd they do to you?” Steve asked softly. If Bucky closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that it was Steve from before the war. That they were just laying and relaxing in the bed, two young men with just enough money to get by, sharing comforting touches while they waited for a sweet little dame to share their hearts and their bed with. _

_ Bucky felt Steve's lips on his temple and rather than answer Steve's question, he turned and bent his head, his lips pressing against Steve's. The soft tender kiss grew in intensity very quickly, as most of their kisses did. Bucky loved taking Steve's full bottom lip in between his own, sucking and nibbling before soothing it with a gentle swipe of his tongue. _

“ _ Can I---can I make you feel good, Buck?' Steve whispered as Bucky moved his lips to his jaw. “Just to chase the bad dream away?” _

“ _ Yeah, Stevie...please,” Bucky nodded, taking in a shaky, pleasured breath as Steve maneuvered himself on the bed so that he could pull on the boxer shorts that he slept in. Steve still knew all the best ways to get him riled, and it wasn't long until he was fully erect, throbbing in Steve's mouth as he sucked and stroked him into a frenzy. Steve's new strength was a blessing when it came to their private endeavors. Bucky loved the way Steve's newly giant hand engulfed him and applied just the right amount of pressure as he pumped his length with the same speed and rhythm he had perfected when they were still teenagers. _

_ Bucky's hips pistoned off the bed as his hands grasped at the honey colored hair on Steve's head. _

“ _ You're so good, Stevie,” Bucky whispered, stifling his moan as Steve pulled his foreskin and circled his tongue around him against and again. “Fuck, no dame's ever gonna be better than you.” _

Bucky woke up suddenly, his hips up and off the bed in mid pump, except instead of the warmth and perfection that was Steve's mouth, his erection rubbed against the perfect warm heat of Darcy's cotton covered front. She moaned in her sleep and ground down on him. It felt good. As good as anything ever had, but something was missing.

_Me, dummy_ .

He placed a kiss against the top of Darcy's head and tried to go back to sleep. Tried to pull Darcy into that dream world with him, where the memory was real but somehow incomplete without her. He wanted to see that Steve in his dream turn red at the sight of her as she joined in on the fun.

She wriggled in her sleep, a discontent sound echoing from her throat as he had stopped his pleasant stroking against her body. He tried to soothe her, hands running up and down her back, and she made a hum of approval.

“Steve,” she whispered against the skin of his neck.

His hands froze on her back.

Darcy wasn't his wife.

He looked down at her in concern, seeing that she was calm again, her breathing even and steady.

He felt love for her. She was a precious thing to him. He knew that.

But he also knew she definitely wasn't his wife. He hadn't had the opportunity to marry anyone. He had been an Asset. He had been given horrible tasks to accomplish ever since he had fallen from that train in 1945. She had said that her husband was Steve. Steve who he had shared a bed with almost every night of their youth, Steve, who he had given his first kiss. Steve who had given him pleasure and joy. She was Steve's wife.

_Maybe she's---you know, the special girl we wanted_ .

Bucky blinked and shook his head. No, that wasn't right. They'd never found that special girl. They hadn't had the time or opportunity. That was something on the long list of somethings that they were going to do after the war. He rolled on the bed gently, dislodging Darcy from his body despite her sleepy protests. He got off the bed and pulled up a dusty wooden chair to the side of it, taking a seat and staring at her.

She wasn't his wife. She wasn't even his girl.

His mind was so muddled, memories zipping through his head as the serum worked to heal the broken pathways just as it had healed the bullet wound in his arm. He remembered a lot of girls that Hydra had tried to force him on. Young girls. Crying ones. Terrified.

He felt his stomach twist as he stared down at the most perfect woman he'd ever laid eyes on, knowing that she wasn't his and wondering what they had done to him. She'd been playing along, not arguing with him when he told her he was her husband. She must have been so scared of him to go along with the lie that Hydra had programmed into him.

He hadn't wanted to hurt people, but they had ensured that he did.  He'd never wanted any of those other women. But he wanted Darcy. He knew it. He wanted her so badly. What had they forced him to do to her that he couldn't remember?

“What have I done?”

* * *

* * *

  
  
  


** Chapter Eight: Well, I Could Agree With You, But Then We'd Both Be Wrong **

* * *

* * *

After leaving Peggy in the careful hands of Fury, Hill and Sharon, and comparatively leaving Fury in the hands of Peggy...Steve and Natasha headed out again. They would eventually head to a quinnjet that Natasha would pilot, ready, in the sky at the epicenter of the search radius where Darcy could possibly be over the eastern seaboard.

But first, Steve had insisted on stopping at he and Darcy's hotel room in DC, changing into the suit. There was a time for stealth and subtlety. Today was not that day. Today was the day Captain America would be seen in the stars and stripes, fighting Hydra. They had some time, at least two hours at that point until everything changed.

“You know there was a day where you would have just stripped down in front of me!” Natasha called out as she grabbed an empty duffle bag and set it on the bed, looking around the room for things to pack for Darcy for when they found her.

“I wasn't a married man then!” Steve called back. “If you go into the mini-fridge, Darcy packed a bunch of food that we can take along with us. I should probably try to eat something to keep my strength up.”

“What's Darcy's favorite shirt that you have with? Something comforting for her to change into,” Natasha asked after she did as Steve asked, before going and opening the little closet that they had hung their clothes in during their stay. She looked down and furrowed her brow at the small box on the floor. Kneeling, she lifted the lid and immediately began looking through the pictures, her eyes widening at what she saw.

“Is there ever going to be a time when you aren't rifling through my shit, Romanoff? And she lost her Thor shirt she had made after New Mexico, which was her favorite,” Steve futzed with some zippers and pulls as he walked out of the bathroom. “Just grab any clean t-shirt of mine and the uh...the big plaid one with the rip. She always wears that when she's got cramps. Nat---Natasha? What's wrong?”

Natasha rose and turned to Steve, a picture in her hand.

“Steve...what did Heimdall say exactly?” Natasha wondered. She had been given the abbreviated version from Rhodey. Something about Heimdall insisting that Darcy was in the safe hands of Steve's closest friend.

“That he couldn't see her but he knew that she was safe. In the hands of my shield mate,” Steve repeated easily. He'd been mulling the words over since the moment that Heimdall had said them. They made no sense, and Steve knew that Thor was a funny enough guy from his own interactions with him in addition to Darcy's stories, but he also knew that Thor and more broadly the Asgardians were an intelligent species. Heimdall wasn't lying but he certainly wasn't making sense. “Something about Norms? Norns? Being as it was intended. Her shield mate and mine.”

“ When you think of a person who you would describe as  _ your  _ shield mate, which is basically the Asgardian way of saying soulmate...life partner... _ boyfriend _ . Someone dead or alive who was capable of keeping Darcy safe, what name do you think of?” Natasha asked softly.

_ Me. Tell her the truth, punk. You think of me _ .

“Bucky Barnes,” Steve nodded. “But---Natasha, Bucky died in 1945.”

“What if he didn't?” Natasha whispered, holding up the picture of Bucky and Steve smiling side by side, leaning into each other, pressed together from their shoulders all the way down to their thighs.

“C'mon Natasha,” Steve furrowed his brow.

“ Steve...this is the Winter Soldier,” Natasha pointed to Bucky in the picture. “Believe me when I tell you that I remember with picture perfect clarity that this is the man who refused to rape me  _ twice  _ and probably paid a terrible price in pain for it.”

Steve's blood ran cold in his veins. Natasha was being honest with him. The idea that Bucky could be alive, that he could have been used so terribly. Hurt and turned into some kind of ruthless assassin. That he was matched to  _ Darcy,  _ of course he would be matched to Darcy. That Hydra wanted Darcy to bear Bucky's children so those children could in turn be used and tortured and hurt. It was too much to take and Steve felt his hands trembling uncontrollably.

“How?” Steve whispered, his panic high and his mind in overload as he tried to absorb what Natasha was telling him and all the while plan out a way to bring Bucky home, to take him away from Hydra and bring him home with Darcy. Somewhere safe.

“When I knew him...he had some variant of the serum. He healed quickly, faster than I do now,” Natasha admitted. “His strength, not just in the metal arm, but throughout his whole body, it was definitely influenced by the serum, Steve. They...they keep him in cryofreeze most of the time.”

_ You gotta be kidding me. _

Steve reached for the picture in Natasha's hands and stared down at it. Bucky had fallen in 1945. If he had the serum, even a lesser version...well Steve had fallen from farther and survived. The metal arm...perhaps as a result from the fall. Steve remembered with picture perfect clarity the moment of rescuing Bucky from that prisoner camp. They had been experimenting on him, but he had never gone into any detail of what had happened. He had only said it was bad and he had had nightmares about it.

“Peggy said that they figured out Bucky was my match during the war,” Steve revealed to Natasha, whose eyes widened considerably. “98 percent. She kept it a secret, didn't want us to be separated.”

“Steve...logistically, it makes sense that if you and Darcy are a near perfect match, and Bucky and you are a match, then Darcy and Bucky...”

“We're going. Now,” Steve nodded, handing Natasha the quite a few shirts from the closet for Darcy and...and hopefully Bucky as well. She pulled the box out of the closet and threw it in the duffle bag as well, following Steve out of the hotel room.

“He's the best man I ever knew,” Steve said quietly as they quickly made their way to the stairwell. No matter what they had done to him, what they had turned him into, he had to believe that there was something there that would resist hurting Darcy. “I have to believe that he's still that man deep down.”

“Steve....they brainwashed him, he was practically a blank slate when I met him, and he didn't remember me in Odessa,” Natasha said truthfully. “But even that blank slate refused to bed me against my will. There's hope here. Hold onto it, alright?”

* * *

Darcy woke up feeling cold. Her hands reached out and for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel something solid under her fingertips. She blinked her eyes open to an empty bed and made a sound of discontent. She pulled herself to a sitting position and turned to see Bucky sitting there, watching her intently, his eyes clouded over with tears.

“Hey, Honey. You alright?” she asked in sleep scratched voice.

“You're not mine,” he said simply, sounding morose and defeated. “You don't have to lie anymore, Darcy.”

“Bucky,” Darcy whispered, looking at him big, sad blue eyes, the hint of tears already starting to form. “I didn't want to lie to you, but you were....”

“You were frightened of me,” Bucky shook his head. “You're still frightened of me. You should be, I'm a monster.”

“You are not! I'm not scared of you anymore, Bucky. I know you wouldn't hurt me,” Darcy insisted.

“Did---Did I hurt you?” Bucky swallowed, looking at her with wide, frightened eyes, his mouth down turned and pinched.

“ No, never,” Darcy swore. “ _ Never _ , Bucky. You wouldn't. I trust you. Completely.”

“You shouldn't trust me, Angel. I am a monster,” Bucky promised. “I---I can remember the things I did. The things they had me do.”

“James Buchanan Barnes, that wasn't you,” Darcy said resolutely, hopping out of the bed and going towards him. “They hurt you, and put things in your head and took things out. You're a victim here too. You didn't do these things.”

“Darcy, you have to go,” Bucky whispered. “You know what they're going to try to make me do to you. You said you're Steve's wife. I'd rather die than hurt you. Go back out there and get to help. Find a way to get in touch with Steve.”

Darcy stood in front of him and put her hands on his bare shoulders, turning him to face her. She stared down at him with what Steve called her  _ crazy-girl-stubborn-eyes  _ and shook her head no.

“I'm not going anywhere without you,” she said in a low tone that left no room for argument. “We're both making it out of here and we're making it back to Steve.”

“Angel, if they catch us, they're going to be desperate. They're going to try to force me to---or they're going to wipe me...or God, they're going to try to wipe you!” Bucky insisted. “I won't let that happen. Go now, it's still dark, you can make it to some kind of road before it's light out.”

“No,” Darcy said stubbornly.

_ I gotta agree with the lady, here, Buck. She ain't safe out there alone. _

“You and Stevie are both so stubborn and wouldn't know how to save yourselves if the world was ending,” Bucky shook his head in dismay.

“Honey, we couldn't save money with a coupon,” Darcy promised him with a small smile. “Your head would spin if I told you all the ways Steve and I put ourselves into danger without you. So you know---we need you, Bucky. Someone's got to pull us back from jumping off cliffs.”

“I feel something for you,” Bucky whispered. “I know they put it into my head that I love you. But I do---I could love you so much. I can feel it. I haven't felt anything in so long, and now, now it's like I'm feeling everything.”

“Bucky,” Darcy whispered. Her hands moved from his shoulders to his face, holding him in place as she placed the softest and sweetest of kisses on his mouth, lips brushing against his innocently enough, but full of feeling and affection. She pulled away and saw that when he opened his eyes they were swimming with tears. “Bucky, do you remember...do you remember how you felt about Steve?”

_ You loved me, Buck. You never said it that way, but you did _ .

Bucky barely nodded in response.

“We're going to leave here together. And we're going to find Steve,” Darcy promised. “And between the three of us, we're going to work this all out. Okay?”

Bucky swallowed and his head moved up and down again in the softest of nods. Darcy grinned and placed a kiss on his forehead this time before taking a deep breath and looking around the cabin.

“I wonder if we can find a pair of shoes for me because I'm so not down with stepping on twigs and sharp rocks all day in bare feet,” Darcy began looking around immediately, going to the closet and finding a pair of slippers that were a little big, but overall, better than nothing.

Bucky got up and grabbed his rifle before walking towards the door, keen to do a check of the perimeter. When he got to the front door and went to open it, on the other side of the door was another, metal door.

“Darcy?” he questioned.

The sound of metal whirring echoed throughout the small wooden cabin as metal closed down outside of every window in the cabin. Bucky tried to bring his shoulder against the door, but it was stronger than regular metal, and did not budge against his strength.

“Oh shit,” Darcy hissed, looking around.

“I should have swept for bugs,” Bucky muttered. He looked back at Darcy and shook his head. “You make me forget myself, Angel.”

“I have that effect on dudes that were born before 1920,” Darcy huffed a sigh.

The radio on the kitchen counter crackled to life on its own accord, and both Bucky and Darcy turned to it with angry expressions.

“My apologies to both of you, but we cannot allow you to leave at this time, especially given recent revelations,” Alexander Pierce announced over the radio, calm and cool as a cucumber. “We've tried to give you your privacy.”

“Bullshit, asswipe,” Darcy countered. “Where's the hidden camera in this dump?”

_ Yeah, tell him babydoll! _

Bucky rolled his eyes. He didn't know if he'd be able to handle  _ real  _ Steve and Darcy in the same room. They were bound to be the death of him.

“We had hoped you would do what was necessary so it didn't become an unpleasant act,” Pierce admitted.

“Let us go back to Steve, the act will become _plenty_ pleasant,” Darcy promised.

_ Wait, what? Is she talking about what I think she's talking about _ ?

“ Miss Lewis, were you aware that your sexual contact with Captain Rogers had given you exposure to Erskine's serum? Your blood, when we did your initial exam when you were brought to us, reveals that you were exhibiting a healing factor higher than a normal human, and you were probably feeling very  _ energetic _ ,” Pierce admitted. “However, I would be willing to wager you aren't feeling that energetic any longer.”

“Running from Nazi assholes will tire a girl out,” Darcy shrugged. “And I haven't had anything to eat in like, thirty-six hours, so, I'm thinking my blood sugar is a little low too.”

“The serum's effects are not permanent for you, Miss Lewis” Pierce revealed. “You need a high amount of contact with the bodily fluids of a serum affected individual. And it has been almost nearly forty-eight hours since you were last in that kind of physical contact.”

Darcy had no smart ass comment for that. Bucky had gone stock still and his face had gone closed off. She could tell he was running over the worst case scenarios in his head. She reached out and grabbed his metal hand, holding it in hers.

“Mr. Barnes...I'm assuming you know that your name is Mr. Barnes at this point?”

“Fuck you asshole!” Darcy called out, ready to ramp up her verbal swipes at the Hydra handler until Bucky squeezed her hand gently.

“Did you know that without your own serum, the memory wipe would kill you eventually? Or at the very least, leave you totally brain dead.”

Bucky and Darcy could _hear_ Pierce's arrogant shrug.

“You can't kill me, you need me,” Darcy insisted.

“I need your body, I don't need your mind,” Pierce informed her helpfully. “I'd actually prefer if we could get you to shut up for more than ten seconds in a row.”

“Fuck you and the motherfucking horse you rode in on you piece of Nazi douche nozzle!”

_ Yeah. Fuck you, asshole! _

“You have six hours to change my mind. I will not hesitate to make this very unpleasant for you.”

* * *

“ _ Aren't you done yet?” _

“ _ Perfection takes time,” Darcy shooed Steve's hands away from her waist as he stood behind her, fresh from a shower, just a pair of drawstring pants hung low on his body. She took one last swipe of her spatula and nodded at the three tier cake in front of her, coated liberally with the richest of chocolate frosting. “Candles, please.” _

“ _ I still think you should have let me get 96 candles,” Steve smirked, handing her the shaped candles that she placed on top of the cake. _

“ _ He's a supersoldier, Cutie, but he wouldn't get ninety-six candles blown out before our smoke alarm would go off,” Darcy rolled her eyes at her husband's trolly tendencies. “When is he coming home, anyway?” _

“ _ Nat said Clint was letting him pilot the quinnjet as a birthday present. He should be home soon,” Steve promised. He kissed her neck, meaning for it to be a quick peck, but found that he couldn't resist lingering, sucking and nipping at her skin until he'd painted a small smattering of marks on her throat. “We've got enough time to do all sorts of things.” _

“ _ It's not  _ your  _ birthday,” Darcy scoffed, even as she widened her stance as Steve's hands went down the front of her yoga pants, fingers petting against her soft skin. _

“ _ You know if there is one thing he likes almost as much as being with us, it's catching us in the act. You know I never have any complaints when I catch the two of you pawing at each other.  And I know you've snuck into the locker room to try to peep on us,” Steve chuckled against her skin. She was wet already and he gave a pleased groan. “You're eager, babydoll.” _

“ _ You know what chocolate buttercream does to me,” Darcy giggled as Steve yanked her pants down, allowing her to step out of them before he guided her to widen her stance and bend over the kitchen counter. She heard his pants hit the floor as well and she let out a loud moan at the first contact of his hard erection against her wet lips. _

“ _ Happy Birthday to me,” Bucky laughed as he strolled into the kitchen of their Brooklyn apartment. Darcy was obscenely bent over the counter, Steve seconds away from thrusting inside of that wet softness they both worshiped and praised whenever they possibly could. Seeing both of his near perfect matches in various states of undress, just getting started with a hopefully long afternoon of lovemaking. “Don't let me stop you. This is a very nice present.” _

_ He walked to the counter and took a finger full of chocolate frosting from the near empty mixing bowl and sucked it into his mouth, watching with heavy lidded eyes as Darcy's face contorted with pleasure as Steve slowly stroked himself inside of her. _

“ _ You just wanna watch, Honey? You don't wanna play?” Darcy goaded him, her words broken with every snap of Steve's hips. She reached for a drawer and pulled out a bottle of lube. With near perfect compatibility between the three of them, they bought it in bulk and they kept it  _ _ everywhere _ .

“ _ C'mon Buck, let's play,” Steve gave him a dreamy smile as he adjusted Darcy so that Bucky got the enticing view of his perfect ass. _

_ Bucky was behind Steve in no time, his left, metal hand squeezing Darcy's hip and the other running a pass down Steve's back. He placed a wet kiss on Steve's neck, before squeezing Steve's ass and chuckling, _

“ _But it's_ _my_ _birthday...”_

“Steve! Wake up!” Natasha barked out from the cockpit.

Steve jerked awake, the more than pleasant dream breaking to pieces and disappearing. When they had arrived on the quinnjet, Natasha had asked him when he had last slept. Steve had truthfully answered that he hadn't since he had woken up the morning before Darcy had been taken. Natasha had directed him to the cot and told him that they had two hours, and he should try to get in two good sleep cycles before they had to be ready to run and fight and be sharp.

He adjusted himself beneath the suit, the dream had been so hyper-realistic, but the bliss, the happiness of it, it seemed impossible and out of reach. Bucky was alive. But he didn't know what Bucky he would be encountering. A cold, memory stripped assassin? Or a man who was starting to remember and talked about his best guy and dames and doing the right thing?

He hopped off the cot and put his comm back in his ear before heading to the cockpit with Natasha.

“Stark? You ready?”

“Ready and raring to go, Big Daddy.”

“Stop calling me that,” Steve rolled his eyes. His comm unit was in his ear as Natasha had the quinjet hovering a few thousand feet in the air, waiting to jet off to the suspected Hydra hotspot with the most activity. “Pepper?”

“The Stark security team is in place, we're ready to take bring in anyone who scatters,” Pepper acknowledged. “And I'm working with our finance team. Hydra's assets will be frozen as soon as we can identify them.”

“Rhodey?”

“Capitol Hill is ready. I have people on the doors ready to grab the Hydra that come slinking out.”

“Wilson?”

“I'm good Cap. Ready. Let's do this.”

“Jane...any word on Thor?” Steve wondered.

“Not yet, but it shouldn't be long,” Jane hoped. “If he comes, I've got your coordinates and will send him your way. If he doesn't...Bruce is here. He can switch if he has to.”

“I'm standing right here too, Doc,” Clint reminded her.

“Right. The Hulk can protect me just fine, we have an understanding,” Jane joked at Clint's expense.

“Alright, we're ready?” Steve asked.

He got a lot of affirmatives on the comms. He took a deep breath and looked down at his wedding ring giving it a twirl before putting on his gloves.

“Hill? Make it happen.”

* * *

* * *

  **Chapter Nine: Is Your Ass Jealous of the Amount of Shit That Just Came Out of Your Mouth?**

* * *

* * *

Peggy stood with the help of Sharon and Maria, walking her to the glass wall to stand next to Fury. She opened her eyes wide, keeping them unblinking as the scan went over her retinas, simultaneously doing the same for Fury.

Sharon helped her Aunt back into the chair before going for the laptop Steve had given them, hitting a few buttons and letting Darcy's program do the rest.

“It'll be made right, Nicholas,” Peggy promised, going for the gun in the knitted holster one of the younger ladies at the nursing home had made for her. She checked it carefully, holding it up and testing the sight before nodding in approval.

They had just released all of Shield's and Hydra's files onto the internet. Or rather, Darcy's program had. The whole world would know who was a part of the secret Nazi faction. But they were ready for the fallout. Each member of Cap's team was ready to contain the threat of dangerous people made more dangerous by their secrets and lies being exposed to the world. Pepper and JARVIS had also been working with worldwide trustworthy agencies, as well as other super hero factions. They were ready.

And Natasha was in the sky with Steve. JARVIS was aggressively monitoring the bases they thought may be Hydra, waiting for movement, digital or otherwise. She and Steve would immediately go to the nearest and search for Darcy.

So now, they waited.

* * *

“You should have left,” Bucky whispered, pulling Darcy to him regardless, wrapping her up in a tight embrace that helped to settle the unease that Pierce's ultimatum had inspired.

“I stand by my stubbornness,” Darcy insisted, her hands wrapping around his torso, soft touches of her fingertips going up and down his back.

“They're going to try to hurt you,” Bucky shook his head. “They're going to try to make me hurt you.”

“We'll figure a way out of it,” Darcy promised.

“If you get hurt, Stevie will never forgive me,” Bucky's voice could barely be heard. “Angel...I'll never forgive myself.”

“Then I won't get hurt,” Darcy shrugged, as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

The radio crackled to life again, and they both froze looking to it.

“We seem to have run into a small problem that has moved our timetable up considerably,” Pierce said in an angry tone.

  
  


The sound of heavy footsteps at the front door of the cabin signaled the arrival of someone, and sure enough the door opened and a Hydra operative stepped in, his gun pointed at Darcy. Bucky turned, shielding her as best as he could. The metal slid closed behind the goon and he barked out a phrase in German.

“Okay, I took French in high school. Waste of time, I know since the whole world speaks Mandarin or Spanish,” Darcy looked to Bucky quickly and froze as his face had gone totally blank, not a hint of the Bucky she had rapidly begun to know and count on. “Bucky? Honey?”

Another German phrase and Bucky turned to her, gripping her arms in his hands.

“I warned you, Miss Lewis,” Pierce said over the radio. “You should have just done this the easy way.”

* * *

“I have coordinates of a rural area in the Appalachian mountain region in Pennsylvania that has seen an inordinate increase in communication activity and electricity usage in the last five minutes,” JARVIS announced. “While it is not on our list of suspected areas, the area of land is empty and owned by an offshore company.”

“Good work, JARVIS,” Steve took a deep breath as Natasha took control of the quinnjet and took off towards the coordinates that JARVIS had provided.

“Jane?” Natasha asked.

“I'm powering up the portal,” Jane promised. “If Thor isn't there yet, I'm going to ask for anyone that's willing to come and help us.”

“Anybody else free yet?” Steve wondered.

“Give me half an hour...no maybe two hours!” Tony announced. “I'm a little busy on Wall Street. People have been scattering like the rats they are. The paddy wagon is almost full up---wait hold on, there's another one.”

“It's gonna take a long time, Cap,” Rhodey admitted. “Wilson and I are going to be here in DC a long time. Congress was in full session today.”

“You could have taken me,” Peggy stated calmly. “It's positively boring here at the Triskellion. Most of Hydra had already made a run for it after Darcy was taken, I would assume. Oh wait, no there's a nasty little bugger.”

A loud gunshot went off and a howl of pain could be heard.

“Aunt Peg!” Sharon laughed. “Was that really necessary?”

“She shot Sitwell in the ass,” Hill explained.

“She's my Hero!” Clint sing-songed over the comms.

“Fifteen minutes, Cap,” Natasha told him quietly.

“If any of you can assist, JARVIS will give you the coordinates,” Steve nodded. “Keep up the good work, everyone.”

* * *

“Hey assgoblin!” Darcy shouted at the Hydra goon that was occasionally still barking things at Bucky in German. She wiggled in Bucky's grasp, finding that it was still gentle. She knew what that metal hand could do to a human flesh and bone and it was grasping her tightly, but not enough to hurt her. “Shut your mouth before I make you shut up.”

The man sneered at her before walking backwards to the door, and stepping out of it before it quickly slammed shut again. Darcy looked up at Bucky, his eyes so terrifyingly blank when they had always held such beautiful fondness when he stared down at her.

“Bucky? Bucky, listen to me, I know you can hear me. I know that this is just some kind of sicko Nazi trance they shoved you in,” Darcy whispered, her hands reaching for him, stroking at the bare skin of his stomach. “Please fight it. Please come back to me. You don't want to hurt me. I know you don't. Just keep fighting and we can do this the right way.”

“An interesting bit of information for you, Miss Lewis,” Pierce announced over the radio. “We have tried to force the Asset into compliance mode with every other female that was remotely close to being a match. It never worked. Bucky Barnes' unique sense of chivalry and what was right always fought through. Surprisingly enough, he hasn't managed to break it yet. Nor should he want to fight his need for his perfect match.”

Darcy furrowed her brow, waiting for the asshole to finish with a  _ but “dastardly evil thing here” _ .

“Did anyone ever tell you that you were like a muppet movie villain?” Darcy demanded hotly.

There was a commotion on the other end that quickly cut off the transmission. Darcy felt her pulse jump erratically and she felt an inordinate amount of hope in that moment. She and Steve had spent an awful lot of time in their two months of marriage doing other things besides marital relations of the biblical variety. And one of them was plan for a worst case scenario. Natasha had drilled that into her in the short time she'd known her. Always plan for the worst case scenario.

And the big plot point of every plan regarding Hydra was thrusting an unwanted spotlight on all things Hydra for the world to see. She'd built programs. Steve had built a plan. They were going to put it into play as soon as they had the comforting backup of Thor back on Earth. She could only pray that it was happening right at that moment. Pierce would be in a tizzy as hundreds and thousands of his supporters and Hydra brethren were exposed. As _he_ was exposed.

“Bucky, just hold on. Okay? I know you can,” Darcy whispered, her fingers stroking his skin once more. “Steve is going to help us, I promise. He's coming for us.”

Fifteen minutes passed, Bucky was still stone still, although his grip on her was loosening by small increments. She kept whispering encouragement to him, mentally willing those gray eyes to turn sparkling again.

“Asset,” Pierce's voice came crackling over the radio again, this time with added static as he surely was in a vehicle trying to get away at that point. “You have a mission.”

“Mission.” Bucky huffed out in acknowledgment.

“The girl in front of you requires sexual intercourse, immediately. Provide it to her,” Pierce's smug smile could be heard through the static. “Even when she tells you no.”

The static went away and for a brief second the only sound in the cabin was Bucky's heavy breathing and the nearly silent hum of his metal arm. Darcy looked up at him with tears in her eyes and she drew in a shaky breath as he seemed to waver in his trance for a split second.

“No, Bucky. No,” Darcy shook her head as he finally looked down at her, eyes as blank as ever. “Please don't. Please.”

“Mission,” Bucky paused, his face flickering with doubt for one split second before resolving back to blank. “Accepted.”

* * *

Jane watched as the column of her portal lit up again, and this time, instead of Heimdall, Thor appeared in all of his Asgardian regalia, Mjolnir in his hands. He was followed by Sif and the Warriors Three.

“My Lady Jane, are you well?” Thor demanded, stepping towards her. His eyes widened as she threw herself at him, lips planting against hers.

“Jane, his mouth can wait,” Clint reminded her as she kissed him.

“Steve needs help. It's Darcy. She's been taken and is in danger,” Jane explained very, very quickly, stealing another quick kiss at the end. She then pulled a comm unit out of her pocket and reached to place it on his ear. “JARVIS will take you to him.”

“Which of my shield brethren shall remain to protect my lady and who shall fight with me?” Thor wondered, looking to his traveling companions.

“I'd like to go with you,” Clint raised a hand. “If your people think they can protect Jane.”

“Do not insult me small archer,” Sif scoffed at him. “Lady Jane will be safer with us than any other.”

“Sure. Sounds good,” Clint nodded. He looked at Thor and collapsed his bow. Holding his hands palm up in a questioning gesture. “How exactly is this going to work?”

Thor chuckled before gripping an arm around Clint's waist and pulling him in close.

“Oh my,” Clint threw Jane a wink and only got a middle finger in response.

Mjolnir whipped through the air in a circle and they were airborne and traveling fast in no time. Jane rolled her eyes and held her middle finger up to the sky still as Clint let out a loud _Wheeeee!_ into the clear blue sky.

* * *

“Help is on the way, Cap,” Clint reported over the comms. “Big Thunder style.”

“I'll be there in fifteen,” Tony reported. “The NYPD have this under control now.”

Natasha and Steve stalked down a long hallway, tense and ready for battle. They weren't finding the battle though. The Hydra base was half abandoned and the other half seemed to be in some state of chaos. They had looked in on one room to see a pile of tactical suit wearing bodies. Dead ones. And another room was full of injured. Natasha rolled a can of knockout gas into the room full of injured and that took care of that problem.

The reached a T at the end of the hallway and Steve took a deep breath before walking down it so that he could be seen by whoever was waiting for him. He wasn't disappointed to be met with a wall of thirty Hydra agents on his right, guns pointed and aimed at him. Brock Rumlow in the very front with his gun trained on Steve's jugular.

“Shouldn't have come alone, Rogers” Brock warned, his words clumsy and barely discernible with the busted jaw.

“Didn't,” Steve smirked, hiding behind the shield as Brock gave the signal to fire.

Natasha, still hidden in the safety of the connecting hallway spun one of Jane's discs so that it pinged off of Steve's shield, and landed at the feet of Brock.

“JARVIS!” Natasha shouted. “Highway to Hel.”

“ _ LOVING IT!”  _ Tony shouted over the comms as he zoomed through the airspace between New York City and where Steve and Natasha were.

Brock's eyes widened as the disc burned bright. He made a leap as it created a powerful portal. Landing just outside of it's reach, but a hell of a lot closer to Captain America than he'd like to be. He watched as an entire squad of men disappeared into thin air.

“Jane, it worked,” Natasha announced over the comms.

“My lady's brilliance is unparalleled!” Thor crowed.

Steve brought his shield down on Brock's face, undoing any work that the medical techs had done to repair his jaw.

“Where is my wife?” Steve growled down at him.

“Too late,” Brock grinned up at him, mouth full of blood.

“You're going to die Rumlow, but you're going to die by my standards,” Natasha grumbled, bending over and gripping at the false tooth that hid the cyanide capsule. She yanked it out and took away Brock's cowards way out. She flicked the capsule aside and wiped her hands in disgust. “I hate Hydra.”

“Where is my wife?” Steve repeated, no less angry or heated than before.

Brock laughed and pointed to the door closest to where the portal was open.

“JARVIS, close it,” Natasha requested. She retrieved the portal disc, Jane's only prototype, while Steve brought the shield down on Brock's head again, not only knocking him out, but definitely causing some severe brain damage that the man might not survive.

They ran to the room that was filled with surveillance monitors, every single one with the same view.

It was a small room, the view almost entirely of a bed. Natasha stared in horror as Steve began breathing heavily, absolutely distressed at the sight of Bucky, picking Darcy up and off the floor and placing her on the bed. He whipped his shirt off and threw it to the side and Steve winced at the sight of the metal arm anchored into Bucky's body. It looked...deadly. And far too much for Darcy to fight against.

“Please Bucky, don't!” Darcy begged. “Please, think of Steve...think of...no!”

She screamed and kicked and clawed, and her defenses might have worked against a normal human, but Bucky was far beyond that. Steve walked with heavy footsteps to the largest monitor, his shaking hand going out to touch the image of Darcy as Bucky hovered over her, ripping at the black kevlar shirt she had on.

“No. No, please Bucky, no!” Steve whispered. He brought his shield up and the monitor was in pieces. Darcy's pleading and whimpers were torture and Steve felt completely useless as his wife continued to struggle hard against his best friend. He shook his head and shouted for anyone to hear, “Please no. Please god, just stop, don't!”

“JARVIS, do you have any idea where on the premises there might be a little electricity? Just enough for lights and surveillance,” Natasha wondered, going to work on the computer at the desk, trying to find the source of the feed. She tried to tune out the sound of Darcy begging as she worked. It would help no one to give in to her own panic. “Clint? Do you see any clearing from the sky as you're coming in? Can you see the facility?”

“Please, Bucky, please stop!” Darcy whimpered as she tried to wriggle away from him as Bucky ripped the whimsical t-shirt she had on underneath. She let out a strangled cry as Bucky's lips landed on her neck, hands running up and down her bared torso.

“I see the facility, and there's a clearing about three miles southwest, looks like a small cabin,” Clint announced.

Steve was off like a shot out of the room.

“Got an audio feed in,” Natasha nodded. She began shouting different words for Stop in every language she knew while typing madly to get JARVIS into Hydra's computer system.

“ NAT?” Darcy yelled out. “Please help, and don't send Steve,  _ please!” _

Natasha took in a shaky breath as she finally managed to patch JARVIS into Hydra's computer, “JARVIS? Continue that. Darcy, I'm on my way. Keep fighting.”

Natasha followed, and she hit the hallway they had come in through. Steve was already out of the building and she doggedly followed, but was waylayed by a fresh wave of Hydra.

“Need some help in here,” she called out.

“Coming to you, Tash,” Clint reported.

“I am eager to destroy those that would make Lady Darcy suffer,” Thor promised.

Natasha began fighting, furious and deadly, taking down so many men that were nearly twice her size. She huffed into the comms, shaking her head, “You're not the only one.”

* * *

“Bucky, please, stop now, please,” Darcy sniffled as he kissed a line down her throat to the swells of her breasts. His metal hand reached around for her bra clasp and ripped it.

JARVIS was still trying different phrases and Darcy pushed at Bucky's head, giving her some space for a split second.

“German, JARVIS, try German!” Darcy ordered. She brought her legs up and planted her feet on Bucky's midsection, kicking with all of her strength, moving him just a little. “Bucky, stop this now! It shouldn't be this way. I know you're there, I know you can hear me, be stronger than them, please just be a little stronger.”

She kicked out at him again, and moved him this time as he looked stunned for a moment, staring down at her with confusion.

“You don't need to do this,” Darcy promised. “Steve is coming, I promise, and everything is going to be okay, just please stop. Please, we'll do this right. It'll be right and true and good. They can't make you do this. Please, Bucky.”

Bucky blinked at her, wavering between blankness and devastation with every beat of his heart.

“You can fight it, Honey, I know you can,” Darcy said sweetly, her hands going to his face and willing him to hold on.

Her sweet touch was his undoing. He was hit with such a strong physical need for her that it was easy for the programing to take back over. His mouth went back to her neck and his hands reached for her thighs, wrenching them apart as she screamed out in terror again.

JARVIS practically shouted out a phrase in German and Bucky froze, a harsh breath going into his lungs.

“Bucky?” Darcy asked in a tear soaked voice. “Bucky, are you okay now?'

His eyes widened in horror at the feel of her beneath him, he could feel her heart hammering and saw the tears, her bare chest rising and falling with pained and jagged breaths, her porcelain skin was painted with marks and red patches from his stubble. His tortured gaze went from her face, which was already relieved and full of forgiveness that he would never take from her, to where his hands were on her thighs. He removed them as if she were branding him with fire and he choked out a harsh gasp as he saw the marks already blooming on her pale skin.

He flew off of her and shook his head. There was a loud crashing against the door and it kept repeating over and over again at a rapid pace.

“Angel...no, I'm so---I'm so sorry,” he whispered, backing into the corner of the cabin and sliding down the wall. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

* * *

Steve was fast, making it about a mile and a half in a quarter of the time that it had taken him to run a mile two days ago. He felt himself being lifted off his feet again mid-step and Tony was behind him, giving him a lift the rest of the way. They landed right in front of the cabin and Tony dropped him on the ground before going to work on the five Hydra operatives surrounding the place. Steve sent his shield flying into the neck of the one by the door, allowing him to crumple.

“JARVIS, can you get these doors open?” Steve found that his voice sounded strangled as tears had been falling from his eyes from the moment he had seen the image on the monitor back at the Hydra base. He couldn't hear anymore yelling. He couldn't hear Darcy at all, but that could be because there was soundproofing. He took a deep breath, knowing that if the door opened and revealed whatever they had turned Bucky into hurting his wife, he would fight. He would do anything to stop it.

“I am running override attempts,” JARVIS promised. “It appears that I have found a code word in German to stop Darcy's attacker.”

_Darcy's attacker_ . Bucky. Bucky was attempting to force himself on Darcy. He didn't want to hurt Bucky, but the man who had been on top of Darcy on the surveillance feed hadn't been Bucky. Steve knew he would do whatever was necessary to protect his wife, no matter the cost. And his heart ached for it, because it was _Bucky_ .

JARVIS' attempt was not fast enough for Steve and he began ramming the metal door with the shield and his full strength. After the twelfth time he had thrown his full strength at the door, it bent inwards and he finally was able to see his wife and his best friend right in front of him.

“Babydoll?” he whispered to the trembling figure curled up into a ball on the bed, clutching the tattered remains of her shirt around her.

“Steve!” Darcy whimpered, looking up at him with wild, tear filled blue eyes. She broke at the sight of him, any strength she had been calling upon dissolving when she realized Steve was there to make everything right again. Her words were barely recognizable as she sobbed them out, “It's Bucky. And he didn't mean to! They...they put him in some kind of a trance.”

  
  


Steve looked to the corner of the cabin and saw that Bucky had backed himself into the corner, shaking from head to toe, his eyes steadily leaking tears while remaining unblinking and full of shame and terror.

“Babydoll,” Steve said softly, going to the bed and reaching for his wife. She had bandages and bruises all over, but most concerning was the angry hand prints on her thighs just below the sleep shorts that had gone missing two months ago during their move of her things from the tower to their Brooklyn apartment. Steve's stomach jolted unpleasantly and he felt a rage run through him. He reached for her and took a deep, shaky breath as she scampered into his arms. He held her close to him, her body was in a ball as she cried into his chest. “Darcy, are you okay?”

“Just...just scared. He didn't...he didn't,” Darcy stammered. She buried her face in Steve's neck and took a deep inhale, her cheek scratching against the material of his suit. “JARVIS said something in German and he just stopped and---I think he realized what they made him do and he's...it wasn't his fault, I swear, Steve. He's been so kind and good and protective.”

“I know, I know, babydoll,” Steve nodded, feeling some control coming back into himself as she was safe and solid under his fingertips. His rage wasn't for Bucky. It was for the monsters who had done this to him. He turned to Bucky and with Darcy still curled up into a ball against his chest, he knelt to look Bucky in the eye. He intentionally took the time to look at the man very closely. It wasn't Bucky from 1945, not by a long shot, but it also wasn't the man who had been attacking his wife earlier. He forced his voice to be calm and non-threatening, “Bucky...are you alright? It's---it's Steve.”

_ Jesus, punk. What'd they do to me? _

“Sorry,” Bucky whispered, looking up to see Darcy turning her face to look at him. He cringed and shrunk in on himself. “So sorry...”

“We're alright, it's okay, Buck,” Steve promised. “Darcy's okay....”

“No,” Bucky shook his head. “No. I hurt her. Oh god...”

Darcy reached for Bucky and he flinched away from her like a terrified animal, his movement causing her tears and whimpers to start anew.

“Take her to the quinnjet,” Natasha ordered as she came into the cabin.

_ Hey Buck, we know her, don't we? _

“Natalia?” Bucky looked up at her with a small amount of curiosity splashed across his miserable, guilty face.

“Asset?” she questioned.

“No...no,” Bucky shook his head.

Steve rose to standing again, and began taking cautious steps backwards, knowing that he trusted Natasha to take care of Bucky. Darcy's distress at Bucky's guilt was only making Bucky's guilt worse, which in turn made her even more distressed. He had to calm Darcy down, and getting her away from the cabin and into some clothing would help. Bucky watched them leave, his eyes full of sorrow and remorse. He didn't even flinch when Natasha started barking out phrases in German at him.

“Only one override for each programming,” Bucky mumbled, feeling cold and numb and wrecked with guilt as Steve disappeared from the cabin with Darcy in his arms. “No more overrides, you know this, Natalia.”

He'd come to from the haze the override had put him in lying on top of her with his mouth on her neck and his hands on her thighs. Her screams for him to stop were still ringing in his ears. He'd been forced to be a passive bystander as some monster he didn't know the name of took over control of his body and tried to do the unspeakable to Steve's wife. To _Darcy_ .

“Shackles?” Bucky asked Natasha.

“Unnecessary,” Natasha insisted.

“ _ Shackles _ ,” he demanded.

“Got them,” Tony nodded, coming into the cabin and handing Natasha two rings that quickly assembled into metal bands around Bucky's compliant wrists.

“Tash,” Clint said softly in her comm unit. “You can't take the guilt away, remember? You have to let him process it.”

Natasha nodded, pulling Bucky to his feet. They walked through the woods, following the path that Steve had made with Darcy, Bucky looking down with as much grim determination as he could, but he still looked up once or twice to see Steve carrying Darcy in the distance. Natasha and Bucky arrived at the quinnjet that he had watched Steve carry Darcy onto and Bucky shook his head.

“No,” he said quietly. “Take me by car. Somewhere far away from her. Somewhere secure.”

“I'm their pilot, and she needs medical attention. The rest of the team has work to do,” Natasha said simply. “Let's go.”

Bucky winced as she marched him onto the quinnjet that Steve and Darcy were already on. Steve still had Darcy cuddled to him with one arm as his other went for the bag that Natasha had packed for her. He pulled the neck hole of a soft gray t-shirt over her head and he patiently waited for her to put her arms up so he could pull it down over her torso.

Bucky's cheeks flamed as he tore his eyes away from them, staring at the ground.

“You didn't need the restraints, Bucky,” Steve said softly as he tossed a scrap of fabric from her old shirt that had been tucked into her shorts towards the medical waste bin. He stared at the man who had fallen from the train so long ago to the rest of the world, but to Steve, it had been less than a year. He tried to push down the feeling of anger and that the metal arm was giving Steve. It was a combination of outrage over Hydra using a good man and turning him into the kind of weapon that would attempt to hurt his wife. Steve swallowed and looked back down at Darcy. She was safe. She was in his arms and she said she was fine. More than fine...

Darcy turned in Steve's arms, an angry expression on her face.

“NAT! Unlock him,” she ordered.

“They were his idea,” Natasha said softly before going to prep the quinnjet for takeoff. Darcy and Bucky would be taken somewhere safe, and she and Steve would rejoin the others rounding up Hydra. Namely Alexander Pierce. Natasha sorely wanted to make Alexander Pierce pay for every drop of pain he had inflicted.

“ Bucky, that's not---” Darcy began, her voice cracking and her chin wobbling with renewed tears.  Yes,  _ someone  _ who looked an awful lot like Bucky had just tried to---but it wasn't Bucky.  It wasn't the sweet, charming best friend of her husband.  She refused to feel scared of the man currently in the shackles.  She couldn't be upset with him.  All of her anger was pointed at Hydra. 

“Really, Buck, you're safe now,” Steve finished.

“You two don't have a lick of damned sense in your heads!” Bucky shouted back at them angrily. “I'm _dangerous_ for you both. If...they'll try to make me hurt you. And I won't...I can't!”

Darcy's bottom lip trembled violently and she shook her head, “You won't.”

Bucky's glance fell to her exposed thighs, his angry, red, violent handprints on them were all the proof he needed as his gut twisted and a wave of bile threatened to choke him. “I already _did_ .”

* * *

* * *

  **Chapter Ten: I Don't Exactly Hate You, But if You Were on Fire, and I Had Water, I'd Drink It**

* * *

* * *

Bucky watched silently as Steve fussed over Darcy's injuries as she slipped in and out of sleep in his arms. He had managed to get her to drink a bottle of water, but couldn't get her to eat any of the snacks he had brought along as she claimed exhaustion made it impossible to want to eat. He'd offered Bucky the water and the snacks too, but Bucky had only given him a hard, dismissive look in return. This wasn't a fun trip to Coney Island where they packed their lunches, this was a prisoner transport.

Steve inspected every bandage on Darcy, but pointedly avoided the handprints on Darcy's thighs. He looked at the bandage on her calf that had an angry spot of blood on it.

“Shouldn't still be bleeding,” he furrowed his brow at it.

“Her...the serum,” Bucky offered, his words quiet and mumbled.

“What's that, Buck?” Steve asked, his eyes going up to his friend. He made sure to hide the initial flinch, telling himself that Bucky hadn't wanted to hurt Darcy. Would never have done it if Hydra hadn't gotten involved. Steve schooled his features to be carefully friendly, non-confrontational and only ever so slightly hopeful. “Do you know something about what happened?”

“The explosion, there was a piece of shrapnel there,” Bucky nodded to her calf. “They removed it and she was okay...but. The handler... _Pierce_ said that she had tested positive for the serum because of...because of...”

“Bodily fluids,” Natasha finished for him, speaking from her own experience.

“That happens?” Steve furrowed his brow, looking back down at his sleeping wife.

“You didn't notice?” Natasha wondered. “Never felt sluggish after sex? If you hadn't of shunned me for two whole months, I could have told you these things.”

“That's normal with or without the serum,” Steve mumbled, pointedly ignoring her pointing out his stubborn stupidity.

Bucky wanted to smile but fought valiantly against it. He knew that was true. He had experienced that with Steve before, when he was small. If they'd been particularly adventurous in their touches with each other, Steve would sleep in the next day, and was nearly impossible to drag out of bed.

“You never noticed she was particularly energetic afterward?” Natasha rolled her eyes. There was a reason Clint was always getting into trouble. He was always just a little too hyperactive. Natasha feared what Clint and Darcy could get up to when things settled back down to something resembling normal.

“How could I have thought that had anything to do with the serum? Darcy's always been energetic,” Steve insisted.

“Maybe around you. Around everyone else, she's a sloth. But it's clearly worn out,” Natasha turned her head to give a soft smile to a slumbering Darcy. She gave Steve an eyebrow arch and revealed, “It requires a lot of exposure.”

“It's been too long for her,” Bucky said softly. “It was healing, but now it's stopped because it's been too long since you...since you were with her. They were...they tried...”

“What'd they try, Bucky?” Steve asked quietly when Bucky trailed off into silence. Steve could feel the unpleasant turn of his stomach and he clutched Darcy closer.

“Told me I should help her with it...the serum,” Bucky stared off into the corner, focusing on a piece of plastic on the plane wall. “Before they wiped her.”

“Wipe?”

“Machine...a chair with electrodes,” Bucky explained, the hint of pain and fear coloring his voice. “It wipes the memories. The serum keeps you alive. If they tried it on her, the pain would have...she...”

“It didn't happen, Bucky,” Steve shook his head. He felt that familiar rage simmering in his gut again. The amount of hurt that Bucky had gone through over the decades was enough to make him want to rip every Hydra member apart piece by piece. Thank God Bucky had managed to protect Darcy from those particular horrors. “You kept her safe. Thank you.”

“I didn't, I hurt her,” Bucky disputed dismally. He toyed with the ring that was on the chain around his neck. “Never wanted to hurt her...I wanted to love her. They made me think she was mine. Gave me the memories of loving her, of marrying her. It was a lie, but I wanted to love her. She's a sweet Angel, Stevie. How'd you ever manage to open your mouth to talk to her?”

_ Now that sounds a little more like me. _

Steve's chest rose and fell in two short little huffs of laughter mixed with a cry.

“She asked me out, for a walk in the park. Almost didn't go, a voice in my head that sounded an awful lot like you told me to follow her,” Steve admitted. “Bucky...Darcy and I...we're matched.”

“Yeah,” Bucky nodded. “Figured.”

“And you and her are matched,” Steve said. “Don't know the numbers, but it's high. Almost as high as me and her.”

“99.96 percent,” Bucky said automatically. It was a number they had repeatedly given to him during programming.

“Buck...you and me, we're matched too,” Steve whispered. “Peggy found out when we were just starting the Howling Commandos.”

“Steve, it doesn't matter,” Bucky shook his head.

“Bucky, I know, I know what it feels like to be matched to Darcy like that. I know what that _want_ feels like,” Steve said softly. “I know how pulled you can be to her. Between the match and what they did to you, it's a miracle you---”

“It doesn't matter,” Bucky repeated.

“The three of us, we're...we're supposed to mean something to each other,” Steve soldiered on, oblivious to the building anger from Bucky.

“STEVE! It doesn't matter!” Bucky hissed. “I'm never going to---it's not going to happen. The happy life we wanted with the perfect girl, that's not going to ever happen.”

“Why?” Steve felt his eyes tearing up. “It's a miracle that you're sitting in front of me. It's a miracle the three of us are in the same time and place. Don't let them hurt you anymore, Buck.”

“Landing,” Natasha announced delicately.

“Take her someplace and...and make some time with her,” Bucky said as delicately as possible. “If something bad is coming her way, I want to make sure she can heal right.”

* * *

“Tracker is enabled on the Asset's arm.”

Pierce gave a nod as their vehicle sped down a highway at a ridiculous pace. The entirety of Hydra was exposed to the world's gaze, and countless loyal supporters to Hydra's cause had been incarcerated in the span of a few hours. Their funds had been frozen. Their technology had been compromised. But he would not give up. He would not surrender. He would retrieve his Asset and make him pay for the disobedience.

And he would bring Darcy Lewis back and put her in the wipe chair first. He'd make Bucky Barnes watch as they wiped her brain of everything that made her  _ her _ . And then his own wipe would allow him to remember her pain, to remember just what his disobedience had cost him.

“Tracker has been disabled in the Asset's arm,” the same operative announced with an aggravated sigh. “We have approximate coordinates, but nothing concrete.”

“Just get as close as you can. Remember that there is no reset for him now,” Pierce advised the ops leader in the front seat of the SUV. “If they ran the arm through an EMP, see if you can remotely reboot the connection to the fail safe in his arm.”

“If it enters his bloodstream, we could lose him,” the lone lab technician that had made the escape from the facility piped up.

“I trust that our tactical forces will be able to ensure his compliance,” Pierce snapped. “Rogers will be heading back out into the fray when we put the distraction into play at the Triskellion.”

“Signal traces show that a portal was activated similar to the portal from the battle of New York.”

“Bring everyone,” Pierce advised. “Retrieval of the Asset is the number one priority.”

“Sir, I don't think you are thinking clearly, surely our number one priority should be---”

The high ranking Hydra operative had a bullet in his brain before he could finish the sentence. Pierce looked around at the rest of his companions in the car.

“Anymore suggestions?”

There was silence in the vehicle and Pierce nodded. “Get me a connection with the WCHS. I think it's about time we asked for their assistance. We're going to need to formally challenge Darcy Lewis' match with Captain America.”

* * *

“Where the hell do you think you're going?”

Steve's eyes widened at the sight of Bucky standing in front of the camper that he had taken his wife to, a clucking Jane following him in with Bruce to check over Darcy's injuries. Once it was clear that with food and rest and time, she would be absolutely fine, Steve had given her a gentle kiss and promised that he would be back as soon as he could. She'd given him a more thorough kiss and told him that if he didn't come back in one piece she'd kick him in the balls.

Bucky was standing in front of the camper, still shirtless, his hands still bound, Natasha standing right next to him with a smirk on her face.

“Buck, there's kind of a situation going on right now, I've got to go and deal with all the Hydra operatives we can find,” Steve explained.

“Did you give her what she needed?” Bucky demanded, glaring at Natasha when she snorted with laughter. “Cause that was kind of quick, and I don't remember much, but I definitely don't remember you performing for casual friends before.”

“Now is not the time,” Steve said quietly, a blush staining his cheeks.

“What if someone comes up on this camp? It's not exactly secure,” Bucky looked around at the four people dressed as if they were in a movie with knights and dragons.

“Save your breath, puny warrior,” the large bearded one bellowed from a camp fire he had started. “We can fight far better than one so damaged as you.”

All of Bucky's righteous indignation at Steve's failure to bed Darcy properly flew from his sails and his face fell, knowing that the crazily attired man was right. He was damaged.

Steve turned sharply to Volstaag and pointed a finger, “Watch your mouth, Asgardian.”

Hogun punched Volstaag in the arm and the bearded warrior huffed a sigh before giving a nod of apology to Bucky.

“If someone comes to this camp, I have every faith that you will protect her, and that she will protect herself,” Steve took a deep swallow, his face resolute. Everything in him wanted to stay, to make sure that both Bucky and Darcy were alright. But he wouldn't feel right if he didn't go out and finish what he started, and he knew Darcy felt the same way.

Bucky's face was set in an angry, annoyed expression and his jaw ticked as he wrenched his hands apart, breaking the restraints that Tony had provided as if they were no more than cardboard.

“You could have asked for me to let you out of them,” Natasha rolled her eyes, walking back towards the quinnjet.

“You're still a stupid, reckless punk,” Bucky grumbled at Steve. “Still a punk who thinks about others before himself even if it's the dumbest idea in the world.”

“And you're still the only jerk I'd trust with everything, Buck...she's everything,” Steve whispered. He reached for the man he had thought he had lost on that train back in 1945. His arms went around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. His voice was soft and earnest in Bucky's ear, the words as much for himself as they were for Bucky, “You didn't hurt her. It wasn't you. And don't say you're sorry, cause there's nothing to forgive. She's asking for you, please don't shut yourself away from us. She's my everything, Buck. She could be your everything too. You and her...you're going to be all I ever want or need. Do you understand?”

“You're too damned reckless for your own good,” Bucky whispered. He winced as Steve placed a kiss on his temple. He didn't deserve Steve. He didn't deserve his faith or his trust.

“Well then, Darcy and I are going to need you to keep us out of trouble,” Steve wagered. He looked down at Bucky's arm and furrowed his brow. “When Dr. Banner and Jane are done with Darcy, maybe we can have them take a look at the arm...it might have something in it that Hydra could use to track you.”

“I already ran an emp on it, the tracker should be disabled,” Natasha called out from the quinnjet. “Still, have them take a look. JARVIS will take a scan of your arm in the RV, he's fully functional in there. Let's get your ass in gear, Rogers. Wilson and Rhodey need some assistance in DC.”

“Hey, just, I'm so glad you're here right now,” Steve pulled away from Bucky by a few inches and locked his gaze on Bucky's own doubtful eyes. “Buck---it's only felt like a few months for me, since you fell...but it was long enough for me to learn a hard lesson. You should know before I leave that I love you. I've always loved you, okay? And me and Darcy...yeah, we're a perfect match, but both of us talked about it before...you were like, a voice in my head and if any girl in the universe could stand up to what you and I have it's my wife, Buck...she's our perfect match---”

“ROGERS!” Natasha shouted out. “Something is happening at the Triskellion!”

“Alright!” Steve nodded. He kissed Bucky's temple again and said, “Keep her safe for me, would you? Don't shut her out. Don't let your guilt over something that wasn't your fault make you run from her. She's so good, Buck.”

“Yeah, she is,” Bucky whispered. He opened his mouth and closed it again. He gave Steve a conflicted, but earnest look. “Love you.”

“Yeah, I know you do,” Steve nodded. “I'll be back for you soon.”

* * *

“Are you okay? I mean...have you eaten lately? Do you need a bottle of water? Maybe we should change that bandage. You're looking kind of pale, you should eat something. Oh! I have some homemade granola bars in that bag over there, Steve brought them from the hotel.”

Bruce smirked as Jane sat on the edge of the bed in the back of the camper staring down at Darcy as she non-stopped mother henned her.

“ Seriously?” We had hot dogs and s'mores like two hours ago,” Jane huffed out in annoyance. “And you look like  _ shit _ .”

“ JANIE!” Darcy gasped. “Steve said I looked beautiful. And also,  _ you had s'mores  _ without me?”

“Steve's an idiot in love. And yeah, you got yourself kidnapped, you don't deserve s'mores until your wounds have healed. You need a shower, a nap, a couple gallons of water and like, eight hot dogs,” Jane insisted.

“But...Bucky,” Darcy shrugged. She couldn't do any of what Jane had told her until she knew Bucky was right there within arms reach and not in danger of bolting. And also until he had forgiven himself, because it was hurting her heart to think that he was feeling guilty over what Pierce had put them through. “Bruce, can you go and see if he'll come in here? Maybe check him over too? He got shot in the arm, but his super healing is permanent and doesn't need constant boning to stick around.”

“ I'll---yeah, I'll do that,” Bruce nodded,  _ quickly  _ walking out of the RV.

“C'mon, go shower at least,” Jane insisted, pulling at Darcy's arms with her uninjured arm. “A warm shower always knocks you out. And you heard Bruce, what you need to heal isn't super serum STD's, it's rest.”

“Janie?” Darcy asked as she barely sat on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, Darce?” Jane looked down in concern.

“I'm really glad you're okay,” Darcy sniffled. The last she had seen of Jane had her crumpling to the ground after being shot. She had been so terrified and on a razor's edge during her captivity with Hydra that she had pushed Jane's fate to the back of her brain, always right there, scratching at her conscience. “I don't know what I would do if you were more hurt.”

“ Hey, you didn't do this to me, and I'm  _ fine _ ,” Jane insisted, pulling again at Darcy's arms. “Remember, we're small little maidens, but we're tougher than we look, alright?”

“Alright,” Darcy struggled to her feet to give Jane a hug, but found that she was a lot weaker than she thought and with a panicked yelp, both Jane and Darcy toppled to the floor.

The door to the RV slammed open and Bucky was inside of the vehicle in a heartbeat, his eyes darting around in panicked assessment. He rushed towards the pair of crying women on the floor and gently pulled them to their feet. He tried his best not to wince when Darcy essentially melted into him, her arms wrapping around his torso, her legs still jelly and forcing him to hold her up.

“Bucky,” she whispered against his chest.

He couldn't help the way she made him feel. He was filled with that warm, bone-crushing contentment that threatened to rob him of every ounce of sanity. He wanted to hold her and fuss over her injuries as Steve had done. He wanted to protect her and take care of her for the rest of their days. He closed his eyes as he supported her weight against him, her little breaths of air against the bare skin of his chest the only thing keeping him remotely grounded.

“So...I'm going to go check on the camp. Fandral was threatening to do a war cry to bring the enemy to him earlier and I want to make sure that doesn't happen,” Jane nodded.

Bucky looked up at Jane and nodded.

“I'm sorry I shot you,” he said bluntly.

“It happens,” Jane shrugged. She wrinkled her nose in thought and shook her head. “Well, it doesn't happen, really. And fair warning, Shiny Metal Arm, but if you try that shit again? I'll portal your ass out of this dimension. And also, I have a Norse God boyfriend who could probably wreck you, dude.”

“I'm sorry,” Bucky repeated.

“Can you just...take care of her? She needs to eat something...maybe shower. But definitely she needs to sleep,” Jane said resolutely. “Can you do that?”

“ Yes,” Bucky nodded, biting back the ingrained urge to say  _ mission accepted _ . He watched as the small scientist left. Dr. Jane Foster. He remembered her from the programming. They had not gotten the attitude correct. He had been conditioned to believe her brilliant and shy. Darcy's closest friend was far from shy.

“Please don't leave me,” Darcy whispered against Bucky's chest. “Please stay, okay?”

“Alright, Angel,” Bucky nodded, feeling weak for giving in so easy. He knew he should stay away, but it was clear she needed him and he knew in an instant he would never be able to deny her anything. And that wasn't the programming speaking any more. “I---I'll stay.”

“And---and forgive yourself,” Darcy demanded. She peered up at him with imploring blue eyes. “That wasn't you, that was them. You're not their monster.”

He remained silent, his eyes telling her all she needed to know. He didn't believe her. He was wrecked with guilt and despair. Her hands stroked his back up and down and she pressed her lips over his heart.

“Please stop,” Bucky begged, his voice ragged. “I can't---I can't have you touching me that way.”

“Okay,” Darcy nodded, pulling away on unsteady feet. “I'm sorry.”

“Darcy, Angel, you got nothing to be sorry for,” Bucky shook his head. “I can't control myself, I'm a fucking monster, and when you touch me like that, I want you so damned badly, I can hardly see straight.”

Darcy nodded. She knew what that felt like.

Twice over.

“Steve loves you,” Darcy said softly. “And Steve loves me.”

Bucky swallowed, knowing that both of her sets of words were true.

“Bucky, we're going to wait for Steve to come back,” Darcy promised. “But you should know, that I'm...do you remember talking with Steve about a special girl? That...that wouldn't mind sharing and would understand?”

Bucky's head moved in a barely perceptible nod.

“That's me,” Darcy said insistently, not leaving one small space for doubt. “I'm that girl. I'm Steve's match for a reason. We are really stubborn when it comes to getting what we think is right. And the three of us? That's right.”

She reached up on her tip toes, a move that brought her off balance again, and Bucky wrapped his arms around her, pulling her off the ground as their lips met, soft and innocently enough at first, but one little happy quiet sound at the back of her mouth had him reacting more than he would have liked. He tightened his hold on her, bringing her feet higher off the floor as she opened her lips to him, meeting his tongue with fervor and renewed energy.

Darcy gave another happy noise, enjoying the kiss that was basically the mirror image of Steve's kiss. She could feel that warmth pooling low in her belly. Now that they were safe, now that Steve knew exactly where they were and Hydra was so far away, Darcy could acknowledge just how much she wanted Bucky.

She wanted him a lot.

But more importantly, she wanted him for both her and Steve. She pulled away from Bucky's lips and looked into his face curiously. And instead of the guilt and the pain, she only saw that same desirous want that was coursing through her system. And a hint of hope. The smallest sliver.

“Soon, Bucky,” she promised in a whisper. “We're going to bring you home, and everything is going to be put to right. I promise.”

Bucky nodded, willing her words to come true. Her touch, her kiss felt like magic. He could feel the guilt he wanted to hold onto being wrenched from him forcefully. There were so many gaps in his mind, places where the memories refused to surface and he knew that they were horrible things, things he did when they were his monster. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to have her in every way. He wanted to hold her in between he and Steve, safe and happy. But he inherently knew that his need for her threatened her safety.

He could make her happy though. Between he and Steve, she could always be happy if he just tried hard enough to keep the darkness away.

A sound made both of them jump and they looked down to where their bodies were pressed together. Both of their stomachs were growling impatiently. They both laughed, and some sort of sad, desolate spell had broken as basic human needs overrode any need for pain or grief or guilt.

“Okay, come on, Honey, let's eat these granola bars and I'll see what Pepper's PA had stocked in the fridge that we can whip up,” Darcy nodded. She wiggled in his grasp and gave him an arched eyebrow. “Put me down.”

_ Do that pay me in kisses thing you used to do to me during the summer of '39. She's gonna love that and I wanna see her smile. _

“You gotta pay the toll first,” Bucky pouted his lips together in a slightly exaggerated kissing motion. He walked two steps towards the little kitchenette with her in his arms before she kissed him again, gentle and sweet. He hummed when she pulled away and placed her on the ground. “So...when did Stevie tell you about our plan?”

“Uhm, four days ago?” Darcy shrugged as she handed him a granola bar.

“You really roll with the punches, don't you?” Bucky shook his head in astonished amusement.

“Best way to avoid getting punched!” Darcy nodded with a maniacal grin before chomping down on her snack.

“Well, that's a better answer than Steve would have,” Bucky shrugged. “He'd say...”

“Just run right into the punch,” Darcy finished for him.

_ Gosh my wife really gets me. Kiss her again for me. _

“Yeah, that's about right, Angel,” Bucky gave her a soft, sad smile. “And in this scenario, I'm the punch.”

“Shut your face, James Buchanan Barnes,” Darcy squinted at him. She finished her granola bar and opened the fridge and looked curiously inside. “How do you feel about grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup? I'd make you something nicer, but I'm feeling kind of tired.”

“Stevie should have taken care of you proper before he left,” Bucky huffed out in annoyance, taking the container of soup from her and placing it on the counter before taking other ingredients out of her hands.

“He had to go and fight off Hydra,” Darcy waved him off, pulling out bread from the cabinet and then reaching down for a griddle and a pot. “Besides, we shouldn't really be...you know, exchanging bodily fluids cause they took out my implant.”

“Your arm?” Bucky questioned, his finger going over the small bandage on her upper arm. “What---what's it do?”

“Stops me from getting pregnant,” Darcy answered quickly, dumping the soup in the pot and firing up the two burners on the small stove top.

Bucky swallowed and nodded. “Because...they wanted you to have my---my children.”

“Yeah, that asshat Pierce said that I'd be giving Hydra its future legacies or some stupid, asinine shit like that,” Darcy wrinkled her nose as she continued to work on their impromptu meal.

“Sorry,” Bucky whispered.

“ Honey, no, that's not you,” Darcy shook her head. “The world that you and Steve left behind in 1945 changed  _ a lot _ . People basically think that the only way babies can be made is between a matched man and a woman. But...my parents weren't matched at all. Just like your parents and Steve's parents weren't. The WCHS enforces the matches and basically makes the whole world believe that they're doing something good.”

“It was just a dating pool,” Bucky shrugged. “I didn't even take the little test seriously. Think I remember answering one of the questions as a joke.”

“You did what?” Darcy's eyes widened.

“I was bored. Wanted to see if I'd get matched to a crazy dame, so I answered something with a silly answer. Don't remember what,” Bucky shrugged.

“Bucky...do you realize that if you had answered it the right way, that you and Steve might be a higher match?” Darcy said quietly. “That you and I might be a higher match?”

Bucky shrugged in response.

“Oh, honey, we are so doing one of those practice tests and running the numbers,” Darcy shook her head. She smiled as Bucky looked in the cabinets and pulled out bowls and plates for them, pulling the soup off the stove and splitting it between the bowls as Darcy flipped their sandwiches onto plates. “You know that Stevie and I would be 100% if he wasn't so damned hardheaded about holding a grudge?”

“I think I could believe that,” Bucky nodded. “What do you think is different about us?”

“ Hmmm....maybe it's the fact that you just ate your crusts first off your sandwich,” Darcy laughed as Bucky continued to eat the buttery, cheesy sandwich very quickly. “ _ Heathen _ .”

JARVIS interrupted them with a gentle chime that he had used to interrupt more intimate times between Steve and Darcy before.

“I am intercepting a wireless signal from Sergeant Barnes' prosthetic arm,” JARVIS revealed. “I am currently blocking all signals in the RV, but initial scans of the arm suggest small vials and a triggering mechanism in the forearm.”

“Call Bruce and Jane back, now, please JARVIS,” Darcy requested. She spun in a circle in the RV and nodded, going towards the glove compartment up front and digging through it. “If Pepper put this together then there is definitely one of Tony's, well there are definitely parts for an Iron Man Suit stashed all over but---ha, yes.”

She came back to the counter where Bucky was standing in relative fear. He had managed one small moment where he did not think about Hydra or pain or torment, just enjoying a nice meal with the sweetest girl he'd ever met. And of course they had tried to come back for him. He stared down at his prosthetic, wondering what it meant. Vials and a triggering mechanism. If it was a bomb, Darcy was in danger.

And of course she wasn't running from it. At all. She opened up the small toolbox and stared down at the set of tools that Tony considered essential.

“JARVIS, do you know how to access the inside of his arm?” Darcy wondered.

“I will transmit the scan of the arm to the television unit.”

Darcy looked and nodded before turning her face to look up at Bucky. She held up a small little chisel and a clamp and asked, “Permission to get all up inside of you, Honey?”

“Uhm...yeah, there's a switch there,” Bucky pointed to a plate just above his wrist. “It'll stop it from moving until it reboots.”

“Cool,” Darcy nodded. Bruce and Jane came rushing back into the RV, Bruce's eyes widening as Darcy had wasted no time in digging in Bucky's arm. “It's just like one of your little machines, Janie. Just less duct tape. Also, sexier.”

“My machines are plenty sexy!” Jane scoffed at her. She gave Bucky a once over and shrugged. “He's marginally sexier.”

“Okay, got it,” Darcy nodded. “Bruce...can you tell what any of these things are?”

Bruce took a peek at the three tiny vials that Darcy had revealed. One blue, one green and one clear.

“Seeing as we're dealing with a collective of the worst kind of evil on the face of the planet, I would assume that at least one is a poison, and another an explosive,” Bruce nodded.

“One of them could be like...knockout gas but in fluid form?” Jane hypothesized.

“Well, I'm going to take them out, because all of that sounds like assloads of awful,” Darcy nodded.

“Solid plan,” Jane nodded, going for the cabinet and pulling out three little tupperware containers. She took each vial from Darcy and handed the container to Bruce.

“Uhm...JARVIS?” Bucky questioned.

“Yes Sergeant Barnes?”

“Can you unblock the signal now?” Bucky wondered. He looked to Jane and Bruce. “If the enemy comes here, how well can those kooky knights out there fight?”

“We'll be protected,” Jane nodded.

“I'm pretty handy in a fight, myself,” Bruce shrugged sheepishly.

“Sure you are, Doc,” Bucky nodded in disbelief. “Yeah, let's unblock the signal. And tell Steve that we're about to get unfriendly visitors here.”

* * *

* * *

 


	31. Rearranged (3/3)

 

  **Chapter Eleven: There is Only One Problem with Your Face, I Can See It**

  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  


"What on Earth have you done, Nicholas?!"

Nicholas J. Fury, Director of Shield, did not scare easily.  He had seen more atrocities and horror in his life than nearly any other living person on the planet.  But as they looked out into the harbor and watched one of the hardly finished helicarriers rising out of the bay, he felt real fear.

One reason being that he knew the helicarrier wasn't ready.  They had two more years until they were close to launch.  He'd almost had one of his  _ finished  _ helicarriers fall out of the sky with him on it, he was not eager to have it happen again. Someone else had launched the machine.

The second reason being that the 91 year old co-founder of his organization was watching the entire scene unfurl at his side. And she was none too pleased. And she was armed. And she had already proven to be bored even after shooting a Hydra mole in the ass.

"Project Insight is not ready for deployment.  This is not my doing," Fury explained as Maria Hill went to the computer system by his desk and began trying to override it.  Sharon immediately began speaking lowly over her comm unit with Natasha.

"Explain to me please why a project I killed twenty-five years ago as my last act as Director is currently launching into the sky?" Peggy Carter demanded angrily.  She glared up at Fury and shook her head in slow disgust.  "This is protection for the Earth?"

"Pierce was pushing for it.  It seemed like a worthwhile investment in the event that the Avengers could not---"

"I see, so, we have the project that was the pet of a Hydra idiot rising into the sky at the moment," Peggy nodded.  "Nicholas, it does not take a genius to come to the conclusion that a loaded weapon in the sky, controlled by Hydra, is not going to only shoot at the bad guys."

"Steve and Natasha are on their way, half an hour out," Sharon nodded.  "Sam and Rhodey will be here in ten minutes."

"Bring Sitwell back up here," Peggy leveled Fury with an arched eyebrow.  "NOW, Nicholas!"

* * *

To say that the Warriors Three were eager for a battle was probably an understatement.  A combination of campfire enhanced sugar, a flask of strong meade, and a few hours of rousing storytelling by the fire had acted as a sort of lit fuse to their thirst for battle.   Even Sif was exhibiting signs of impatience for violence as she adjusted her weapons and followed Jane's every movement, eyes tracking for any possible attacker that would try and hurt Thor's intended.

Hogun was perhaps the most even keeled of all the Asgardians, and he approached Bucky with a silent nod of acknowledgment.

"For your troubles," Hogun held out a dark flask to Bucky as he went over his own weaponry. 

"For my what now?" Bucky furrowed his brow, taking the flask nonetheless and sniffing at it.  It smelled wonderful, like the world's best whiskey. 

"Your ailment," Hogun shrugged, pointing to his head in explanation. "To heal and continue the Norn's blessed work. To protect and ease the way."

"Whatever you say, pal," Bucky nodded.  Hogun was easier to deal with than the big bearded one or the one who was making eyes at him, Darcy and Bruce. And the shapely tree a few paces off. 

He took a swig of the nice smelling liquor and closed his eyes as the feeling of butterscotch melted on his tongue and slid down his throat.  He staggered on his feet and blinked.  It warmed him through and through immediately, he could feel it going from the pit of his stomach, up his spine, climbing faster and faster until he felt his whole face flush.  His brain sung suddenly, a loud crescendo of a trio of voices going from dissonant to harmony.  He could hear Darcy cutting through the lovely sound...she was shouting at something, or someone.  Oh, she was shouting at Hogun.

"What did you give him?!? JANIE!  Come and control your future people!" Darcy screamed, taking Bucky by the hands and looking up at him in concern.  He looked dazed and his eyes were completely unfocused.  But it wasn't that terrifying weapon of mass destruction blank that Hydra had shoved him into, he was still there, just...non-responsive. She went up on her tiptoes and put her hands on either side of his face, palms tickling from his stubble.  "Bucky?  Honey?  Are you alright?"

Sif had rushed over to the trio, Jane in tow, and grabbed the flask away from Bucky, taking a sniff.

"Lady Darcy, do not be troubled," she shook her head, handing the flask back to Hogun.  "Medicinal meade.  Hogun will sip at it occasionally for his own injuries."

"Bucky isn't injured!" Darcy insisted, looking up at him while she moved his face back and forth, hoping to get a reaction.  "Didn't anyone ever tell you that sharing prescriptions is bad?"

"It will do him good," Hogun promised.  "When Thor accidentally dropped the hammer on my head, I had lost all of my memories."

"And your life for a few hours," Sif rolled her eyes.

"My time in Valhalla was all too brief," Hogun nodded.  "Queen Frigga brewed this remedy for me herself.  All will be well for your soul's match."

"What?" Darcy squinted at Hogun quickly, before looking back at Bucky.  She stroked his jaw and whispered, "Come on, Bucky, you're okay, come back to me, please."

Bucky finally blinked, and the dazed look dissipated, replaced with a brilliant sparkling pale blue as he stared down at her.  Strong hands were around her waist in a heartbeat, pulling her to be flush against his body.

"Hey there, gorgeous," he smiled down at her before placing a kiss on her lips.  "Stevie won't mind, I've got some kisses to catch up on to be square with him."

"What?" Darcy whispered, feeling light and airy as he held her close.  "Are you alright?"

"I feel fantastic," Bucky nodded.  His hands crept down from her waist and suddenly he had two whole handfuls of her perfectly rounded bottom.  "You feel even more fantastic."

"Oh no, you're charming as hell," Darcy whispered, her voice a combination of fear and delight.

"Fixed," Hogun nodded before scampering off back to the fire to retrieve his swords he had set in the small blaze to cleanse them in preparation for righteous battle.

"What do you mean, fixed?" Darcy yelled back at him.

Hogun pointed to his brain, tapping against it impatiently and repeated, "Fixed."

"It is temporary," Sif assured her.  "If you prefer to have him broken."

"What, no---I don't, how temporary?" Darcy wondered.

"Hogun does not have to drink the draught often," Sif pursed her lips in thought.  "Only every few centuries."

"Holy shit," Darcy breathed. 

“There is the initial euphoria, it will only last a few days,” Sif nodded. “Hogun is very handy in battle after taking it, even if the constant giggling is a little much.”

  
  


Euphoria? Bucky could believe it. He couldn't remember feeling so good. He was hard pressed to remember the bad that had seemed to be all consuming just a few hours ago. And he was _really_ looking forward to being handy in battle. The idea of ripping apart the people who had tried to ruin everything that was him was a very good one at the moment.

"Can I get one of those ear things?" Bucky wondered.  "I'd like to talk to Stevie."

* * *

"This feels like a trap," Steve sighed as he sat next to Natasha as she piloted the quinnjet towards the Triskellion.

"Does it feel like a trap because you didn't want to leave Bucky and Darcy behind?" Natasha wondered.

"No, I never want to leave them behind again, if I can manage it," Steve huffed out defensively.  "But still, it feels like the Triskellion is a distraction."

"Steve, we're fine here, if you want to go back to Darcy," Peggy announced over the comms airily.

"Peggy," Steve shook his head in bemusement.  The 91 year old had been at the top of her game all day long. Of course she thought she could take down a helicarrier on her own.

"JARVIS, run the takeover codes on that hellicarrier," Tony requested.

"Certainly, Sir.  Twenty-two minutes until takeover codes can be activated."

"You have takeover codes on my helicarriers, Stark?" Fury demanded.

"You have helicarriers ready and waiting to mow people down from 30,000 feet in the air?" Tony countered.  Peggy snorted over the comms and Fury was silent.  "Thought so."

"We need a flier to get on board that helicarrier and replace a piece of circuitry," Maria requested, finishing up the programming on the card that she had managed to get together with the intel that Sharon and Peggy had ruthlessly pulled from a whimpering Sitwell.

"I'm currently cradled in the strong arms of a Norse God," Clint announced.  "We were heading back to Jane's camp."

“Clint, you can't _actually_ fly,” Natasha rolled her eyes.

  
  


“Uhm, right now, I kind of AM,” Clint disputed.

  
  


"I got this,” Rhodey announced.

"Too slow," Sam insisted, whizzing towards the Triskellion.

"So you see, Steve, we do have this situation handled," Peggy promised.  "You should go back to the camp."

"I really gotta agree there, pal.  Get your ass back here."

Steve furrowed his brow.  That had sounded an awful lot like the Bucky he heard in his brain all the time.  Natasha gave Steve an amused look and nudged him. 

"Buck?" Steve questioned. 

"One of those out of this world nutjobs used some kind of crazy periscope.  Says the enemy is about ten minutes away.  I'm pretty sure we can handle it on our own, but it would never hurt to have Captain America here to put the fear of the Stars and Stripes into nasty ole Hydra."

Natasha turned the quinnjet immediately and pushed it to its limits as she went back to the place they had started out at.  Steve had to grip onto the seat to keep from sliding to the floor.

"Is Darcy alright?" Steve wondered.

"She's better than alright, she's outta this world," Bucky relayed with a chuckle.  "She's got the RV loaded with Dr. Foster's things and she and the two doc's are on it, ready to zoom off like a bat outta hell if things go south."

"Good...that's great, Buck," Steve nodded. 

"Fifteen minutes," Natasha announced.

"Alright, punk.  See you soon."

* * *

Bucky adjusted the shirt he had nicked from Steve's bag, wondering how in the hell Steve had managed to stuff himself into it.  It felt too tight on Bucky, and Steve was just a bit bulkier than him.  The kevlar vest that Darcy had forced on him also felt too tight, and Bucky realized the only thing he missed about Hydra were the perfectly crafted uniforms they had provided. 

He'd have to see if Stevie could steer him in the right direction.  Those stars and stripes always fit him just right.

"Hey, you still okay?" Darcy questioned him as she stood on the steps to the RV, even a few inches off the ground, she wasn't eye to eye with him, staring up at him in curiosity.

"What's it gonna take for you to stop asking me that every time you see me, Angel?" Bucky wondered.

"Uhm, maybe more than half an hour of being you know...all together?" Darcy proposed.  "Like, say, next week, if you're still all together, I promise to stop asking so much."

"How's about we work out a code instead?" Bucky waggled his eyebrows at her.  He leaned in and kissed her, slow and soft and enticing.  "You stand there and do something cute...yeah, there it is.  You're cute right now and you ain't even trying.  And when you do that, I'll know you're worrying that smart little head of yours, and I'll do this."

Another kiss and Darcy gave a cross between a giggle and a sigh when he pulled away.

"And when I do that, you'll know I'm just fine," Bucky assured her.

"And Steve is supposed to be the man with a plan," Darcy laughed. 

"Alright, get that cute caboose of yours in the car," Bucky told her, smacking another kiss against her forehead. 

"Please be careful," Darcy whispered.  "I don't...I don't want them to take you from me and Steve.  Ever again."

"It'll never happen," Bucky assured her with an easy smile.  He closed the door after she hopped back on and he turned back on his comm unit.  "Stevie, it's alright that I've been kissing your sidecar seven ways to Sunday, isn't it?"

"What? uhm...sure, yeah, Buck," Steve laughed out of pure disbelief and amusement.

"Hey, Steve, do I get to kiss your sidecar?" Stark wondered. 

"Sure, Tony, if you want to see what it's like to be in traction, you do that," Steve chuckled.

"I think that we should all be able to kiss your sidecar," Clint huffed out.

"I wouldn't complain," Natasha smirked. 

Bucky focused on the sunset in the distance, and he saw armored cars rushing towards them in the night. 

"Doctor Foster?  Make sure you're all strapped in.  If they get past us, I'll give you the go ahead to leave," Bucky nodded patting the vehicle absently before walking away to stand next to the warriors Three and Sif. 

  
  


Bucky didn't have his rifle, but he was armed to the teeth with blades and guns that had been right next to the cereal in the RV.  Darcy had explained that like Natasha, Pepper Potts planned for the worst case scenario, because being involved with Tony Stark usually did involve the worst case scenario.  That was convenient, because being around Steve and himself, the worst was usually bound to happen.

Case in point, as they moved away from the RV towards the oncoming enemy, a small, but potent missile came rushing their way from one of the Hydra vehicles coming up on them. 

Hogun tossed one of his swords, letting it fly through the air, and while it didn't knock the missile out of the sky, it did send it veering off course, landing fifty feet to the right in an empty spot. 

"Uhm...that sounded bad?" Jane wondered.

"We're fine," Bucky assured her.

"Darcy is freaking out," Jane announced. 

"Tell her not to worry," Bucky insisted,

"Oh, it's much too late for that, Buckaroo," Jane huffed out in annoyance, her voice wobbly as the RV took off into the night. 

It was just as well.  With only four fierce, but still medievally equipped warriors and himself, it was only a matter of time before the Hydra operatives started to slip through.  Bucky was honestly just hoping to hold out long enough for Steve and Natasha to return.  And he had been counting on the fact that Darcy was the best damned driver he had ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on.

He didn't have to worry if she had already taken off with Jane and Banner in tow.  The mild-mannered Doctor Banner had assured him that if something went wrong, he and _Big Green_ would be able to protect the ladies.  And Jane had explained that she had a portal device, ready and able to send enemies into cold, unforgiving space if they got too close.

It was about containing and keeping the line until reinforcements got there.  He and the Asgardians could manage that. 

"INTO THE FRAY!" Volstaag hollered and Bucky found himself letting out a similar battle cry to the the Asgardians as they rushed towards the nearest stopped vehicle that was letting out a dozen hydra operatives.  There were at least fifteen trucks, loaded to the brim with those that were willing to give their lives to Hydra, and more specifically to Pierce.

He took down as many as he could with his handguns, before using Volstaag as cover to reload.  Hydra was returning fire, obviously not caring if they put a few bullets into Bucky, when they knew they could just rip them out and he'd heal just fine.  Bucky realized that the Asgardians were doing just fine as well, they was a good reason for them to be wearing armor, he supposed, although he'd prefer to stick with black kevlar.

And when a bullet grazed Sif's bicep, it only seemed to enrage her more, and she sent at least five men flying into the cool summer air. 

"Hey, Stevie?  ETA?" Bucky wondered.  "They brought everyone here, I think...so, you know, everyone should probably BE HERE."

"Five minutes," Natasha promised. 

"Hold on, Buck," Steve said softly.  "I'm coming.  They're not going to get you again."

"Not me, I'm worried about, pal," Bucky assured him.

* * *

Jane rolled her eyes at the maudlin dramatics of the 1940's super soldier boyfriends and poked Darcy in her arm as the younger woman drove like a person possessed.  Bruce was starting to look green, and not in the fun Hulk way. 

"I told you to take the dramamine," Jane muted her comm piece and gave Bruce a knowing look.

"Makes me sleepy," Bruce shrugged, swallowing nervously as Darcy took a wicked turn that had the RV up on two wheels.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Jane wondered.  "I mean, Bucky should have just let me blip the whole Hydra army into space."

"Janie, you can't just go around blipping huge amounts of bad guys into space.  Eventually?  Space is going to get angry and send them back!" Darcy rolled her eyes.

"Meh," Jane shrugged.  "Seriously, where are we going?"

"To the other side of the field?" Darcy answered.  "We're going to flank them.  Don't tell the super soldiers."

Jane laughed and flipped her portal device in her hand.  She'd be able to see her little prototype in action soon.  Natasha had given it high marks in the field, but it wasn't the same as being able to see the success for herself.

Bruce bent in half and threw up in the trash can he had anchored by his feet.

"I'd prefer if you let me out so I can go green," he mumbled.  "At least the big guy doesn't get car sick."

"Yeah, but what if, huh?" Darcy wondered.

"Hulk vomit would probably be a great Hydra deterrent," Jane nodded.

"Oh....hold on!" Darcy called out.  She saw as Jane discreetly turned her comm unit back on. 

In the field behind the amassed Hydra forces was a single SUV, one that Darcy recognized as being next to the armored Jeep she and Bucky had used for their not so getaway from Hydra the day prior.  It definitely stood out amongst all the empty trucks it was behind.  "One of these things is not like the others. Because one of these things contains a mega douche nozzle."

* * *

"Strike Team Gamma, report," Pierce demanded as he watched his forces slowly but surely get closer and closer to where the signal of the Asset's arm had been hours earlier.

"No signs of the girl."

"Dammit," Pierce huffed an angry sigh.  If he could get his hands on Darcy Lewis again, he could ensure some level of compliance from his Asset.  The failsafe may be gone, but the core of the programming was still there.  And he knew from the surveillance of them before everything had gone to hell that the Asset had feelings beyond the programming for the girl. 

If anything could get someone like Bucky Barnes in line again with Hydra's company line, it was certainly the safety of his woman.

Three things happened very suddenly.  A bolt of lightning struck the middle of the field, even though the night had been very clear until that point, the force of it threw dozens of his soldiers into the air, incapacitated and useless.  A Shield issue quinnjet landed just behind where the Asset and the unknown warriors were holding the line from the camp, a familiar figure in red white and blue bursting out of it and immediately rushing to the Asset's side, shield at the ready. 

And the last thing, was the sight of blinking headlights behind him and an obnoxious horn honking seconds before his own stationary vehicle was slammed into from behind, the force of it sent his vehicle through the air, flying forward and over, so that he tumbled in the backseat, his head smacking unforgivingly against the roof of the car.  It landed with a crunch of metal on its roof and Pierce blinked his eyes open in pain and annoyance.

Just in time to see the offensive headlights on the RV zooming towards him again.  He could just make out a small woman behind the wheel, dark brunette curls and pale skin, with a determined glare on an otherwise pretty face.

"Shit," he hissed as he tried to get out of the vehicle.  His struggles were all in vain as Darcy Lewis ruthlessly slammed the RV into the prone, flipped over car, the grill of her vehicle sticking into the side of his as she pressed her foot to the floor and pushed his car until it was trapped between her vehicle and one of the empty transport units.

He could feel a metal beam from the wreck of his vehicle pressing against his shoulder, slowly but surely breaking the skin and then pressing through his flesh.  Eventually, the vehicle would crumple no further under Darcy's makeshift compactor, and she threw the RV in reverse, pulling the side of his car along with her.  Including the metal beam that was currently attached to him. 

He hands grabbed onto the metal, knowing that if it was dislodged from his body, he'd bleed out in no time.  He groaned out in pain as she drove backwards on the field.   It felt like an eternity, but was probably closer to thirty seconds before she stopped. 

He recognized the sound of Iron Man's repulsors and he looked up, almost happy to know that Stark was there to handle things.  It wasn't Iron Man or War Machine however, it was one very angry Darcy Lewis, an Iron Man guantlet on her left hand and a dangerous looking, definitely Stark modified taser in her right.

"What's up, muppet movie villain dude?" she looked over him from head to toe, her eyes lingering on the metal that had pushed all the way through his entire body.  "Were you looking for me?"

* * *

* * *

  **Chapter Twelve: Somewhere Out There is a Tree, Tirelessly Providing Oxygen So You Can Breathe. I Think You Owe it an Apology**

  
  
  


* * *

* * *

Bucky and Steve were fighting back to back for the first time in a very, very long time. They hadn't done something like this since Brooklyn in 1941, to be exact. Even during the war, Bucky's role had been sniper, and while he had defended and protected Steve as a Howling Commando, they had not fought back to back then. At that moment, fighting the hordes of Hydra that had come upon Jane's field, they were once again, working as a unit, although with very different results. They had barely managed to get out of that alleyway in 1941 under their own power. This time, Steve with his shield and his strength and Bucky with his shiny, powerful metal arm and wicked skills with his knives and his guns, they were rapidly thinning out the crowd of unfriendly Hydra forces.

  
  
  


“True shield mates!” Thor held up the hammer towards Bucky and Steve. “The lovemaking must be stupendous.”

  
  
  


“Oh my god, this is the best day ever,” Tony laughed over the comms. “Leave some bad guys for me, I'm like five minutes away.”

  
  
  


They heard the sounds of a honking horn over the sound of the fighting and both Bucky and Steve looked to the opposite side of the field, about a mile away and saw a very familiar RV. A blur of black tactical suit and red hair shot past Steve and Bucky, rushing into the fray. Natasha practically was running on top of the heads of the enemy, her only goal was getting to the RV.

  
  
  


“Jane?” Bucky asked through the comms. “Jane, please tell me that's not you over there!”

  
  
  


“Uhm...it's not me over here?” Jane came back. “Oh crap, hold on Bruce!”

  
  
  


The crash of the RV echoed throughout the field, causing everyone to pause for one moment as the very familiar RV honked again and smashed into the stationary vehicle. They saw the SUV flip, and the RV continue on, smashing the SUV against a transport vehicle, then slowly move back.

  
  
  


“Darcy,” Steve breathed, and both he and Bucky took off at a wickedly fast sprint towards the vehicles, wincing when Darcy got out of the RV, a taser in one hand and an Iron man gauntlet on the other.  She was breathtaking in her righteous anger and Steve had to shake himself out of a momentary desirous haze at seeing her like that.  She was in danger. 

  
  
  


“Darcy!” Bucky yelled as he and Steve ran as fast as they possibly could to their very, very angry girl.  His reaction was very different to Steve's.  He knew who was back there.  And he knew what Pierce was capable of.  Darcy was not safe.

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Darcy let the taser's charge land squarely on Pierce's gut and dropped it after the charge let loose in the man's body. She swallowed as he spasmed with pain, his hands gripping onto the large piece of metal through his left shoulder.

  
  
  


“Did that hurt enough?” she wondered. “Does it hurt as much as the wipes hurt Bucky?”

  
  
  


“Hardly,” Pierce answered, his mouth full of blood. “It takes a lot to hurt a man like my Asset.”

  
  
  


Darcy let the gauntlet blast a pulse of energy on Pierce's midsection. Not enough to kill, but enough to give pain. She wasn't done giving him pain yet.

  
  
  


“ He's not  _ yours _ ,” Darcy spat out. “He's mine and Steve's.”

  
  
  


“ He will  _ always  _ be mine,” Pierce promised, wincing as she blasted him again. He spit out a mouthful of blood while reaching into his jacket pocket with surprising quickness. The gun rang out in the night just as Bucky and Steve arrived on the scene and Darcy fell to her knees, the bullet going straight through her shoulder, just as Bucky's shot had done to Jane.

  
  


Natasha had been overtaken on the run to Darcy by Bucky and Steve, but she was lightning fast as she came upon the scene, coming out of nowhere.  She'd disarmed the bleeding and broken Hydra leader in a heartbeat as both Bucky and Steve let her to it, going straight for Darcy, falling to their knees beside her.

  
  
  


“Babydoll, are you okay?” Steve asked as he pressed his hands against her shoulder to stop the bleeding. “I need a flier over here, we need to get Darcy to a hospital!”

  
  
  


“I'm okay,” Darcy insisted, attempting to get up as Jane and Bruce flew out of the RV.

  
  
  


“No, you're not!” Bucky barked out, tears clouding his eyes as he stared down at her. It felt like he was dealing with a small, sickly Steve who would insist he was fine even if he had one foot in the grave.  Perfect match, indeed.  Bruce was suddenly at her side and wrapping her wound so someone could get her to a nearby hospital. “Angel, stay still, please.”

  
  
  


“I'm here,” Tony touched down twenty feet away, rushing towards them.

  
  
  


“Pierce, is he dead?” Darcy demanded.

  
  
  


Natasha walked towards them and gave them a nod, “He's handled.”

  
  
  


Darcy pushed at Steve's legs so he would stand aside so she could see for herself. Sure enough, the metal beam from Pierce's shoulder had been ripped out of his body and repositioned to his throat. Natasha had not been gentle.

  
  
  


“Good, you're safe now,” Darcy looked to Bucky with a small smile.  Bucky let out a choked sound and he let his hand cradle her cheek gently for a brief moment before Steve pulled her up into his arms. Steve kissed her lips gently before handing her off to Tony. She held out her hands for Bucky and smiled bigger when Bucky gave her a similar light kiss against her lips. “Okay, Iron Dude. Painkillers at hospital now.”

  
  
  


“We'll take the quinnjet,” Natasha nodded to Steve and Bucky. She directed her next comment to Tony, “Do _not_ leave her unattended.”

  
  
  


“Wasn't planning to,” Tony assured them before securing Darcy tight against him and rushing into the night sky.

  
  
  


“You guys go. Jane, you too,” Bruce nodded. “Big Green is going to take care of the rest of this party.”

  
  
  


Steve had the presence of mind to look away from the sky where he could barely make out the red and gold glint of the Iron Man suit before he grabbed Jane, pulling her into a fireman's carry and making the sprint back to the quinnjet with Bucky and Natasha by his side.

  
  
  


“Yeah, don't worry, we've got this!” Clint called out in bemusement. “HEY. BAD GOATEE ASGARDIAN, THAT WAS MY HYDRA AGENT TO GIVE PAIN TO!”

* * *

"How is she doing?"

"I'm sorry sir, but that information is restricted to family only," the nurse gave Bucky a small smile as he stood outside of the room Darcy had been taken to.

"I'm her husband," Bucky answered, his voice very quiet.  Of course Steve would have to choose that moment to go to the bathroom, just as Darcy was getting ready to be wheeled out of the surgery that was supposed to mend her shoulder.

"I thought her husband was the one in the Captain America costume?" the doctor furrowed her brow, looking back down at the chart.

"That's me, hi, how is she doing?" Steve rushed up to stand by Bucky.

Bucky had been very, very quiet during the hour that Darcy had been in the operating room, sitting stiff and rigid next to Steve, his eyes going between the door that Darcy was behind to doing quick and efficient sweeps of the hallways.  He needn't have worried.  Natasha and Sam were stalking the hallways of the hospital and Tony had patched JARVIS into the security cameras.  Darcy was safe as could be.

Steve didn't begrudge him the comfort that being of some kind of use in the situation gave, though.  He wished he could have done something too.  They'd arrived at the hospital to a hopeful looking Tony and been told Darcy would have to have surgery to mend a muscle that the bullet had done its best to destroy, but other than that she was in stable condition.

Bucky and Steve had sat side by side outside of the operating room, silent as could be.  At one point, five minutes in, Steve had begun to silently cry.  He was sitting next to Bucky.  _His_ Bucky.  He was alive and seemed well enough for all the hell he'd been through.  But his happiness couldn't feel complete until he saw Darcy safe and sound again.  The joy of regaining one love with the very real idea of losing the other had Steve on the razor's edge and tears were his only opportunity to let some of the chaos whirling within him out.

Bucky had let his right hand drop from his knee and went to Steve's wrist, putting two fingers on his pulse point and slowly drawing a one inch line up and down.  He had done it thousands of times before.  Whenever Steve had an asthma attack when he was younger, it was Bucky's surefire remedy.  The soft but insistent touch had always given Steve something to focus on as his lungs rebelled against his body.

When Steve had calmed down and run to the bathroom, Bucky took that moment to take a deep, steadying breath, feeling his own tears threaten to fall.  He got up out of the chair and walked towards the door to the operating room, eager to try to steal some kind of information to soothe his fraying nerves.  The doctor had come out moments later and Bucky wasted no time in asking after Darcy's state.

"She's going to be fine," the doctor nodded.  "She's seriously dehydrated, malnourished, in pain and running a low grade fever, but time, rest and recuperation will do wonders for her.  Also, vicodin."

Bucky wanted to make the smart ass comment that he KNEW what Darcy needed, and it wasn't vicodin.  He watched as they wheeled her out of the room, passed out to the entire world, looking entirely too small and too vulnerable.  Bucky started to follow, but Steve was talking with the doctor about followups and needing to stay overnight until her vitals leveled out.  Bucky knew he wouldn't be allowed into her room alone.

He wasn't her husband after all.

He walked to stand next to Steve, radiating impatience when he finally realized what Steve was asking.

"She had an implant, it was...it was taken out without her consent.  Is there  a way we can get it replaced?" Steve wondered.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Rogers, but...you're married now," the doctor shrugged, as if that could explain everything. 

"But, we're not ready," Steve shook his head in confusion.

"Matched and married women over the age of 18 are not eligible for a new implant," the doctor explained with a little annoyance.  Any idiot on the planet should have known this.  "You'll have to file a request with the WCHS, but I can guarantee you, if you haven't had your two children, they'll deny it."

An announcement went off and the doctor nodded at them, "That's me.  Please see the nurse assigned to your room should you have any more questions."

"Thank you," Steve nodded as she walked off.  He turned to Bucky and took a deep, exasperated breath.  "This world is so screwed up, Buck."

"You ain't kidding," Bucky nodded.  "C'mon, I want to go see our girl."

* * *

Seeing Darcy was about the only thing they could do.  She was in a deep sleep, with an IV bag giving her much needed nutrients.  Natasha and Sam had dropped in on their obsessive parameter runs of the hospital, two large bags of food and drink from the hospital commissary in hand.  Natasha had smoothed Darcy's hair back and given her a soft smile before nodding at both Bucky and Steve.

"Cleanup at the field is complete," she reported.  "Pepper's already bought the field and is ready to start filing permits for building as soon as she can."

Steve nodded.  It was a good idea to make the point where Thor can come down to Earth a permanent base of some kind.  Of course Pepper had been on top of things. 

"Are the two of you willing to have children so soon?" Natasha asked bluntly, with no buildup to the invasive question at all.

"Jesus, your bedside manner is shit," Sam rolled his eyes.

"We---I, there's," Steve stammered looking to Bucky for some kind of assistance.  Did he want to have children with Darcy?  Absolutely.  He couldn't wait to see her walking around with a hand on the swell of a pregnant belly that he had a hand in helping her to create. 

"You haven't discussed it yet?" Natasha furrowed her brow. 

"I figured when she wanted to, she'd bring it up," Steve shrugged.  "She had the implant and it's her body.  It's really not something we were talking about, seeing as after we got married we were...you know dealing with other stuff."

"I don't like her being vulnerable, or in pain.  I'd prefer if you could sleep with her, a lot," Natasha said simply.  "We won't know if Hydra still wants her or Bucky until we sort through the rubble and wait for it."

"The doctor said she wouldn't get another implant," Bucky furrowed her brow.  "How can they do that?"

"They can do whatever they want," Sam replied.  "They kind of control the world."

"Not all of it."

Bruce was at the door, his hand holding onto a slightly taller brunette, both with friendly smiles on their faces. 

"This is Doctor Betty Ross," Bruce gestured to his companion.  "And she has a solution to the problem."

"When she wakes up, we can discuss her options," Betty explained.  "I've developed my own implant that we can put in, or we have a pill she could take.  Both of them are way more effective than what the WCHS slaps into young girls nowadays."

"We're going to go do another check," Natasha nodded, pushing Sam to the door. 

"Eat that food!" Sam ordered as he tried to stop Natasha from manhandling him and failed.  "You're going to need your strength, I think."

* * *

Ten hours after her surgery, Darcy began to stir.  Both of her hands grasped, and Bucky and Steve, who had not stopped watching her like a hawk except for mandatory bathroom breaks and Sam Wilson literally pushing food in their faces, had each gripped one of her hands in response. 

Steve had spent the downtime telling Bucky every last detail of he and Darcy's adventure at the start of the summer.  Bucky, of course, already knew the details of the actual wedding.  Bucky had returned the favor and told him every excruciating detail of Darcy's time away from Steve.

"Thank you so much for keeping her safe, Buck," Steve sighed as Darcy continued to wriggle in her sleep, squeezing both of their hands. 

"Just because that whiskey the alien guy gave me made my memories work again and my brain feel alright, doesn't mean that I don't know I hurt her," Bucky said softly.  "But I figure the best way to say sorry for that is doing exactly as she tells me for the rest of my days."

"Gooddplaaaa."

Steve chuckled and watched as Darcy blinked swollen eyes open very very slowly.  She made an impatient squeaking noise in the back of her throat, and Bucky had a straw with a glass of cool water in front of her face in a heartbeat, never once letting go of her hand.

"Thanks," she rasped out her gaze going between Steve and Bucky continuously. "Loveyou."

"I love you too, Babydoll," Steve smiled at her. 

"Good, now get outta here," Darcy pulled her hands away from them, eliciting sounds of protest from them both.  "Ya stink."

"You do," Natasha assured them from the door, Betty at her side.  "Pepper has another RV delivered outside.  There's not enough room in the shower for the both of you, but it should do while we get things sorted with Darcy."

"ppppppppeeeeeyoooouuuuu," Darcy weakly waved her good arm in front of her face.  "Don't want no kisses from stinky boys."

"You're gonna get one whether you like it or not," Steve arched an eyebrow at her before rising from his seat and placing a very gentle kiss on her lips.  He rolled his eyes when she started to pretend choke at the fumes coming off of him and retaliated by pressing kisses all over her face while she mimed vomiting.

Bucky smiled at their adorable antics, a comfortable golden warmth settling in his gut at the sight of them.  He rose from his chair and took a deep breath, intent on getting to the RV and the shower as quickly as possible so that he could get back and just stare at them some more.

Darcy pushed at Steve's shoulder and held out her hand for Bucky as he tried to make a clean getaway.

"Hey, hey!  Get back here," Darcy huffed out in annoyance.  She pointed to her pouted lips and made impatient little squeaks again.  “Pay the toll, Mister.”

Steve grinned and stepped aside, blatantly ignoring the way Natasha smirked and Betty's eyebrows rose as Bucky shuffled back to Darcy's side and bent down to plant a very lovely little kiss against her lips. 

"Yeah, you're stinky too.  Go away now," Darcy shooed them. 

Bucky gave her a salute and suddenly made a quick move to the door, Natasha pulling Betty out of the way.  Steve realized too late that Bucky would get to the shower first and rolled his eyes as he followed him out of the door.

"Buck, come on, wait up!"

"So..." Natasha cocked her head at Darcy curiously.

"Soooooooo?" Darcy repeated with a shrug of her shoulders that had her wincing from the pain of it.  "Fuck, that hurts."

"I can help with that," Betty announced, bringing her medical bag to Darcy's bedside table.  She turned to Natasha who closed the door and did a quick sweep for bugs.  "Pill or implant?"

"Oh, implant, I can't even remember to eat a vegetable every day, much less take a pill," Darcy nodded.  She held out her arm and looked back at Natasha while Betty prepped her.

"So," Natasha repeated.

"Soooo?" Darcy repeated, using exaggerated eyebrow movements since her shoulder was currently useless. 

"SHOULDER WOUND TWINSIES!" Jane shouted as she pushed the door open, followed by a smiling Thor, who had bags upon bags heaped in his arms, along with a stack of eight pizza boxes. 

Betty was holding up a small scalpel and took a deep, steadying breath as she tried to not let the abrupt arrival of Jane and Thor distract her from her work.  Jane ignored any and all consequences to her noisy arrival and helped to unload Thor, putting a bag of clothing down before piling all eight pizzas on Darcy's table.  She dug in another bag and came up with a handful of stuffed animals.

"Look!" she exclaimed gleefully, juggling the Avengers stuffed animals in her hands.  "Thor has a little hammer.  And Steve has a little shield."

"What do I have?" Natasha furrowed her brow.

"Very dangerous looking guns," Jane answered.  Natasha nodded her approval and Jane smiled before piling up all the stuffed animals on Darcy's lap, then pulling a box of pizza on the bed as she squished in next to the injured girl. 

"You are well, Lady Darcy?" Thor wondered as Betty injected the implant before going to work on bandaging her up.

"Oh, just getting something put back in that the bad guys tried to take out," Darcy  explained.

"Birth control.  Remember, God of Fertility.  No babies until I say so," Jane pointed to her own upper arm.  "Now Darcy can have super soldier sexy times and her wounds will heal up way faster. Too bad your stuff doesn't come with magical healing powers.  Then you'd be pretty much perfect."

"I will be sure to give you no other reason to complain, my lady," Thor gave her a panty melting smile.

"hubba hubba," Darcy waggled her eyebrows again.

"HEY, mine, you have TWO of them now, you don't need mine as well," Jane waved a slice of pizza at her.  "Eat this, and I'll help you shower, just like when you vomited your guts out after Thor left New Mexico and you thought you could out drink me on one buck chuck."

“You're all set,” Betty gave Darcy a small, reassuring smile. “Give it about ten hours to take effect then...go crazy.”

  
  
  


“Just ten hours?” Darcy asked incredulously.

  
  
  


“I'm that good,” Betty grinned.

  
  
  


"So," Natasha repeated again as Betty began putting her equipment away again.  "Two of them?"

"Aye, 'tis a perfect triumvirate soul match.  Very rare, but beautiful and powerful," Thor nodded, giving Darcy a proud smile.  "I understand why you need to take precautions, little Darcy.  Surely you would be with child in no time if you did not."

"Uhm." Darcy furrowed her brow.

"The both of them?" Betty blinked.  "How...how does that work?"

"The combinations are highly enjoyable," Thor smiled.  "Fandral has told many a tale of---"

"What did you mean, soul match?" Jane cut in before Thor could get into porny story telling mode. 

"Soul match.  As you are mine," Thor nodded.  "You talked of it as an agency when I first came to you."

"And you said you didn't have that," Jane disputed.

"No, certainly not.  The power of the match would diminish in being aided and abetted in such a way," Thor shook his head in amusement.  "I will admit, that whoever established the original science behind your agency is brilliant to have discovered the science behind the soul match.  But the Norn's are more pleased when the threads of fate can do their work and not some paltry test."

"But...how do you know you're matched then?" Natasha wondered.

"Do you not feel it with your archer, Widow?  And Jane, you felt it certainly when I took you to your bed this morning," Thor nodded in fond remembrance.  He turned to Darcy and nodded, "You have felt it with the Captain, and will no doubt feel it with your third.  The need.  The pull.  The contentment when your souls are joined."

"Woah," Darcy blinked, her mouth open just wide enough for Jane to shove pizza into it.  She knew what Thor was talking about.  Definitely.

"So, it's normal for you, to see Darcy with both men?" Betty wondered.

"Not only normal, it is truly beautiful!" Thor insisted.  "And those that would ever attempt to pull their souls apart would surely be fated for doom and destruction.  The Norns do not like seeing their beautiful work pulled apart and ruined."

"Woah," Darcy repeated and Jane popped more pizza into her mouth.  "Okay...I'm ready for showering now."

  
  
  


* * *

* * *

** Chapter Thirteen: I Have Neither the Time Nor the Crayons to Explain This to You **

* * *

* * *

When Bucky stepped out of the shower, Steve was digging through bags full of brand new clothing that must have been provided by Natasha and had been helpfully labeled with a yellow post it note stating  _ There will be no complaints about the free clothing _ .

  
  
  


“Shirts are too small,” Bucky announced, gripping a towel around his waist. “All of your shirts are too small.”

  
  
  


“Darcy buys 'em for me, she likes 'em so I'm not complaining,” Steve shrugged, looking up and feeling the strange combination of anger and want. The want was obviously because of the sight of a wet and beautiful Bucky, fresh from a hot shower, a towel tied low on his hips. Anger, because of the sight of the metal arm. The arm had already been cemented into Steve's mind as Hydra's. It was forever tied to Bucky's pain...to Darcy's pain.

  
  
  


Bucky must have recognized the anger, because he looked down, crest-fallen.

  
  
  


“I remember everything now, thanks to whatever the Asgardians gave me,” Bucky whispered. “Everything. And I understand, Stevie, I do, if---when it comes down to it, you don't want me. I won't lie, it'll hurt and I would be sad, but I'm...the things I did, well, **I** wouldn't want me.”

  
  
  


“It wasn't you,” Steve interrupted, his voice firm.

  
  
  


“Still. I would understand,” Bucky shrugged.  "I know I'm no good for Darcy or for you."

  
  
  


Steve reached for him, hands on his shoulders, one flesh and one metal and pulled him into a kiss. It was a firm, needy pull of his lips between his, conveying something he couldn't without words. Bucky leaned in when Steve pulled away, chasing for more.

  
  
  


“I will never not want you, and I will never stop loving you,” Steve said resolutely. “It's...just. I'll be completely honest with you, here. Because Darcy would be really angry if I wasn't. It's the arm, Buck. I---I look at it and I see, Hydra. I see all the pain. And I feel terrible about it because I could have---if I had went looking for you after you fell, if I had done the search myself instead of leaving Phillips to send out men to look for your body, I could have stopped it all.”

  
  
  


“Steve, no, you can't blame yourself here,” Bucky shook his head, pressing his lips against Steve's again, his touch was soothing and gentle, unlike Steve's rushed, wanting kiss. His right hand stroked Steve's jaw, but his left hand stayed solidly at his side. He went so far as to move it out of the way when Steve's hands began stroking up and down his torso.

  
  
  


“Buck,” Steve whispered against his lips. He grabbed Bucky's left hand and looked down. “I don't want you to hold back. It's a part of you. Then it's a part of me too.”

  
  
  


Steve moved his lips to Bucky's jaw, moving slowly and languidly down his neck until he nipped at the juncture of his shoulder and his neck. Bucky's breathing was uneven as Steve's persistent kisses landed on scars and finally the line where metal and flesh met. He felt Steve's hands on his hips, those long fingers curling under the towel.

  
  
  


“No,” Bucky whispered. “We do this right. With Darcy.”

  
  
  


“Alright,” Steve nodded. His smile was genuine and downright bashful. “Can't believe it.”

  
  
  


“Believe it, punk,” Bucky kissed his lips very briefly before pushing him away again. “Go and shower. You stink.”

  
  
  


* * *

“Hey kid. How are you doing?”

  
  


Darcy winced as she tried to comb through her hair, fresh from her very strategic and careful shower. She looked to see Sam standing in the doorway and smiled at him as big and bright as she could.

  
  
  


“You can drop the act,” Sam assured her.

  
  
  


“What act?” Darcy shrugged and winced. “I'm good. Pierce is dead. Hydra is well on its way to being burned to the ground. Steve is safe. Bucky is safe. Everyone I care about is safe. Life is joyous, Sammy. Spread the joy.”

  
  
  


“Darcy Marie Lewis-Rogers,” Sam repeated. He'd heard the full name when they had told Jane that Darcy had been taken. The astrophysicist had muttered it in angry annoyance before bursting into tears that no one could console her out of.

  
  
  


Darcy pulled the wide toothed comb through her wet and tangled locks and winced as her shoulder jostled again. She carefully put the comb down on the bed and looked down at the comfortable, soft black capri pants she had changed into. Natasha had provided her with a bag of clothing and toiletries that were way above her normal price threshold after Betty was done and told her to call her back in the room when she was ready to have her hair done.

  
  
  


Except Darcy didn't call Natasha in to have her hair done. Even though she knew Natasha could do the really cool braiding that made Darcy feel like a swiss milk maid, only sexier. Darcy was currently sitting in a hospital bed, still tired, still hurting and still just a little bit rung out and she was trying to do her own hair. Because she had to do _something_ for herself.

  
  
  


“What do you want me to say?” Darcy demanded angrily. “I mean, obviously either Steve or Natasha sent you here to talk to me...”

  
  
  


“No, they didn't,” Sam shook his head. “Darce...I could hear what was happening over the comms.”

  
  
  


Darcy's eyes went wide in terror, and tears started to form.

  
  
  


“So...everyone---everyone heard?” she whispered.

“I'm sorry, Darce, but yeah, we did,” Sam nodded.

  
  
  


“It wasn't his fault, please don't think less of Bucky,” Darcy shook her head, a few tears finding their ways down her cheeks.

  
  
  


“I'm not worrying about Bucky right now,” Sam shook his head in mild disbelief. He had to remember who he was dealing with. In the selfless race, Darcy edged Steve out by a nose. “I'm worried about you.”

  
  
  


“I'm fine,” Darcy shrugged, her face more blank than he had ever seen it. Darcy's face was very...expressive on a boring day. The blankness was new and terrifying.

  
  
  


“Darce, come on. It's just you and me right now,” Sam said softly.

  
  
  


“I'm fine,” Darcy insisted. She shook her head and opened her mouth briefly before shutting it and shaking her head. “It wasn't Bucky. It wasn't him doing those things.”

  
  
  


“It doesn't matter who it was, it still happened,” Sam gave her a sympathetic smile. “To you.”

  
  
  


“Nothing happened. It stopped before anything could happen,” Darcy shook her head, the blankness going away and being replaced with that falsely bright smile that didn't belong on her face. The placid expression wasn't quite a Darcy-esque grin. “So now, it's only about the good, from here on out.”

  
  
  


Bucky had stopped ten or fifteen feet away from Darcy's room when he heard Darcy say his name. He had begun to walk away, not wanting to eavesdrop but lingered long enough to understand the conversation well enough. He had the benefit of hearing her voice, and not seeing her expression. He could hear the pauses. The fear. He looked down at his hands, the metal of his left covered by a black glove.

  
  
  


“Sammy? Do me a favor?”

  
  
  


“Sure Darce.”

  
  
  


“Make sure the rest of the team doesn't---that they don't punish Bucky in anyway, okay? It---it wasn't him.”

* * *

  
  


Natasha drove them back to the hotel in the RV once Darcy had been discharged from the hospital. Steve had spent the whole ride going over her prescriptions and the doctor's directions for her care. Bucky furrowed his brow, not understanding _why_ that was necessary. If Bucky had his way, Darcy wouldn't need any of that, as she'd be hopped up on super serum side effects as soon as possible.

  
  
  


And he didn't mean from him.

  
  
  


Now that the adrenaline had worn off from their escape from Hydra and their subsequent battle against Hydra...now that the initial euphoria from having his memories returned and his psyche made suddenly whole again...now that he had time to see the aftermath, he could come to solid decisions.

  
  
  


He wanted them. He wanted the blissful happy ending that he knew he didn't deserve. And maybe someday he would get it, but he had penance to pay, and he would pay it in full.

  
  
  


“Did you finish that soup, sweetheart?” Steve asked from the front seat as he finally finished re-reading everything pertaining to Darcy's care. He turned and looked back to the table and saw that the take out container was about half way done. “Babydoll, you need to eat.”

  
  
  


“I had pizza and pudding cups,” Darcy insisted. “Like, five chocolate pudding cups. You can't put a whole can of soup on top of that unless you want me to spew forth like a gross, vomity geyser.”

  
  
  


“No, I don't want that,” Steve rolled his eyes at her. “Bucky finished his soup.”

  
  
  


“Bucky's a kiss ass,” Darcy shot right back. Natasha pulled the vehicle to a stop in front of their hotel and Darcy stood slowly, taking her bowl and Bucky's and racing as fast as her injuries would allow her to the door to exit. Bucky was quick to follow her and placed a gentle hand on her uninjured shoulder to stop her. Darcy did her best not to flinch and put on a bright smile, “Bucky, honey, I can open a door for myself.”

  
  
  


“I know you can do all sorts of things for yourself, Angel,” Bucky nodded. “But indulge me, and let me do a perimeter check before you rush out.”

  
  
  


“Oh, right,” Darcy nodded, stepping away from the door. Steve was next to her while Bucky and Natasha exited the vehicle and she looked up at him with a contrite expression. “I don't like hiding.”

  
  
  


“I know, sweetheart,” Steve nodded, pulling her into a delicate embrace. He sighed as she melted against him, her body loose and pliant. “Just think of it as not hiding, but letting Natasha and Bucky feel useful in keeping you safe.”

  
  
  


“Is this going to be what our lives are like now?” Darcy wondered softly. “Always looking around the corner to see if someone is going to come and grab one of us?”

  
  
  


“You know it might be,” Steve acknowledged. “But, if it means that I never have to go through the hell of not having you with me again, I'll do it. I'll do whatever it takes. I can't...I'm never letting you go. You're my other half.”

  
  
  


“Technically I'm your other third,” Darcy whispered. “Thor was saying...that the matching that we do here on good ole Midgard? It's based in real Asgardian voodoo. The three of us...we're meant to be.”

  
  
  


“Who'd of ever thought?” Steve smiled at her, bending at the knee so that he could kiss her lips so she wouldn't have to stretch up. He pulled away and looked right into her eyes with that warm, all encompassing love that always made everything that was wrong, right. He took a deep breath before saying gently, “Sweetheart....Darcy. Bucky and I, we're not in a rush to...to...”

  
  
  


“Have hot threesome sex?” Darcy finished for him.

  
  
  


“I'm having some issues,” Steve whispered. “When I look at Bucky...his arm. I get angry. I keep seeing that arm touching you and hearing you begging for him to stop and I know, it wasn't him, and I love him, Darcy, I do. I'm just---”

  
  
  


“Angry at Bucky?” Darcy shook her head in disbelief. She took in a shaky breath and her whisper was desperate, “Please don't be angry at him, it wasn't his fault. Be angry at that assface from Hydra as he rots in hell.”

  
  
  


“I think...I think it's. Sweetheart, I feel guilty,” Steve admitted. “And it's making me angry. At everything.”

  
  
  


“Stevie, cutie, why on Earth do you feel guilty?” Darcy frowned at the idea of it.

  
  
  


“I left you both behind. When Bucky fell from the train, I should have looked. I should have searched,” Steve admitted. “And I should have never left your side. I should have never left you out of my sight.”

  
  
  


“Stop it right now,” Darcy ordered. She kissed him fiercely and pulled away, “You are not to blame for what happened to Bucky. Or me. Steven Grant Rogers, if you don't believe me on this, you and I are going to have a big problem.”

  
  
  


Steve looked down at her in surprise. They had never argued in all of their time together, not really. Sure there had been joking play fighting and the occasional battle over which pizza place to order from, but in their short time together, there had not been one  _ big  _ problem.

  
  
  


“Don't look like a hurt puppy,” Darcy shook her head. “I love you far too much to have you beating yourself up on not being able to save the whole world all the time.”

  
  
  


“I know I can't save the whole world, but I should be able to save the people I love,” Steve kissed her again.

  
  
  


“But Steve, you _did_ save both me and Bucky. You tore down the people who had taken us both,” Darcy insisted. “Please, _for me_ , just believe that, okay?”

  
  
  


“God, I love you so much,” Steve sniffed. He nuzzled his nose in her hair and whispered, “What'd I do to deserve you?”

  
  
  


“You saved the world a bunch?” Darcy joked. “What time is it?”

  
  
  


“About five in the afternoon,” Steve murmured into her hair.

  
  
  


“Oh, good, that's almost ten hours,” Darcy pulled away. “We have time to track down our third, find enough food to keep us barricaded in the room for the next two days at least, and then get me all kinds of laid.”

  
  
  


“Seriously, babydoll, I just---I love you so much.”

  
  
  


* * *

Bucky found the archer dropping down from a vent shaft near a first floor exit that seemed particularly vulnerable. It came as something of a shock, since he had done a sweep of the first floor of the very secure hotel and had thought everything, for once, would be fine. To have such easily accessible vents was a worry and the archer looked smug for having gotten the drop on him.

  
  
  


_Punch him in the face so he knows not to do that anymore_ .

  
  
  


“I was just setting some traps, so no one else could go through 'em,” the archer explained. He held out his hand and nodded. “Clint Barton.”

  
  
  


“No one else could go through them, but you still could?” Bucky gave him an unimpressed look, but held out his hand anyway to shake it. He remembered seeing Natalia talking softly with Clint in the hallway of the hospital. Something in the Russian's understated body language stating that the archer was important to her. “You're Natalia's?”

  
  
  


“ Hey man, we're like...a team. She's not my  _ owner _ ,” Clint huffed out.

  
  
  


“It wasn't meant to be an insult,” Bucky shrugged. “Nothing wrong with being owned by the love of a good woman.”

  
  
  


“You would know?” Clint wondered amiably.

  
  
  


“I---yes,” Bucky nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

  
  
  


“I'm going to ask you one question, but before I do, you should know something about me. A few months ago, I had the distinct displeasure of being trapped in my own brain, my will was taken and I was forced to do a lot of shit I would have never thought about doing before,” Clint pursed his lips in remembrance of what had done at the will of Loki's scepter. “Are you ready to talk about it, yet?”

  
  
  


“No,” Bucky shook his head. “Whatever the Asgardian gave me, it's still making me happy. Too happy. I can't see past the joy of being whole and having everything I always wanted right at my fingertips. I know there's bad there. I feel---she deserves to be upset with me. To never want to look at my face again. Steve too...he heard her, saw what they tried to make me do to his wife.”

  
  
  


“I killed people that I had called friends. Tried to hurt Tasha,” Clint looked down, his face full of guilt and desolation. “My body was hijacked, I could see what I was doing, but I couldn't stop it.”

  
  
  


“Yeah,” Bucky nodded. “Awful.”

  
  
  


“Nothing I can say to you will make that go away,” Clint admitted. “But, would you have ever done what you did, if you could have controlled yourself?”

  
  
  


“God, no,” Bucky shook his head. “She's Steve's wife. She's...she's so good and perfect and the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt her. I would---I could never.”

  
  
  


“Well, that clears a lot up,” Clint nodded. “You would have never done it, if Hydra hadn't of used you and forced you. It's not your fault.”

  
  
  


“Still, it was my face, my hands,” Bucky looked down at his hands and felt his jaw tick at the metal of his left. “Doesn't matter that I was screaming in my head the whole time to stop. I'll never put another hand on her if it would make her feel better.”

  
  
  


“Oh pal, I saw her talking it over with Foster about an hour ago,” Clint gave him a chuckle. “You got another thing coming if you think she's not expecting you to put a hand or two on her.”

  
  
  


“What?” Bucky felt his pulse jump.

  
  
  


“I read lips, and Darcy was bragging to Foster about her getting her bullet wound all healed up in no time with her super soldiers,” Clint waggled his eyebrows. “So...you know, be prepared for that. And maybe know that, if you wallow in the guilt and the shame of something that wasn't your fault, imagine how that'd make her feel? Like...she was someone you didn't want.”

  
  
  


“She knows how much I want her,” Bucky shook his head. “It's not fair how much I want her.”

  
  
  


“Yeah...high match. We all know. We've seen it firsthand with her and Steve,” Clint nodded. He clapped Bucky on the shoulder. “Tasha and JARVIS and I are going to keep this place safe as anything. Don't worry. Focus on your own shit. Okay? Just...I can't take away your guilt. No one can but you, okay?”

  
  
  


“Okay.”

"And really, get a good stretch in before you guys start to go at it," Clint smirked. 

"I'm not..."

  
  


"Pal, I've known Darcy about a year now and if there is one thing I know about her, it's that she always gets what she wants.  She wants you and you want her too so just...don't try to push her away out of guilt that doesn't belong to you," Clint advised him.  "And also, I stashed lube in your room.  Everywhere. Enjoy."

* * *

* * *

** Chapter Fourteen: Bet Your Brain Feels as Good as New, Since You Never Use It **

  
  
  


* * *

* * *

“How much of that candy has she eaten so far?” Bucky questioned from the couch as Darcy dug through the bags of provisions that had been waiting in their hotel room for them.

  
  
  


“Don't ask,” Steve shook his head as Darcy ripped into a bag of twizzlers and shoved one in her mouth. “And I'm not going to complain about her eating her body weight in sugar. Calories are calories at this point. She's lost ten pounds in the last week.”

  
  
  


“Stevie likes having something to hold onto,” Darcy gave Bucky a lewd little wink before sucking half the twizzler into her mouth.

  
  
  


“Babydoll, I'm not the only one,” Steve nudged Bucky with his elbow.

  
  
  


Bucky gave Darcy a once over, comparing her current appearance to the one that had been programmed in his mind. The pictures that programming had used did have her face a little fuller. Her belly had been a little rounder. She'd been his ideal woman and still very much was. Bucky from 1942 and Bucky at that moment wanted nothing more than to feel those soft pillowy curves underneath him. She had the kind of soft, full body that he had waxed poetic about during nights in the barracks, days down on the docks, or at the bar with the Howling Commandos. He and Stevie had always liked the softest of girls.

  
  
  


“I'm a lucky girl,” Darcy sighed, walking towards the couch her matches were sitting on, her bag of candy in hand. She sat sideways on Steve's lap, her legs across Bucky's lap and began chomping down on another piece of candy.

  
  
  


“Angel, I'm the lucky one,” Bucky insisted, staring down at the legs she had thrown into his lap. The soft black pants she had on were long enough to fall just below her knees, but they were loose and he knew if he put his hands on her, his fingertips could drift upwards.

  
  
  


His hand did touch the bandage on her calf, to the wound that should have healed up properly already, furrowing his brow as he looked to Steve expectantly.

  
  
  


“Did you know, that before I met Steve, I was a virgin?” Darcy blurted out before stuffing her face full of candy. She nodded her head to a blushing Steve and barely got out around her mouthful of sweets, “He defiled the crap outta me and turned me into a nymphomaniac.”

  
  
  


Her surprise announcement had the intended effect. Bucky's eyes nearly bugged out of his head and his mouth gaped open. Darcy quickly swallowed her candy and leaned forward, sucking his bottom lip between her own. Steve drew in a quick breath, her movement had caused her to shift against his lap in a very pleasant way, and the visual of Darcy, avidly trying to kiss Bucky out of his current state of shock was absolutely awe inspiring.

  
  
  


“What's the matter with this world?” Bucky rasped out when Darcy pulled her sweet, candy flavored lips away. He looked to Steve and asked very seriously, “Did you treat her right?”

  
  
  


“Did my best,” Steve shrugged. One of his hands was wrapped around Darcy, securing her in his lap. The other hand dropped to Bucky's thigh, his large palm placing warm pressure through the jeans Bucky had on. Steve pressed his lips to Darcy's collarbone and asked, “Did I do right by you, babydoll?”

  
  
  


“Don't remember,” Darcy's face had gone downright mischievous.

  
  
  


“Show me how you did right by her,” Bucky demanded, sounding very much like the voice that had kept Steve company since the moment Bucky had fallen. “I'll let you know if you did anything wrong or missed anything.”

  
  
  


Steve squeezed Bucky's thigh and took his mouth from placing lovely little kisses against Darcy's skin before turning to Bucky and leaning into him, lips wet and searching. Darcy let out a low hum of approval as their mouths met, hot and searching and hard. Steve didn't kiss her like that, his most passionate kisses for her were still tinged with a gentleness that she appreciated. And Bucky hadn't kissed her like that yet, either. Their kiss was powerful and wicked and passionate and she could feel Steve twitching against her at the feeling of it.

  
  
  


Bucky pulled away first and pushed at Steve's shoulders to get him to do something, to move, to do anything. Steve gave him a slow, lazy grin before standing up, securing Darcy's body to his and moving her back towards the bed.

  
  
  


“How're you gonna see from all the way over there?” Darcy demanded obnoxiously.

  
  
  


She knew that there was a reason they were doing it this way. But Bucky had to be close enough to make it effective. She giggled as Steve began to gently remove her clothing, placing wet, open mouthed kisses on every expanse of skin he revealed. Bucky had ambled over to the king sized bed, sitting on the edge of it at the head board, staring down as Steve removed her pants and panties in one fell swoop.

  
  
  


Before Bucky could see the ugly dark green and gray bruises in the shape of his hands on Darcy's thighs, Steve had put his own large hands over the marks, covering them completely. He knelt between her thighs and placed kisses at the the juncture of her leg and the apex of her thighs, spots that he knew would have that heat roiling in her gut.

  
  
  


“Help a fella out, pal,” Steve whispered, looking up to her bra. He saw the hesitation in Bucky's eyes and chose that moment to lick a line from Darcy's sweet center to the soft brown curls that framed that beautiful little piece of heaven, causing her to arch her back off the bed and then wince at the pain in her shoulder.

  
  
  


Bucky nodded, swallowing deeply as he went to undo her bra, gently pulling it off of her body, ever mindful of her shoulder injury. One strong little hand reached up and pulled at Bucky's hair, yanking him down to her breasts as Steve continued to lick and suck avidly at her wetness.

  
  
  


“So beautiful,” Bucky murmured before pressing a gentle kiss on the swell of each of her breasts. He could feel that pull for her, the want and it overrode any last drop of guilt or shame he may have felt as his lips parted and he sucked one pert nipple into his mouth. His tongue rolled around her flesh and he relished in the way she pulled at his hair in her pleasure.

  
  
  


“Are you ours now, babydoll?” Steve asked, grinning into her skin when he eased one finger into her opening and felt her clenching around him. “Our beautiful girl feels so wet and ready. You're ust like heaven, sweetheart.”

  
  
  


“You're not the dirty talker,” Bucky chuckled. He looked up at Darcy and asked, “What'd you do to him to get him to talk?”

  
  
  


“She likes it a lot,” Steve shrugged.  "I do what she likes."

  
  
  


“Do you, Angel?” Bucky wondered, going to her other nipple and lavishing it with the same praise he had done for the other. She let out a long, drawn out moan, with Steve between her thighs and Bucky's hands and mouth on her breasts, she was halfway to ecstasy already. “I taught him everything he knows.”

  
  
  


“Prove it,” Darcy challenged, her little arched eyebrow going back down as she moaned in undiluted pleasure.

  
  
  


“My sweet, perfect Angel,” Bucky sighed against her skin. “You ready to have Stevie make you feel better? Don't know if he wants to stop tasting you. I would never want to stop making you moan like that.”

  
  
  


Steve withdrew his fingers from stroking inside of her, and held them up to Bucky. He wasted no time in turning his head and drawing the slick digits into his mouth, sucking and licking at them. He moaned at the perfect taste of her, sweet and tart and salty enough for him to crave more and more of her.

  
  
  


“Fucking hell, I'd never stop,” Bucky promised, looking up at her face as Steve went back to his honest work. “One day, Angel, can you just let me bury my face against you and just let me lick and suck those sweet juices out of you until you don't know your own name anymore? I want my tongue inside of you, over and over again until you're coming around me with that sweet little pussy.”

  
  
  


“Fuck,” Darcy whimpered as Steve took Bucky's words as a guideline, his tongue circling her entrance and driving inside of her at a steady, perfect pace. Bucky's right hand drifted down her body and his middle finger found her clit, rubbing it in smooth, steady circles. He was sucking and licking at her nipples once more and between the both of them, she was ready to fly up into the stratosphere. Steve's hands were on her thighs again, and he gave them just the right squeeze and suddenly she was bucking her hips up erratically, pressing against Bucky's hand and Steve's face as her orgasm broke over her, igniting a million little beautiful bursts of pleasure running through her.

  
  
  


“My babydoll,” Steve sighed, kissing along her inner thighs as she settled down. “I love you, Darcy.”

  
  
  


Darcy was non-verbal, but gave him a definitely satisfied sound before reaching out for him with her good hand, frowning when she realized that they were both still dressed.

  
  
  


“I demand nakedness,” she pouted. She looked between them and her eyes lit up. “I demand you make each other naked. Now....please.”

  
  
  


Steve grinned up at her before hopping off the bed. Bucky looked down at Darcy, his eyes going from the anticipatory grin on her gorgeous face down to the perfect breasts that were flushed with the effect of her beautiful and powerful little orgasm. He licked his lips when his gaze drifted lower, to where he could see the wet, glistening lips of her sex between her parted thighs. And those milky, full thighs, with the ugly bruises and the newer red marks of Steve's fingers.

  
  
  


“I---I like it when Steve presses his fingers there,” Darcy explained in a whisper. She had been concerned that the terror would bleed from the time in the cabin to her time with Steve, but she was relieved to realize she still loved Steve squeezing her there, leaving his gentle marks.

  
  
  


“I'm sorry---”

  
  
  


“No, Bucky, Honey, no,” Darcy shook her head. “There's nothing to be sorry for, nothing to forgive...but if you want to make it up to me, you can make Steve naked now, cause you know, I don't have all my faculties about me. And you know, if you kiss him a little, I won't complain.”

  
  
  


“My pleasure, Angel,” Bucky nodded, rising up off the bed. He gave Steve a small smile and walked towards him, his hands going for the hem of his t-shirt and lifting it up and off.

  
  
  


“Hit me with the truth, Bucky, what was Steve like when he was little?” Darcy wondered.

  
  
  


“He was a wiry little thing,” Bucky chuckled when Steve went for his shirt as well. “Just about an inch taller than you, Angel. I could put my elbow on the top of his head---”

  
  
  


“ You  _ did _ ,” Steve corrected. “You did use me as an elbow rest, all the time, no matter where we were.”

  
  
  


“I remember being able to run my fingers up and down his sides,” Bucky demonstrated, a predatory smirk hinting at his lips when Steve drew in a deep, even breath at the feel of flesh and metal fingers on his skin. “And I thought his little ribs were like a xylophone.”

  
  
  


“Real talk here, did the serum give him a few inches on little Captain America?” Darcy wondered, licking her lips as the boys simultaneously began to unbutton each of their jeans. Bucky wore new navy blue boxer briefs that he had found on the RV earlier that day, but Steve was still blissfully commando and his sizeable, thick, uncut length hung free, jutting out proudly and flushing red in his heightened state of arousal.

  
  
  


“Real talk, Angel, he was always this long, hung like a damned horse for such a tiny guy,” Bucky chuckled. His right hand went down between their bodies and wrapped around Steve's length, humming in approval when Steve thrust up into his grasp. “Just wasn't so wide before.”

  
  
  


“Damn, I'd have liked to meet skinny Steve,” Darcy sighed. “Not that there's anything wrong with our Steve the way he is right now, but I would have enjoyed being on top when he was all elbows and knees and xylophone ribs.”

  
  
  


“It was a lot of fun,” Bucky promised. He leaned in and gave Steve a quick, open mouthed kiss. “Still, it's nice to be with him and not worry about breaking him.”

  
  
  


“We done talking about me like I'm not here?” Steve looked between his grinning little wife and his grinning, not so little Bucky and made quick work of Bucky's underwear, pushing them down to the ground.

  
  
  


Darcy licked her lips again. Bucky was smooth and uncut, and just as aroused as Steve. He had a lovely curve to his erect length that she  _ knew  _ would rub in all the right places. She held out her hands and winced again, forgetting the dumb bullet hole in her shoulder.

  
  
  


“My poor Babydoll,” Steve sighed, going back to the bed and kneeling between her thighs. He placed quick kisses against her pouting lips and his eyes fluttered close when she adjusted her hips and he felt the tip of his erection rub against her wet heat. “We're going to take care of you, sweetheart. You're our sweet girl.”

  
  
  


“Your best girl?' Darcy smiled against his mouth.

  
  
  


“The best girl,” Bucky whispered, watching from a few feet away from the bed with bated breath as Steve guided himself inside of Darcy, a familiar, intimate act that they were obviously well rehearsed in.

  
  
  


The way all the muscles in Steve's back tightened as he worked himself in slow strokes in and out of Darcy, sinking further in with each pass of his hips was fascinating and beautiful to Bucky. He could see the amazing bliss on Darcy's face as Steve finally was pressed as deep inside of her as he possibly could be, his hip bones pressing against her skin. Bucky found that he was holding his breath in anticipation as Steve withdrew from her slowly, only to drive back inside of that warm, snug heaven that he was sure was inside of Darcy.

  
  
  


A ripple went through Steve's muscles and Bucky furrowed his brow as Steve stopped his movements while he was deep inside of her. Bucky couldn't see Steve's face, although he could see Darcy's and she was staring up at Steve in worry, her good hand on his shoulder, squeezing and stroking to allay whatever was making Steve pause. Steve let out a choked sob and Bucky flew to the bed, his hand running down Steve's back before he took a careful seat so that he could see both of their faces.

  
  
  


Steve was full out crying, tears dripping down his face and onto Darcy's flushed skin. His arms gave out slowly and soon he was laying flat against Darcy's body, still mindful of her injured shoulder.

  
  
  


“Cutie, you okay?” Darcy whispered.

  
  
  


“Thought you were gone,” Steve whimpered out, shaking his head as he tried to sniff back the tears and control himself. “Lost Bucky...lost everything, and found you and then...you were gone and I would've lost everything with you.”

  
  
  


“You didn't, Steve, you didn't, I'm right here,” Darcy promised, running her good hand up and down his face. She gave Bucky a sympathetic look as he continued to run his right hand up and down Steve's back. “Bucky's right here too, we're okay.”

  
  
  


“Sorry, just was scared,” Steve said softly, kissing Darcy's cheek sweetly, the tears on his face wet and hot. He gave Bucky an earnest look. “You kept her safe for me, it means more to me than I can tell you.”

  
  
  


“Stevie, it's alright,” Bucky promised. He bent forward and kissed Steve's lips very gently, just as he used to when Steve was sick or suffering.

  
  
  


Steve turned his face back to Darcy and whispered, “You brought Bucky back to me, safe and whole. Thank you and...thank you for opening your heart to him.”

  
  


“Steve,” Bucky whispered.

  
  
  


“It's true, and you don't have to thank me,” Darcy nodded. She gave Bucky a smile. “It's right, and it's good and it's meant to be. The three of us.”

  
  
  


“You're ours,” Steve murmured, pulling up on his elbows again just barely. He was still hard and nestled deep inside of her. His possessive words had set off a deep flutter within her and his tears were long forgotten as he smiled down at her. “Our precious babydoll.”

  
  
  


“Sweet angel,” Bucky nodded, leaning in and kissing Darcy's shoulder. He gasped when her hand reached out for him, grasping around his length and stroking him up and down. Her grip was perfect, twisting and pulling just right. “Where'd you learn to do that?”

  
  
  


“I'm a quick learner and we did a lot of fun stuff before Steve stole my virginity,” Darcy giggled before letting out a pleasured gasp as Steve finally got over his small emotional break and started to work Darcy over proper.

  
  
  


“Stole,” Steve huffed out. “She was such a minx, Buck...”

  
  
  


“Still is, from what I can see,” Bucky grinned as he watched Steve thrusting into Darcy repeatedly, a blissful look on his face. She was no slouch, injuries not withstanding. He was hard and wanting and so ready to let go in her hands, even as her hips pushed up to meet each of Steve's thrusts. He pulled Darcy's hand off of him and maneuvered on the bed so that he could get his hand on those breasts that were bouncing up and down with each pass of Steve's hips.

  
  
  


“Babydoll, you gonna come for us? You're so close, I can feel it,” Steve murmured when her thighs tightened around his hips. “Show Bucky how good I am to you?”

  
  
  


“Mmmhmm,” she hummed as she floated away, feeling Bucky groping at her chest expertly, rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Steve repositioned his angle, pushing inside of her so that he'd hit that sweet spot with every thrust. Bucky managed to get his mouth on her breast and she felt overloaded with the stimulation of both of them. She let out a lovely little broken moan as her orgasm rolled over her in a gentle wave of extended pleasure.

  
  
  


Steve buried himself deep inside of her, his body seizing above hers as he felt her coming around him. He gave two quick pumps inside of her before letting go, filling her with his release.

  
  
  


“That was quick,” Bucky remarked dryly.

  
  
  


“He's got a quick recovery too,” Darcy promised when she had recovered her faculties, stretching underneath Steve as she felt that lovely warmth of his release inside of her as Steve slowly withdrew.

  
  
  


“I remember that,” Bucky nodded, he moved on the bed again his face was inches away from Steve's softening length that was still coated with Darcy's wetness. “Let me help you there, punk.”

  
  
  


“Ngh,” Steve got out before Bucky had his mouth around him. He felt overstimulated and pushed at Bucky's shoulders. “C'mon, jerk, 'm not ready yet.”

  
  
  


Bucky wound up on his ass on the bed, a sinful grin on his lips as he savored the taste of Darcy and Steve swirling on his tongue. Steve gave him a roll of his eyes and was about to open his mouth to tease him when Darcy bounced up on her knees and swung one leg over Bucky's lap, pushing on his chest so he lay flat on the bed. His eyes widened as he looked up at her, the heavenly sight of her, grinning down wickedly at him as greedy little hands stroked at his length.

  
  
  


“You okay?” Darcy whispered.

  
  
  


“Don't deserve you,” Bucky shook his head. "I want you, all of you, but I know I don't deserve you."

  
  
  


“You're very wrong.  That's for me to decide,” Darcy gave a cute little wink to him. She wiggled atop him and he could feel her warmth and that lush wetness against him. “I told you it would be good and right. And I always keep my promises.”

  
  
  


“Angel, please,” Bucky felt his hips push upwards and he groaned as she sunk down on his length, guiding him inside of her. “Christ, you feel like heaven.”

  
  
  


She was tight and warm around him, impossibly wet between her release and Steve's. He forced his eyes to stay open to watch her, even though a small part of him wanted to just let his head fall back and focus only on the way she made him feel. She went up and down on her knees, and he let out a pleasured sound at the blissful friction he was feeling from moving in and out of her.

  
  
  


“She does, doesn't she?” Steve sighed, kneeling next to Darcy and placing a kiss on her neck, purposefully scratching his beard against the sensitive skin of her neck. “You look so beautiful, Babydoll.”

  
  
  


“He feels so good,” Darcy whispered as she continued to ride him with steady, rhythmic movements. He was pushing against her walls so perfectly, she was dripping wet and she knew it wouldn't be long before she was a boneless mass of pleasure on top of him.

  
  
  


“I know, sweetheart, I know,” Steve grinned lazily at her, his hands dipping between where their bodies met, swiping along her wet thighs, his fingers wet with a single swipe along their flesh. His lazy grin turned sinful as he brought his hand away and ran it down the line of her bottom, drawing a little circle against her tight rosebud. He sunk his finger inside of her, pushing easily past the little resistance her body gave.

  
  
  


“Jesus, punk,” Bucky groaned his hands going out to grip her waist when she clenched down around him as she stopped the movement of her hips to adjust to Steve's addition to the fun. “What're you---”

  
  
  


Bucky groaned as Steve added a second finger, stroking her back and forth. Bucky could feel it against his length, the movement inside of Darcy.

  
  
  


“Don't worry, jerk,” Steve assured him, kissing Darcy's collarbone. “I know what our girl likes and what she can take.”

  
  
  


“Fucking shit,” Bucky groaned as Darcy began to move again, essentially riding both him and Steve's fingers. He squeezed at Darcy's waist and managed to push words out of his useless mouth, “What do you like, Angel? You ever take all of Steve there?”

  
  
  


“Mmhmm,” Darcy nodded with a heavenly little smile on her face. “I like it.”

  
  
  


“Don't lie, babydoll,” Steve smiled against her skin.

  
  
  


“I love it,” Darcy shrugged. “So does Stevie.”

  
  
  


“Well, I knew Stevie did,” Bucky winked at her.

  
  
  


“I know that too,” Darcy sighed as she closed her eyes and threw her head back, no wince at all from her injury. “Wait till you meet Mr. Fun Time at home.”

  
  
  


“It's...it's a thing we use,” Steve blushed. “She'll...for me, she'll...”

  
  
  


“Fuck, do I love this girl, Stevie,” Bucky groaned, sitting up suddenly, his mouth kissing at Darcy's collarbone before turning and kissing Steve's mouth. “Thanks for finding her and not screwing it up.”

  
  
  


“ He never could, he's perfect,” Darcy cooed as the boys kissed again. She began grinding down on them with renewed energy and speed, her rhythm going off the rails as she rapidly approached another orgasm. Both men moved their mouths off of each other and began laving her breasts with attention. Steve's fingers were deep within her, pulling her apart just enough to make her feel so full and complete. “ _ Holy hell _ .”

  
  
  


She was flying apart at the seams as she pressed her body down hard against them. Bucky's mouth went lax against her breast and he began cursing a blue streak at the feel of her coming around his length, the rush of wetness against his skin, the tight grasping feel of her milking him as he twitched underneath her. Steve laughed at the sight of it, the only two people he'd ever loved, ever wanted this way finding such beautiful pleasure in each other. It was all he was ever going to want to see for the rest of his days.

  
  
  


“See? I told you,” Darcy pushed Bucky back on the bed before falling against his chest, bringing Steve with her as the three of them tangled around each other.

  
  
  


“Hmm?” Bucky managed to get out from his thick fog. He hadn't had an orgasm since 1945. It was enough to wipe him out and send him into permanent bliss.

  
  
  


“Told you,” Darcy repeated, kissing Steve's forehead and tangling her legs with Bucky's as they settled into a super soldier sandwich with Darcy filling on the bed. “It was good and right and perfect.”

  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  


 


End file.
